A Spirit is a Lot to Manage
Rebellion as a path of Spirituality
Merry Christmas!
In reference to my fatherhood, I had to stop and share a few gifts my children made, not bought, but made.
The word artifice stems from the etymological roots of “art” or made with the human hands to juxtapose that which is natural - or made from God’s hands.
Artificial simply means “made by man”. And man-made does not imply terrible work, or even wicked work - but it does disclaim that this originated from the work of my hands.
A Father manages his own Spirit
The gifts my children artificed this year astounded me because they have grown up before me quite rapidly this year, as all of them are now in the “teenage” realm - that stage of life where individuation begins to rear it’s head in the form of independence and even rebellion.
I approve of teenage rebellion, by the way, but if you do something to your body, ensure that can be reversed or healed - nothing permanent, ok?
By the way - here are the gifts!
My daughter crochets now - or knits, I don’t know the difference, but she made me a nice, warm hat to cover my bald head in the winter. She also made juggling balls for her brother - even filling them with rice to give them weight. My youngest daughter designed a homemade comic book for each member of our family based on the stories she has collected in her imagination since she was 5.
I am very proud.
“Food and Gifts taste the best when made with our hands and heart.”
Rebellion
The reason I think that rebellion is a means of spirituality is that it is a guidepost on your spiritual journey. Ultimately, we all desire happiness, and that can be thought of as the end of the journey - we want to die happy and move on to a happier existence. But along the way, rebellion is actually a phase in which we must traverse in order to reach maturity. Without rebellion, we risk checking our brains at the door of the institution to which we belong.
Dependance Childhood
Independence Adolescence
Inter-dependance Adulthood
And the cycle continues, from birth, adolescence, adulthood and in a ton of other images from life. Security, Rebellion, Diplomacy. The cycle works in many ways including spirituality.
Dependance on a religion, ideology, or ritual moves to a dependance in “walking alone” or in the “dark night of the soul” or the moment God stops speaking and lets go of your hand. This may seem like the end, but I encourage my children to expand their faith rather than preserve it, because inter-dependance becomes the next stage of spirituality. After the suckling of dependance and the hair-dye of dependance fades, then the mature adulthood of inter-dependance occurs between you and your maker.
And you can’t skip steps. :) sorry
If you want independence, you must know dependance. If you want maturity, you must pay the cost of a little bit of an uprising. Some of us are adverse to danger, so we stay dependent. Some of us are adverse to control, so we stay independent (and we are DEFINATLY in control here - no one telling us what to do, for sure!)
Whether it is parents, religion, politics or whatever you belong to - maturity is the goal - and the path forward lies through the rebellion and into making up your own mind.
