Religious but Not Spiritual

May 30, 2012 by Rosalynde Welch

Continued from Page 1

There is perhaps a final reason that I am drawn to folkways and customs of all kinds. It's captured in the word we use to describe this particular form of adherence: observance. To observe is to hold something in sustained view, to give focused attention to something beyond our own eyeballs. To observe a religious festival, then, is most simply to pay attention to something. This kind of whole-soul attention-giving is at once a basic and an utterly unnatural human capacity: prone to wander, the spirit wants to leap backward into regret and obsession or forward into fantasy and desire. To observe is to hold the soul in the now, to train our thoughts and actions on the social forms unfolding before us in time. Religious practice and its secular cousin the folkway offer us the forms to hold in our view.

Page: 2 of 2

12/2/2022 9:09:21 PM

Mormon

Salt and Seed

Habit

Ritual

Rule of Life

Mormonism

more at patheos

Cracking Cascarones in a Cemetery

Verónica A. Gutiérrez

First Look: Mel Gibson's "The Resurrection of the Christ"

DeWayne Hamby

1 Thessalonians 4 = Rapture? (vs. Patrick O'Brien)

Dave Armstrong

If Birds Talked, They Couldn’t Fly

Gregory T. Smith

About Rosalynde Welch

Rosalynde Welch is an independent scholar who makes her home in St. Louis, Missouri, with her husband and four children.

Patheos Logo Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Subscription Support Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In

Follow Patheos