The Concreteness of Spirituality
Individuals in America today carry greater burdens in their hearts than they do on their backs. Alienation or love, aloneness or brotherhood, indifference or compassion, emptiness or purpose, pride or humility, judgment or mercy - these contradictory qualities depict the unavoidable spiritual decisions each individual must face in every concrete situation and in every moment of their lives. Whether rich or poor, socially placed or displaced, educated or uneducated - whether Caucasian, Afro-American, Hispanic, Asian or Native America - each person must struggle along an inescapable yet perplexing path in order to come to terms with these transcendent and universal challenges.
Ironically, it is the very universality of this struggle, which serves to remind us that spiritual qualities constitute the very substance of every thought we consider, every action we undertake, and every relationship we establish. Too often we forget how greatly it matters whether our thoughts, actions, and relationships are suffused with alienation or love…. indifference or compassion…. judgment or mercy. And yet, it is the dialectical clash of these destructive and perfecting qualities that shapes our lives and impacts the lives of whomever we encounter.
A display of personal indifference, for instance, will not only sour one's own life, but it can easily cause radical and enduring disruption in the lives of others. And, when the dynamics of alienation gain the ascendancy and begin to ripple throughout society, they will easily develop momentum to unleash a collective intensity that will quickly fragment and distort the moral fabric of an entire nation, the integrity of its most fundamental institutions, and the 'living dynamics' of its society.
For this reason, what desperately needs healing in America today is not just this or that individual or this or that group. Nor is it even this or that institution o this or that value. In fact, it is not even this or that family or this or that community. No. It is the very soul of America itself - whose life has become suffused with an ethos of alienation - that cries out most loudly to be healed.
And so, in response to that call, we must all be mindful that an affliction of the spirit can never be healed through institutional reform. Nor can it be healed by a simple reaffirmation of traditional values and virtue. Even a nationwide effort to restore civil society will not suffice. America's national predicament is simply too profound for such perfunctory solutions. Legitimacy in our social, institutional, and moral life can only be restored by a collective process of healing spiritual alienation. And, as we embark upon that journey, each of us, and all together, must be willing to extend the gift of self to others through simple acts of love, compassion, understanding, and mercy, and to do so without any conditions or expectation whatsoever.
Gerald L. Campbell
See more at www.garaldlcampbell.com
About the Author
Gerald L. Campbell served as senior staff to Members of the U.S. House of Representatives for nine years. He became Senior Advisor to the Director of the United States Information Agency (USIA) under President Ronald Reagan and President George Bush.
Campbell went on to serve the administration of President George Bush and later, he served Texas Governor Bush as Senior Advisor to the Commissioner of Health at the Texas Department of Health in Austin.