A: “When you speak of spirituality I don’t know if I know what that means exactly.”
B: “How can you not know what spirituality is?”
A: “Well….I mean…..is it just like….a feeling?”
B: “I guess so.”
A: “But we have a lot of feelings. What distinguishes it from another?”
B: “It motivates me to do good.”
A thinks how shame and regret and disappointment have all motivated him toward good. But he ask instead, “How?”
B: “By connecting me with something higher than myself.”
A: “But I can argue that I’m connected to something higher…or at least something other than myself too.”
B: “Like what?”
A: “A six pack of beer or my XBox.”
B: “But they don’t make you a better person.”
A: “How does Jesus make you a better person?”
B: “I love my husband and kids.”
A: “So do I. I even give better gifts than you at Christmas.”
B: “Now you’re just being facetious.”
A: “No. I’m being serious. So I don’t take a casserole anywhere on most Sundays. I play XBox and drink beer as much as you read the Bible. But, qualitatively and quantitatively we’re roughly equivalent in terms of being decent.”
B remains silent.
A: “And I hardly regard my XBox or Wiedemann as anything spiritual, though they get me through the day about as well as your Jesus.”
Things between A and B remained awkward for a long time after that.
mrobins71 