Commuters rather than Committers
March 21, 2007 – 10:15 pm | by Duncan
Travelling around Melbourne this morning got me thinking about the nature of spirituality, particularly for emerging generations.
I drove down to Fairfield Station with a colleague, caught the train into Melbourne, getting off at Flinders St Station. Walked around the centre of Melbourne for a while, before getting on the No. 59 tram to West Coburg. I got off at stop 16, waited for four minutes and caught the No. 55 tram to Melbourne Zoo. From there I wandered down Poplar Drive, in the wrong direction, before finding a courier having a smoke by his Honda 90. He and I looked at his Melways street directory to find that I needed to retrace my steps back past the zoo, past the golf course. Finally I arrived at the Treacy Centre in The Avenue, Park Royal.
Active spirituality is often measured (by church leaders) through levels of commitment to religious institutions, seen in long term weekly attendance of worship services and demonstration of use of traditional spiritual practices. What would happen if we started to recognise the spirituality expressed in participation in a variety of forms of community, in real time and over time, online and offline, some short-term, others long-term. And what about the journeys travelled alone? What about the roles of mentors who help discern direction?
Tags: Spirituality
