What Sustains Deists?

I hope Bob will not mind me posting since this blog has been inactive for some time. As one of those who has the privilege of being able to author posts on this blog, I must admit that the past few months has involved a lot of soul-searching when it comes to religion and philosophy, so I've been quiet. For a time, I also wanted little to do with what I have perceived is a predominant "culture" in modern Deism towards religion bashing. Despite disengaging from dialogue with Deists, I must admit the following two things. First, there are in general only two views available when it comes to religious belief. Either a person embraces a religion or philosophy that has the natural world as its source of authority, or a person embraces views that accept something beyond reality as the authority (such as revelation). I have struggled with my place in the scheme of all of the names and tags we give our beliefs, but I am completely dedicated to what we find in nature and reality as the source of religious belief.

Deism is not the only stamp a person can assign to himself or herself that embraces reality. Certain elements and schools of philosophy, both ancient and modern, are deeply rooted in the study and appreciation of the natural world. Certain teachers within Zen Buddhism point to reality as what we must wrestle with and ultimately accept. There are others, to be certain, some people I have met even within the confines of the so-called "revealed" religions. So simply because a person or group does not quote Thomas Paine, does not mean that they are not fellow-travellers with those of us who do not buy the view of a revelatory God waiting to burn us up like the head of a match. We should try to learn from and dialogue with others whose experiences are ultimately rooted in making the best of life in here-and-now, because the only other choice people have is to embrace "supernatural" religion that implies at its core that the world that may have a Creator behind it is simply not good enough.

Why should we do this? Why should we ask a Soto Zen Buddhist about zazen, or read Marcus Aurelius or Nietzsche, or learn about what is in our gardens, parks, and even our backyard as something like a spiritual act? Because we need it. Constantly reacting to, and railing against, the ills of revealed religion is not healthy, and will not sustain the psyche of many people. To be sure, there are people who have been deeply hurt by Roman Catholicism and need to draw from Deism as a source of validity to work through their hurt and anger. But at some point, the anger and sense of righteous indignation will wear off. We all need, at some point, something positive and life-affirming to sustain us. Embracing Deism does mean un-learning much that we have been told about God from established religions, but it also means embracing the beauty of nature that is bigger than us, that speaks to something bigger than us that we call "God". Such an approach to the spiritual life, that is rooted in the created order, no matter where it comes from, should be enough to sustain us. It has been enough to sustain me in the past few months.

So let me ask: what is it about Deism that sustains you?

CONTACT THE AUTHOR