Friday, 10 April 2009

• a practical synthesis

  My new favorite drink at starbucks is the apple juice infusion with chai tea. Funny thing is I was doing something similar a couple months before. Besides myself, my friend gRegor keeps a healthy stockpile of many different teas; and just recently he discovered the joy of loose leaf tea...much stronger(yum!). Every now and then he will have apple cider mix. One evening while watching movies with him and a few other people the thought crossed my mind of making hot apple cider, and then putting two stash raspberry green tea bags to steep. It was a wonderful combination! A match made in heaven!
  Something similar happened when I was seven. Two of the things I hated most was gelatin, and apple juice. The hatred for gelatin came from my great-grandmother. Whenever my brother or I got sick, Mom took us over to our great-grandmother's side of the house. She had recipes, and remedies from her father and in-laws who came across the pond. When I had a bad cough, she would put honey on a tray with some lemon juice, and bake it then give it to me to help my throat. However, when the sickness was in my stomach she put gelatin into cranberry juice, and made me drink it. I was so revolted, I vomited in front of her. So I was given tomato juice, she marched me down the hallway to her bed, told me to get in, and in a gravelly scot accent told me to "lay down, and quit your whinin'! You'll be feeling better soon enough."
  The apple juice? I absolutely hated the taste; and so did my brother. We liked the junk food...especially the sugar. You would have had an easier time training a cat than getting us to eat right. In my seventh year, my mother was exasperated, and through that she thought of an effective plan. My brother and I love jello. It was like kool-aid, but kind of solid and fun. So she borrowed some gelatin from my grandmother, mixed it with apple juice, and put it in the fridge for a few hours. When it was ready she asked us if we would like some jello. We cheered as a seven year old and a four year old could, and she brought two golden jiggly squares into our eager hands. We scarfed it down quickly, and said "That was good mom!" She looked at us triumphantly, and said "You just had apple juice you little bastards! How do you like that?" I felt tricked, and somewhat betrayed, but those feelings passes quickly because I really liked the "jello." Thus began my enjoyment of apple juice.
  How I used to view apple juice, and gelatin is the same way I view religion, and philosophy. There is a use to them, and I have devoured the books out of ravaging hunger and necessity, but they left me unfulfilled. While I receive good points, and a way to see the world differently, I find that it doesn't change my present situation. I read the likes of N.T. Wright, Brian Mclaren, Tony Campolo, and Ken Wilber to name just a few, and I enjoy their works. However, I think of their words, and how they aren't struggling the same way I am struggling. Day by day, I don't know about shelter, food, and clothing...the basics. Granted, I am not struggling to the same extent as most people are right now, but I do have questions.
  My impression is that the people who have a thought or two about religion or philosophy are not struggling like this, and I wonder how their ideas are going to do something basic like pay my rent. In light of the questions I have, and the books I have read, I have come to the conclusion that in order for religion or philosophy to work it must be practical. As Hans Kung put it in his On Being A Christian it is "common sense without illusion." Practical theology. Practical philosophy. To put it on the level, I think that the apple juice infusion with chai from starbucks is a good illustration of that. If you have ever had chai tea, you will know of the spicy, holy goodness it is. Is there anything healthy about it? Eh, maybe...maybe not; but it is good to the senses. Apple juice is good for you, helps your body to function properly, but is sweet to the taste.
  That is why I think that practicality is necessary for religion and philosophy. you have the intellectual satisfaction, and enjoyment with a practicality that is realistic and easily applicable. Something for every person no matter their station in life. Because the strength of these views is determined by the strength of the harshness and doubt we face in this life, and not by the comfort we feel.

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