christopherhildreth

38 Special had a song on the 1980 album, Wild-eyed Southern Boys, titled “Hold On Loosely”. I heard this song on the radio a few days ago and it has stuck with me. If you’ve been reading the blog, you know that one of the areas I am drawn to is the connection between traditional Christianity and its transition into the post-modern world. Specifically, the way that certain aspects of the religion are being augmented, jettisoned or distinctly transformed from their pre-modern, Enlightenment Era definitions.

This song describes, for me, the context with which we must hold all religious beliefs. In one part of the lyrics the song says, ” Just hold on loosely, but don’t let go / If you cling to tightly, /you’re gonna lose control.” Definitely a thought worth pondering in relation to religion and the give/take struggle we often face.

We must hold on to our beliefs, but not so tightly that when it becomes apparent our beliefs contradict truth and reality we find it difficult or impossible to let go.  This is not to say that faith has no place – it certainly does – but only when the faith is based on truth. So-called “blind-faith” is no faith at all.

Currently I am involved in several different conversations concerning issues related to religion, philosophy and culture. I have to assume that I am not the only one. It seems to me that there would be many more who would be entertaining conversations centered around religious, philosophical or cultural issues. The big question is “What then?”. What do you do in the aftermath of a particular conversation that leaves you reeling?

Obviously simply because we may differ on different subjects and issues, I nor you would change a held opinion based on one dialogue – difficult or not. I think it is important to hold onto our beliefs and opinions somewhat loosely, perhaps I’ll discuss that idea in a later post, but for the time being we should look at the basic foundational architecture of our belief systems. If we view our beliefs unedited by personal preference, it is possible that we may learn to take and add intrinsically useful ideas and concepts to our “repertoire of belief”.

In other words, when ideas that seem to be diametrically opposed to your current faith path, don’t be too quick to dismiss them – they may find a permanent lodging and become a great source of help and inspiration.