The Concreteness of Spirituality Individuals in America today carry greater burdens in their hearts than they do on their backs. Alienation or love, aloneness or brotherhood, indifference or compassion, emptiness or purpose, pride or humility, judgment or mercy - these contradictory qualities depict
unavoidable spiritual decisions each individual must face in every concrete situation and in every moment of their lives. Whether rich or poor, socially placed or displaced, educated or uneducated - whether Caucasian, Afro-American, Hispanic, Asian or Native America - each person must struggle along an inescapable yet perplexing path in order to come to terms with these transcendent and universal challenges.
Ironically, it is very universality of this struggle, which serves to remind us that spiritual qualities constitute very substance of every thought we consider, every action we undertake, and every relationship we establish. Too often we forget how greatly it matters whether our thoughts, actions, and relationships are suffused with alienation or love…. indifference or compassion…. judgment or mercy. And yet, it is dialectical clash of these destructive and perfecting qualities that shapes our lives and impacts lives of whomever we encounter.
A display of personal indifference, for instance, will not only sour one's own life, but it can easily cause radical and enduring disruption in lives of others. And, when dynamics of alienation gain ascendancy and begin to ripple throughout society, they will easily develop momentum to unleash a collective intensity that will quickly fragment and distort moral fabric of an entire nation, integrity of its most fundamental institutions, and 'living dynamics' of its society.
