Aj Schwanz

This morning I spent a little time skimming a recent article from Newsweek (well, it was recent when a friend forwarded it to me; but according to Internet in which tastes and trends and viral messages keep up with my eleven-month oldís teeny tiny attention span, itís old school) regarding the state of spirituality in the U.S.

First, itís funny that a magazine thinks it can describe something like that: thank you for our Enlightenment belief that all can be observed, quantified, and classified.

Second, havenít I read this before? Pick a decade: for example, replace ìMadonnaî with ìShirley McLaineî and ìKaballahî with ìNew Ageî, and itís a story that couldíve come out in the 80’s.

The idealist in me gleefully bounds about at the title, hoping that America is truly aching to be more spiritual. The realist in me recognizes that we were created to be in a relationship with God, that we will be restless until we find our home with Him, and that this story is just like putting a new label on the Spam can - the outside may change, but you know the formula for Spam will always remain the same. The idealist wants to believe that things are changing, that the harvest is ripe, that things are different. The realist knows that publications have certain topics and themes they work in on an annual or bi-annual basis, but people donít want to read a repeat, so they make it sound ìnew, fresh, and re-formulated!î to sell mags.

Whatís your take on the current State of Spam . . . I mean, Spirituality?