Peace, My Brother!
One thing that hippies, new agers, and evangelical Christians have in common is that they often are easy targets to make fun of. All their talk about peace, love, vibrations, Jesus, and the Lord (day in and day out) gets tiring and weirds more than a few people out. It makes many folks feel as though it all issues from an overwhelming sense of doubt; like these groups are trying to convince themselves that this stuff really exists.
One also feels some pity for the language itself, because when certain words are repeated over and over again their meanings become blurry and descend into gobbledygook. You know what I mean, kind sister. You get the drift, my brother. Thank the Lord that we understand each other. Let’s grab hands and feel the vibration.
Back in the 1960s, Lenny Bruce often used the most racially charged ethnic slurs in his performances. He said that by continually repeating these offensive words they would lose their taboo and power to harm. When it comes to the language of Progressive Christians and the Spiritual But Not Religious (SBNR), we might take the advice of Lenny Bruce, but in reverse.
Let’s dial back the God talk, the Jesus speak, the hippie platitudes, and the new age jargon, so as to reinvigorate the language of the spirit, love, peace, and brotherhood, and to ensure that when we do use this language it has significance, power, sincerity, and real meaning.
All the things that we hold dear and wish to see more of on this earth don’t require so much that we invoke them out loud but that we act upon them in our daily lives. Peace out.
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