The New Piety

"Complacencies of the peignoir, and late
Coffee and oranges in a sunny chair,
And the green freedom of a cockatoo
Upon a rug mingle to dissipate
The holy hush of ancient sacrifice."

 - Wallace Stevens

In the future there will [continue to] be new forms of piety. People will gather at coffee houses on weekends, read books, scan magazines, peruse newspapers - if any remain - scour websites and other outlets for snippets of "meaning" or "revelation." I call this "piety" although the words and gestures that accompany it are far different from the traditional brand of outward devotion or allegiance. Finding the old beliefs either untenable or unclear, feeling alienated from institutions in general, from ancient dogmas or doctrines, from group-think mentalities, from mega-churches, from scandal-plagued houses of worship (that's my category), growing numbers of people are cultivating other, more mundane involvements, which nevertheless, take on a more indispensable character - like portals providing entrance to the transcendental realm.  And people therefore - at least so goes my thesis - shall continue to infuse these ordinary practices with a new intensity. Serious habits will emerge from leisure time with requisite litanies and nouvelle rituals  - all necessary to create a space (perhaps) for IT to happen... that subtle, spontaneous almost imaginary moment which in retrospect earns the vague title: "That was IT!" because how else can one describe the sought-after "gift" before it occurs? Call IT guidance...call IT "oracle," "prophecy," "sacred imperative" for lack of a better term. And of course, along with these routines, the coffee drinking and brunch-making, and the strangely calm, strangely intense, reading habits and social tete-a-tetes that accompany them, there will also be (let there also be) outdoor exertions, art festivals, fairs and farmer's markets, sporting events, etc. etc. with their sometimes uncannily spiritual, religiously emotive, qualities connecting one season to the next, with cheerful socializing, mingling, sacred ceremonies, processions, uniforms, celebrations and quasi-holy sites, with ecstatic embraces, laughing, shouting, weeping, crying, gnashing of teeth, with rites of passage for the young and historic milestones for the old and middle-aged, a montage of worshipful moments via home-improvement, gardening, walking-the-dog, hiking, cycling and yoga - keeping occupied all those who would otherwise be confused about where to go, what to do. For we seem genuinely puzzled by worship these days, because the old explanations fall flat, fail to register, do not compute with the scientific paradigm we simultaneously embrace along with our spiritual longings; in moments of naked honesty, we cannot bring ourselves to understand the kind of "obeisance" that the higher power/higher intelligence demands - although this by no means lessens our desire to make contact with someone/something higher. At the same time, we feel a gap within our daily routine - brought about by this crisis of faith. (I would speak for myself alone here, but am I the only one?) It's not enough to sit quietly in one's own room; one must venture outward in search of some public instantiation - but the lack of definite parameters for what to worship and how, makes it difficult, when the meaning of authentic worship itself remains so elusive. Is it because we still feel haunted by entrenched habits of earlier generations and seek for ourselves some basis to continue the tradition, to keep the Sabbath - albeit "in our own way"? Or have people en masse become casual, well-meaning "infidels" who remain, nevertheless, haunted, perplexed amid their new-found secular selves? The new piety is out there, sure, but many resist the trend, you say. No doubt. Those disciplined church-goers and synagogue-attendees together comprising a strong but silent (?) strong but vocal (?) minority... And yet, amid such remnants, one could ask, will traditional belief ever regain its former foothold? But even so, assuming that "yes" be the answer in certain parts of the globe, is it not more than a little disconcerting, if not disorienting, to encounter those who naively continue on with the old piety - as if nothing had ever transpired to challenge it -  like someone wearing an old torn suit, which, when they attempt to button it, tears open even further? And do we not squirm uncomfortably whenever someone invokes the old orthodoxies with zest and fervor - as if no one had heard of them before! (or their dangers) - using words, quotations, invocations that are by no means comprehensible to a secular audience - such that the true believer stumbles about spouting his lines, like a bad actor inadvertently sounding dated and tone-deaf. So then... is all this new piety in fact only impiety masquerading as respectability (?) - with an edgy defiance, a brazenness lurking beneath its calm exterior? And if that is the case, have such "worshipful, non-worshippers" only succeeded in throwing themselves into new enthusiasms, lesser endeavors which, in the grand scheme of things, lack all hint of the sublime? Well...but seeing as we've been marching down this road for the past...what is it now... 100, 200, 300, 400 years - what would it mean to turn back? Can you simply turn back? I don't think it's that easy...