[September 2003 journal entry]
A ‘from below’/‘scrapheap’/‘non-religious’ approach to spirituality and ethics necessitates an existentially porous ‘community’ in which (1) ‘eye opening experiences’ are welcomed, (2) being face-to-face with the concrete world is encouraged and is the reason for the community to exist/gather, and (3) doubt/questioning is protected as essential to integrity. Such an approach is radically (i.e., down into the root) incompatible with an existentially non-porous ‘community’ that intentionally seals itself off from ‘eye opening experiences’ and necessitates being distracted from the concrete world. Spirituality exercises, the way specific ethical issues are addressed, and ‘God’ talk are clearly distinguishable in existentially non-porous and porous models for ‘community’. I have had three sustained experiences with an existentially porous ‘community’ – (1) the ‘Who cares?’ gatherings at O’Reilly’s Tavern with a subset of the LSU Ob/Gyn medical faculty members, (2) the visits with the children at K-Bar-B Youth Ranch run by the State of Louisiana for children removed from their homes who had been so scarred by abuse that they could not be placed in foster care, and (3) the Dayspring Family Health Center medical staff weekly breakfast gatherings at Gregory's Restaurant. I have yet to discover a church that embodies/illustrates the existentially porous model of ‘community’.
