Spirituality 1: Will Smith, etc.

This is the first in a series of several (many?) postings on Spirituality. Enjoy.

People like to say that Will Smith is a Scientologist. I’ve had people insist this to me, even though this is a claim that is easily debunked with a quick Google search. Yet, people keep saying it’s true, because the Fresh Prince is close friends with Tom Cruise and because he has (admittedly) looked into Scientology.

Now, I’m not here to blast Scientology as a belief; I don’t know where (if) divine inspiration strikes, so perhaps old L. Ron Hubbard was actually onto something. I seriously doubt it, but I suppose anything is possible, particularly with regards to a supernatural force. Scientology is problematic for reasons wholly separate from theology: members of the Church of Scientology have run into serious issues when they’ve tried to leave, and other members have been refused medical treatment when needed. Also, they are particularly litigous towards anyone who does anything to “defame” the church.

Religious fanaticism of any sort is bad, and Scientology is no exception to this.  But again, I’m digressing too much. I will say, however, that I met and had a conversation with Tom Cruise, and he seemed to be extremely nice and not at all crazy. So Scientology ropes in some sensible people,I think. Perhaps it (to some extent) desensible-izes them, but all (dogmatic) religion tends to do that.

ANYWAY, back to Will Smith, it is beyond unfortunate that the man is derided as a Scientologist, because I think he has one of the best viewpoints on religion I’ve encountered. He said:

“I don’t necessarily believe in organized religion. I love my God, my higher power, but it is mine and mine alone, and I create my connection, and I decide how my connection is going to be… I believe that my connection to my higher power is separate from everybody’s… I don’t believe that the Muslims have all the answers and all the beliefs. I don’t believe the Christians have all the answers and beliefs, or that the Jews have all the answers.”

I just think this makes so much sense. I don’t mean to bash on organized religion by posting that quote. But he is absolutely right, no one has all the answers. How could a God, a universal creator, have a chosen people? How could one religion, one man-made system of belief, contain the answers to everything?

And that presumes that there are spiritual answers to everything, which very well might not be the case. I really have no idea; there are times when I do feel some sort of spiritual connection to something and definitely do believe in a higher power, and then there are times when I feel as though there is… nothing. When everything is just hard, physical matter, and there is nothing beyond that. But this thought deeply depresses me, and I obviously don’t have the answers to everything in the universe, so I find it likely that there was some crazy shit going on at some point, and this crazy shit could very well be God or a higher power. Or something like that.

I suppose one can never really know the answer; the mysteries of the universe are way too vast for us to ever, as a species, discover the answers. Perhaps we find out when we die, perhaps we go to heaven, or our spirit lives on, or something happens. But there is just no way to know.

This post feels highly incomplete to me, but I suppose that’s why this is the first of a series.