Churches and Museums
In regards to your post…I think churches and museums are places for our minds and spirits to exercise.
I had a lot of thoughts on this; too many to fit in the comments section. So, without further introduction…
Sharon,
In a gym, you perform repetitious exercises, physical actions that passively improve your body. In a museum, you observe, although you are occasionally inspired to think, which is positive.
While I will grant that catholic mass does involve some repetitious exercise of thought and can–if you make it so–involve movement of spirit, most churches are simply observation. The purpose is worship and often education, but not fitness. Some involve a good deal of singing and there are exceptional branches which understand the need for participation, but this is child’s play for your mind and spirit. It’s like doing five pushups a day and calling your body fit. It’s like reciting your phone number and considering your memory healthy.
There are ways to exercise the mind and spirit if you search for them, but it is not a widely recognized need to do so. Even among the non-spiritual and supposedly practical belief patterns, there is no common pursuit of mental fitness. How often have you been reminded the importance of strengthening your memory? How often have you been presented with analytical problems or puzzles for the sake of expanding your reasoning and non-linear thinking? When was the last time someone suggested that understanding communication and practicing things like rapport, listening skills, or word choice could propel your personal relationships to a whole new level? Why is this stuff relegated to the realm of self help and fringe society? Why isn’t the need to upkeep you body, mind, and spirit part of high school curricula?
My suspicion is that our need to tell everyone they are okay just as they are has surpassed our thirst for excellence, or even a moderate capacity as functional people. That our society has become so media, consumerist driven that the idea of thinking for oneself, seeking excellence, or–dare I even say it–wishing physical, mental, and spiritual growth and excellence has become foreign, implies some sort of deficiency or problem. (And we know that none of us have deficiencies or problems!)
It baffles me that more people are not engrossed with these aspects of their lives and the vast, vast world that is opened by pursuit of personal development and excellence of being. But then, being from a martial arts upbringing, there are many things about the goals and practices of others that baffle me.