Right Beliefs or Right Practice?
- Tim Wilkins
- Aug 15, 2016
- 3 min read
"Why do we pursue becoming a Spiritual Hero? What is the end goal of the spiritual life?" These questions were posed to me recently by another reader of this blog. In order to properly answer this question, I want to offer a couple of words with their definition to help in this answer.
The first is the word, orthodoxy. Orthodoxy is defined as "a belief or a way of thinking that is accepted as true or correct" (Merriam Webster Dictionary). Another terd as m that I want to introduce is the term, orthopraxy. Orthopraxy is defined as "correct conduct, both ethical and liturgical, as opposed to faith or grace etc. This contrasts with orthodoxy, which emphasizes correct belief, and ritualism, the use of rituals. The word is a neoclassical compound—ὀρθοπραξία (orthopraxia) meaning 'correct practice'." (Wikipedia)
For many people today, there seems to be more emphasis placed on the idea that being spiritual (religious?) has more to do with having the "correct" beliefs about their chosen faith than it has to do with living their chosen faith. In other words, most people who profess to be religious are orthodox in their belief systems while being the exact opposite in practice. This brings me to yet another definition. That definition is for the word, heteropraxy. Heteropraxy is defined as "persons who consistently fail to follow the teachings of an avowed belief system. The praxis (practice) of hypocrites." (Urban Dictionary) Another way of saying this is that most (but not all) religious people live by the phrase, 'Do as I say, not as I do'. They talk a good game but fail to back up that talk with their actions. It doesn't matter which religious path you choose, you will see this as the rule rather than the exception.
Religion as a whole has been primarily used for the purposes of controlling others and maintenance of the status quo for those in power. A good example of this is the way political parties and religious organizations hijack orthodox belief systems and turn them into an unpalatable stew of rigid conformity or religious nationalism to sway the gullible into policies and accepting candidates which are completely contrary to their best interests and personal beliefs.
The cure for heteropraxy while holding onto orthodoxy is to abandon the pursuit of religion for religion's sake. So...what should we do instead? We need to practice our faith instead of just believing in our faith. This is true no matter what religion. Our personal beliefs DO matter but only IF those beliefs have as their final result a changed life. The Jewish scriptures, most notably Micah 6:8, sums up what this looks like: "But he’s already made it plain how to live, what to do, what God is looking for in men and women.It’s quite simple: Do what is fair and just to your neighbor, be compassionate and loyal in your love,And don’t take yourself too seriously— take God seriously." (The Message)
Beliefs and creeds are by necessity exclusionary. Beliefs and creeds draw a circle around ourselves and others like us to keep others out. Practice is inclusionary because it takes away the circle and invites everyone to be a part of our lives. Beliefs and creeds are concerned more about the content of those beliefs than the people who hold them. Practice, while not having answers to all of the big questions of life, has as its end result actually caring for our neighbors, practicing integrity and compassion in all of our our relationships and not taking ourselves so seriously that we think we are in charge of the universe. We aren't. As the saying goes, that is above our paygrade.
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