Phil Cousineau In Search of the Soul of the World
Bonus Phil on Philm
Look for Phil Cousineau’s expert commentary and mythic take on movies among the special features and extra content on the DVDs of Constantine, Double Indemnity, the deluxe Superman boxed set, The Natural, Wonder Woman, Justice League, and The Supernatural, among others.
OM Times Exclusive Interview:
In a past interview, you stated, “Church attendance is down all across Europe — somewhere around 5% of the population regularly attends a religious service. A recent survey in the States surprisingly revealed that fewer and fewer Americans actually identify with any given church.” Recently on CNN’s Faces of Faith and on CNN’s Belief Blog and throughout the blog-o-sphere, comments have been made that western societies are leaning more towards spirituality than religion because religion requires too much discipline and that spirituality offers a more “me, me, me”, non-committal, non-disciplined attitude. What do you see as the reasons for a decline in church attendance but an increase in a more individualized spirituality? The modern American mythology, in the sense of the sacred story that guides people’s lives, is not that of the tribe or community any more, it is that of the individual. We have enshrined the individual since this country was founded two hundred plus years ago and the upside of it has been inventiveness, innovation, personal genius, and nearly boundless creativity. The downside has been isolation, depression, disconnection, and loneliness.
Traditionally, religion has performed the function embedded in the roots of the word itself, from the Latin religare, which meant “to bind together.” The positive aspect of this binding is that it has held families, tribes, and communities together for millennia; on the flip side, however, is the problem that it has held individuality down, discouraged creativity, and produced suspicion in “other” cultures and religions. Together this produces the paradox of our times – we long for the very thing that is elusive for a culture of individualists – community, a sense of belonging. Thus, we have as a whole in the Western world rejected traditional religion because it “holds” back our deep seated desire for individualism.
However, there is a fallback position for many modern people, which is so-called “spirituality,” an amorphous word and belief system that honors the notion of a certain spirit, or life force, in creation, but expects nothing too rigorous from us. In the end we get what my friend and mentor, the religion historian Huston Smith, calls “cafeteria spirituality.” We take what we want, usually sweets, but not what we need. The benefit of religion, in Huston’s view, is that it provides “traction,” it offers a way for us to dig in and move forward. The benefit of spirituality is that it helps avoid the politics of religion and the pressures of conformity. The beauty of the modern world is that each must and can decide what stokes our inward fires, our truest life.
