I am writing a paper for a class on interfaith dialogue, and it is supposed to be a dialogue between my faith tradition and two or three others. But I don't feel like I have a faith tradition. My teacher referred to me as having the tradition of "queer spirituality" but I really don't know what that means. Most of feminist thea/ology had something to react to or improve upon. People stayed within their traditions or they moved to earth based traditions, but there was a tradition. I suspect queer thea/ologians to do the same, although I seem to be all over the map, equally willing to believe in any queered tradition.
I know that queer people have had a long and powerful spiritual presence on account of our queerness. We have been shamans, healers, gallae, ritual leaders, hijra, musicians. Some places have given us office because of our queerness and others have denied it to us for the same reasons. Queerness has had spiritual meaning. But to my knowledge it hasn't existed apart from another cosmology, the/aology, community group. Queer spirituality may have traditions, but it hasn't, that I know of, stood as a faith tradition the way major world religions or regional tribal religions have. (The exception I can think of is the radical faeries, but I don't know as much about them as I'd like because I'm not a man.)
While I write this paper I am longing for a spiritual tradition, but I even more am longing for a spiritual community. There are people I celebrate holidays with, some places I go for some spiritual communion, but I would really love to have a group of people who believe similar things that I do and are willing to sit with me in a circle while we sing, chant, and meditate.
So I'm putting out a wish list. Here are some things I want from a community of people in the queer spiritual tradition:
I want it to be sex positive and gender honouring. I want a community where coming out is a spiritual rite of passage. I want power to be envisioned in all kinds of ways. I want body rituals that celebrate menstruation and sex changes and birth and whatever it is other people need to celebrate their bodies. I want radically inclusive language. I want rituals celebrating friendships, polyamorous relationships, asexuality, and even impermanent bonds. I want music , poetry, and drag.
What's on your wish list?
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Hmm. I want to belong to a community that celebrates the idea that there is something wrong with whatever you do no matter what because everyone is so different. My dream is to have so many people with so many foundations that all they can do is find joy in the similarities and laughter in their differences. I want mocking and hurtful words to be embraced so that in the end we will leech the power out of them within our own community and make them dull and silly (but still fun to use). I will allow intense and sometimes painful arguments as long as the focus is always on the growth (or lack thereof) that happens after. I want people to embrace their feelings to the extent that they can embrace when they are hurt and find power from that. Yeah. That's what I want.
The three things I struggle with reconciling are my politics/theory, my sexuality, and my spirituality.
Post a Comment