Cohousing-L Mailing List: Spirituality and the car analogy

[Greg Mitchell (MITCHELLG]

I think one reason the spirituality issue is such a hot one in
cohousing is it's fundamental significance to a lot of people.

By this I mean, to extend the car analogy, that to a lot of people
spirituality is not like an option on a car.

Maybe spirituality is like the tyres on a car - how firm is your grip!

Maybe it's like the air in the tyres - without the right amount you can
have a pretty uncomfortable trip.

Maybe it's like the fuel you put in the car - you can't go anywhere
(except downhill) without it!

Maybe it's like the raw materials that go into building a car - you
haven't got anything to build the car with, without it.

Maybe it's nothing to do with the car - it could be the road the car
goes along.

Maybe a road is too narrow for some - it could be the whole surface
we move on.

Maybe instead of a car analogy we could use an analogy which is based
on any vehicle we use to go somewhere.

Then maybe we could have the New Agers building a spaceship, the
Menonites a submarine, the agnostics building I don't know what ...

I do find it interesting how much passion the topic stirs up. I suspect
that we do have an underlying spiritual aspect to our being and that
in our current culture we are putting a lot of energy into avoiding it
and paying more attention to other more material aspects of our lives.
Except in co-housing of course, where this, among other subjects, is
handled full on!

Greg Mitchell,
Christchurch, New Zealand.