A ‘non-religious’ view of Dietrich Bonhoeffer -- #120

[August 2000 journal entry]

A ‘non-religious’ approach to ethics and spirituality is distinguishable from a ‘religious’ approach in that the former requires a ‘from below’ rationale/justification rather than the ‘from above’ appeal to ‘revelation’ characteristic of the ‘religious’ sphere re the core for being human from which ethics and spirituality form. For me, this core has to do with the presence/exercise of such traits as

1. language, memory, imagination, creativity, . . . ;
   
2. finitude, vulnerability, death;
   
3. pain and suffering;
   
4. ease, comfort, peace.

The ‘non-religious’ path I am experiencing is distinguishable from a ‘religious’ path on each of these four sets of traits. It is characteristic of societal spheres (including but not limited to the ‘religious’ sphere)

1. to permit such traits as language, memory, imagination, and creativity only to the point that the credibility of the sphere is threatened,
   
2. to deny or diminish the reality of finitude, vulnerability, and death,
   
3. to consider pain and suffering only to the point that the credibility of the sphere is threatened.