SPIRITUAL STIMULUS

Kudos to Krista Tippett and her partners at NPR's superbradio series, "Speaking of Faith." In the remarkable show, "Repossessing Virtue"(3/5/09), Krista once again succeeds in surfacing a fresh and profounddimension of a much-discussed topic. In the midst of economic downturn, deep anxiety and endless punditry,"Repossessing Virtue" poses a startling suggestion: that the economic crisis presents acrisis of meaning and hence a spiritual opportunity for us as individuals andfor our society.

The show, with its accompanying "onlineconversation" (to be found atspeakingoffaith.publicradio.org), explores moral and existential questions thatarise from the current economic distress. Those of us affected by the crisis (and that, of course, is all of us),and the pundits who seek to explain it to us, tend to explore only its economicand political dimensions. But suchtimes instinctively produce a set of very different questions as well, like"In what can I place my trust?", "What sustains me?", and"How much do I really need?". These are core spiritual questions, cutting to the heart of who we areand how we understand our lives.

The crisis can serve as a spiritual stimulus in twoways. The painfulness of thesetimes – like any individual or collective time of loss or fear – moves us toturn to whatever is ultimate for us, to support and comfort us in the midst ofdeep uncertainty. And in momentswhen the anxiety feels manageable, we may find that the crisis invites us toconsider the core existential questions that lie at the heart of everyreflective life. Who am I now thatI have lost so much? How can Ilive well in frightening times? Where do I find meaning when the usual structures that prop up myidentity seem shaky?

Our society, too, is presented with disturbing collectivequestions of meaning. Thoughtfulpeople must ponder how our collective desire for material comfort has turnedagainst us, what it would take to reclaim a collective commitment to the commongood, and how the Americannarrative of rugged, omnipotent individualism may need to be reconsidered.

These times call us to heightened levels of compassion andgenerosity, as individuals and as a nation. And for those of us fortunate enough to have a secure place tocome home to at the end of the day, this crisis, like so many others in ourlives, may prove to contain within it some startling opportunities.