The Spirit Tree
In the numerous conversations that I have with people of faith, I am invariably asked "Well, what do YOU believe?". . . the question that comes close upon it's heels is "upon what do you BASE your belief?" I personally think that the second question is an inevitable extension of the first, and in most religious settings, there is some doctrine, creed, philosphy, etc. that a person or a group uses to define their concept of God. The problem that I have always found with that, is that it seems to be a circular sort of reasoning. . .the indivudal has faith because of the text which they beleive to be true because of their faith. Hence, it is far easier to disprove a religion that to prove it. When someone says "THIS is the way", then I go. . "ok, how do you KNOW". . .the answer is "because i have FAITH"
When I was rebuilding my personal faith system, I just cut out the middleman. . .rather than relying on another person's or group's defintition of God, I began to study comparative religions, seeking commonalities, and most of all, trying to find ideas, concepts, teachings, philosphies and images that resonated with me personally. . .that seemed to hamonize with what i INTUITIVELY believe to be true.
Now, the fundamentalist would say, "well, so you are just believing what you WANT to believe", to which i reply. . ."well, so are YOU, by relying on a sacred text that you are unable to PROVE to be true". Or, as I have said MANY times, "How is my faith APART from the Bible any different than your faith IN the Bible?"
I say all of this as a preface in discussing "The Spirit Tree". The Spirit Tree is an image that came late in the writing of my last album. The song of the same name was the last song written for the album, but seemed to culminate a significant amount of what I was wanting to articulate about my concept of God. Although I once thought of myself as an agnostic ("an optimistic agnostic" I used to call myself). . the Spirit Tree is, to me, the image that epitomizes my understanding of God. . .Somthing with it's roots in the earth, in the past, in the fertility of the material world, but is reaching ever higher, to infinity. . .part of an unseen spiritual world.. . .something unseen that permeates everything that IS material and seen. You can hear the song HERE. . .The lyrics say it so much better than the prose:
The Spirit Tree
I stand alone, but not alone indeed
On the edge of infinity
Something greater than all I’ve known before
I’m finally walking through the door
Roots hold tight into this fertile earth
Touch the lands of my birth
Reaching high into a sky of blue and gold
Finding mysteries untold
Oh. . .I’m alive with something new
On fire with what’s shining through
Oh. . .the higher voices call to me
To cling to The Spirit Tree
Spreading miles and miles above this fragile land
Firm enough to make my stand
Giving one more chance to live and live again
To rise above the doubt and pain
Finding joy in every moment of the day
Planting seeds that won’t fade away
Oh. . .I’m alive with something new
On fire with what’s shining through
Oh. . .the higher voices call to me
To cling to The Spirit Tree
Reaching Higher, feel the fire
Touch the earth and feel the birth
Of every day and every way
And on and on it goes
Oh. . .I’m alive with something new
On fire with what’s shining through
Oh. . .the higher voices call to me
To cling to The Spirit Tree
Touching something that is stronger than the wind
A Love that will never end
Now I know the light that’s guiding me
Shines from the Spirit Tree
posted by Thomas J. at 4/20/2006 08:44:00 PM
2 Comments:
Thomas - I appreciate the journey that you're on, as it is much like the one I'm on - trying to develop a faith and an understanding of God that hasn't been prescribed by someone else. And of course, we share an alma mater (though 5 years was enough for me).
Interestingly enough, my search has found me at the feet of Jesus, where I am currently at a church of Christ, albeit one that might look a little more like a church that Mike Cope would preach at than a church that John Waddey might preach at (just to have a cultural frame of reference).
Of course, actually believing and practicing things that Jesus said means sister churches have called called us no end of names and given us no end of accusations.
It's just that for me, the more I read about Jesus and what He stood for and what He taught leads me to believe more and more strongly that He was God on earth.
I don't say all this in an attempt to get anyone to adopt my faith; my point is that faith is such a personal thing, and it's not truly faith until (to paraphrase you) you start building your own personal faith system, rather than just adopting someone else's...(and, IMO, as soon as you think you've arrived at the answer, it begins to becaome a dead faith)...
i think you are dead on. . ."as soon as you think you have arrived, it is a dead faith" That is why I should note, that the Spirit Tree image is one that makes sense to me, and works for me NOW. . .i would be TOTALLY unable to develop any sort of dogmatic system, and i certainly don;t PRAY to "The Spirit Tree". It is simply a way, for me, to help to identify certain aspects of God, which appear to be true and real, that my denominational heritage has done a terrible job in doing.
It is more about finding a poetic way to describe something, where prose would never work. Our heritage is the sort that would spend days, weeks, moths, and even years describing all of the phenomenon surrounding a sunset. . .everything from science to photography, but never once be able to adequately reach in and tell of the SIGNIFICANCE of the sunset to the individual.
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