But then I come full circle. I cannot both take ownership of my spiritual health, and then blame my faith community for anything which stultifies spirituality. Accountability ends blaming and judgment of others. If I am free from asking my church s permission to embrace a new spiritual insight, I am also free from blaming it if that permission is not freely granted. And the implied social contract between myself and the church, often formed in my youth, can always be reviewed, recast.
Spirituality feels like a perpetual thrust into new territory.
There is less that is familiar about the journey than I often wish. So I have come to enjoy those people, those experiences, those aspects of my own religious heritage, which understand my sometimes bewildered gaze. I need people who will hold my sweaty hands, but never call me to retreat. Dick Winn is vice-president for academic affairs at Western Business College in Sacramento, California. He holds an M.A. and an M.Div. from Andrews University and has done doctoral studies in human development at U.C. Berkeley.