Thoughts on Faith, Fear, and Intention

As a disclaimer, you will soon notice from the tone of my posts, that I am not a scholar. I admire those who are and I enjoy reading their work. So..the following diatribe is not in any way, shape, or form a lit review or scholarly analysis. It is simply one set of observations.

I have observed over the years that everyone is different (duh)! and yet we have so very much in common. I dislike labels and am still working on ridding myself of the tendency for my mind to categorize people. When it comes to faith, everyone definitely has their own set of beliefs and experiences (whether in Darwin, Paganism, Mother Earth, Buddha, or Jesus, etc...). I have observed, however, that regardless of WHAT the belief system is, there is some universal "truths and consequences" to whether a person is acting out of faith or using "faith" to mask fear or support limiting beliefs.

To me, this is where the intention part plays in. What is my intention? If I am using my mormon "faith" as a way to stay in my comfort zone, to create a "bubble" in which to safely live, and to continue to perpetuate a "reality" that makes me feel safe and secure, is it really "faith" or is it "fear" that is driving my actions?

I have met so many people who live in such fear (and I was one of them). Fear of making a mistake...fear of having to stretch... fear of actually becoming something different (even if it is new or better). People will be extremely creative in finding ways to maintain the "status quo". I love the quote by Nelson Mandela which states:

Our greatest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our greatest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, fabulous, gorgeous, talented? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. You’re playing small doesn’t serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that’s within us. It’s not just in some of us. It’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we automatically give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fears, our presence automatically liberates others.

What are your thoughts on faith and fear? Do you think that the intention behind the action is more important than the action?

One Voice St. Louis

One Voice St. Louis is a multi-cultural community choir that is in its infancy. The mission of OneVoice is to build bridges of understanding and to share the spirit of love with others through the power of music. Almost nothing has brought me as much personal satisfaction as participating with this choir and although I have had to take a break for a season, I am a big believer in what this choir is striving to accomplish. As Margaret Mead stated, "Never underestimate the power of a few committed people to change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."

Mormon Women...read the full article at www.fairlds.org

Mormon women, like other religious women, find incongruence at times in what Riffat Hassan has called the "gap between theory and practice…" suggesting at times a difficulty that women face in finding gender equality in their religions, especially when scriptures, doctrines, and cultural practices might suggest a hierarchy of gender within that religious tradition.13 However, Mormon women still seek ways of negotiating their gendered experiences within their established institution; of course, they deny any outside pressure to reject their religion outright, because "[i]f the feminist message is posited in a strict polarity between feminism and traditional religion, making women think they have to choose between the two, then many of the world's women will choose their religion." Here, Preston invites a useful comparison to the women of Islam. Quoting from Muslim feminist Azizah al-Hibri, "The majority of Muslim women who are attached to their religion will not be liberated through the use of a secular approach imposed from the outside." Feminist Farida Shaheed also advised against making Muslim women reject the foundation of their faith: "[A] women's movement needs to be perceived as rooted in the cultural reality of the society in which it operates… [D]iscriminatory laws sanctified through Islam cannot be effectively countered with arguments which deny or discard Islam."14 Thus, rejection of a woman's religious framework will only create alienation and divisiveness. "A woman who is a practicing member of a religious institution is inevitably going to be hesitant to accept advice from someone 'who does not understand her value system and her commitment to it.'"15

Cultural Diversity and Mormonism

This is such a huge topic...one that I have been interested in for several years and one in which I continually learn more about...

I have always wanted to share my experiences and my "aha's" with other open-minded and "fellow explorers" and I decided that I just needed to start writing them down as they occurred or bubble up.

As the LDS church continues to grow and fill the earth, we are faced with the reality that the world is a bigger place than the intermountain west and that in order to truly be Christlike, we must BECOME so much more than we are. I am constantly reminded that the "woman at the well" is who the Lord sought out. Who are our modern day "women at the well"? Are they the Republican, middle-class, rule-following, "traditional", American culturized families? Or do they come in a package that we prefer to ignore or diminish?

Recently I attended a seminar on the history of Racism in Missouri. This was the second such seminar I had attended in downtown St. Louis at a Disciples of Christ church which was housed in an area of the metropolis where needs are high and resources limited. Both sessions were incredibly eye-opening and heart-expanding. I was surrounded by good, good people of other faiths and walks of life who were interested in knowing more about why racism persists and the roots from which it sprang.

While the content was very interesting, the most interesting part of the day was watching how people reacted when they discovered I was "mormon". As I reflected on the day during my ride home, I thought....what if mormons were pink or blue or yellow or had some distinctive feature? I realized that a big part of our "acceptance" in maintstream American society is that we blend well. We tend to be conservative, law-abiding, well-educated, working families. I wonder what my life or the lives of my fellow brothers and sisters would be like if our "mormonism" wasn't hidden as well as it is. In my experience, people get to know at least a little bit about me before they find out that I am "mormon". Even though they are intrigued, and usually have a lot of questions, by that time they have ascertained that I am a fairly moral, decent person.

Do people of color or disability or gender or income level have that same grace period? I think not. I have been guilty of seeing a person's blackness or disability or whatever before I see the real them. This is something I continue to work on and continue to refine.

What do you think?