Our Double Duty

     “Everyone has a double duty in life, to maintain a cultural life and a religious life, and the laws of these two realms are often diametrically opposed to each other. The duty of the church (whatever the creed) should be to assist people with their religious life, which involves seeing past duality and advancing consciousness. The cultural life consists of choosing between good and evil, and keeping the human side of life in order and proportion. So many religious institutions today focus on the cultural life almost exclusively instead of helping people cultivate a different kind of consciousness.”

     When Jungian analyst Robert Johnson speaks about maintaining a cultural life, he is referring to our becoming responsible, ethical individuals, people who know the difference between right and wrong, and who always strive to do what is right. When he says we have a duty to maintain a religious life, he is not referring to adherence to a system of beliefs and practices, but to “advancing consciousness;” that is, to cultivating a self-understanding that is not only ethical but one that is mystical – one that recognizes that humanity is infused with divinity.

     In his book Balancing Heaven and Earth, Johnson laments the fact that his many efforts to find a religious community that challenges its congregants to rethink what it means to be human have left him frustrated. In his extensive experience, church sponsored worship services, sermons and classes tend to focus ad nauseam on the importance of our being good boys and girls – something most of us have been schooled in since early childhood. Is it any wonder that people young and old alike are choosing to absent themselves from institutional religious gatherings? The growing number of those who consider themselves spiritual but not religious are hungry for a message that affirms “a different kind of consciousness,” one that posits the sacred nature of human nature.

     Given that our imperfection is an all too obvious reality for most of us, it’s easy to forget that we are spiritual beings. So, yes, we need to work at “keeping the human side of life in order and proportion,” but before all else we are spiritual beings who need to be reminded of this essential truth again and again. When we become rooted in an understanding of ourselves as spiritual, our cultural/ethical duty is understood not as a blueprint to which we must conform, but an imprint to which we are called to be faithful.