Greetings friends. I run a blog where I primarily engage in what I call "secular theology:" reappropriating theological and philosophical narratives for use in postmodern 21st century discourse.

I'd be curious to hear y'all's thoughts on my recent blog posted titled "Secular Prayer." In it, I try to investigate some of the psychological and philosophical principles underlying prayer in its sociological and individual contexts.

Please know, that my intent is not to piss off or ruffle any feathers when it comes to those who identify as Atheists or have any religious trauma. I like to mold and shape religious symbolism in a Jungian way; and so you'll have to read between the lines whenever I make a blog post in a way that seems least offensive to your personal convictions.

Anyways, below is my blog post, and here is the link to my blog: https://unorthodoxreflections.blogspot.com/2024/03/secular-prayer.html

Here we go!

"As a secular theologian, my goal is to bring the insights of various religious traditions to bear fruit within a postmodern context. To make the awkward and sometimes backward religious teachings of Franciscan and Eastern Orthodox theology relevant to our 21st century context.

What is secular prayer? How might an Atheist pray? Obviously a contradiction in terms; but the image of an Atheist praying is what I have in mind here.

First let’s define prayer within it’s sociological context. Prayer helps a religious community find meaning in a meaningless world. Through praying to God or Krishna or Buddha, we socially construct meaning to explain the absurdities of reality.

But we do live in an absurd and meaningless universe.

In our postmodern context, I think the real “prayer of an Atheist” is to be found in Eastern Orthodox apophatic theology.

Apophatic theology more or less states that we can not know reality through positive claims; only through negative claims: metaphors, contradictions, paradoxes, etc.

Thus, science tells us absolutely nothing about the world. It’s just a mere means of increasing our power over nature, while at the same time not increasing our knowledge of it.

Apophatic theology “bridges the gap” and saves us from pure absurdity, so to speak.

So we can’t know anything about the world? Sure, no problem. Socrates’ dictum that “all that I know is that I know nothing” comes into its strongest rhetorical implications.

Thus, through extreme skepticism and “divine absurdity,” we can create intense symbolic and subjective meaning within our void of a universe.

Here apophatic theology can help.

Through working through the biblical and Orthodox symbolism found in such works such as the Philokalia, we can learn to process our lives in meaningless yet universally human archetypes.

Belonging to some sort of moral or religious institution is thus absolutely essential. I think, in a perfect world, we’d all be Unitarian Universalists. Tolerant of all religious and spiritual beliefs as long as they don’t harm others.

In apophatic theology, we thus can experience theological rest within the symbolism appropriated to our postmodern context.

We don’t have to feel alone; we can connect existentially to our ancestors who also lived in a meaningless universe, and rejoice in the universal peace of death.

Setting our eyes on Heaven or Hell isn’t going to change shit. We need to live as Atheists indifferent to the reality of an afterlife.

Thus, peace ought to be found in the crumbling away of our body and mind into atomic particles of nothing. Our consciousness goes extinct.

And yet that is the most peaceful thought.

So what is secular prayer? It is essentially using symbolic theological and philosophical works–such as the Bible, the Bhagavad Gita, the various sutras of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition, etc.--to develop subjective meaning that helps us cope in a meaningless universe.

To Albert Camus, there is attributed the famous quote: “Should I kill myself, or have a cup of coffee?”

In the face of the void, choose to have a cup of coffee. Or in my case, a cup of tea."

What are some mantras that y'all use both psychologically and spiritually?

I'm a huge fan of Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), and incorporating and secularizing some of the Eastern psychological insights into my daily life.

Thus, I often use a mantra to keep me going. But mantras can and should be subjective; they are dependent on the psychological symbolism that's important for each individual.

Thus, I'd be curious to hear if y'all do any mantra work yourselves. Whether it's to Buddha, Christ, Krishna, or simply a secular mantra emphasizing positive thinking in one's self, let's hear it!

Jake

How do you approach dialogue with friends and families about your involvement in the UU community? I love UU’s commitment to diversity and pluralism, but wanted to hear some specific and concrete answers and anecdotes on religious dialogue with others.

I’m personally not UU, but I’m transitioning to having a UU spiritual mentor at the moment. I feel comfortable within my own faith community, but I often use a UU framework and general sense of perspective when doing proper ecumenical work with others.

Thanks! Jake