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KALAMAZOO
GAZETTE, Saturday, June 26,1999 The guru from India gently wrapped his soft hands around the outstretched palm of a man, unblinkingly staring into his eyes for several seconds, then closing his own in meditation as he tried to feel a flow of energy. A fist glance seems to indicate there’s not much religious energy in the American West. It rates low in the percentage of people regularly attending churches, synagogues or mosques. But this guru and others put no importance on sitting in a pew. Where others see religious depravity, they see spiritual opportunity. According to shuddhananda, the West is the most spiritual of places in the United States, open to Eastern religious practices as no other region in the country. Perhaps that’s why a growing number of gurus making regular visits to the West, with Portland becoming a hot spot along with Seattle, San Francisco and Boulder, Colo. The gurus guide peoples eager to walk their own spiritual paths where there are no dogmas or duties; where individual seekers, not institutions, make the rules; where people can accept or reject as they please. This pick-and-choose, smorgasbord spirituality contrasts with the approach of established denominations, which traditionally have set the table and served the spiritual meals, take them or leave them. No one knows how many selfstyled seekers have rejected the old menu to find their own way. They don’t show up on surveys. Some pseculate that an emphasis on nature by Eastern teachers is what attracts those in Western states. Others say their individualistic mentality, shaped by a frontier history, complements Eastern theologies of tolerance and blazing your own spiritual trail. Or perhaps theWest is simply a progressive place where trends, even spiritual ones, tend to begin. J. Gordon Melton, and expert on religious groups and author of the Encylopedia of American Religion, says U.S. followers of Eastern practices are hardly a blip on the screen when tracking religious groups that count thousands and even millions of adherents. "But they werent’t even here a generation ago," Melton says. "So it’s spectacular growth when you think there was not base to start from. Now there are 200 ro 300 gurus here or live here. I liken it to establishing a beachhead." Jerry Jones of Portland is they co-author of "From Here to Nirvana: The Yoga Journal Guide to Spiritual India." He conducted a nationwide book tour, and says turnouts were twice as large on the West Coast as the East Coast and three times larger than in the South. Many seekers are introduced to Eastern ways through yoga, mediitation or a variety of healing practices. Others might have been exposed through retreats.This loosely connected movement used to be called New Age, but that term has become passe. Hinduism does have beliefs, such as reincarnation and dharma, the sustaining power of the universe. But Hindus alos maintain that all paths go up the same mountain, where at the top it will be discovered that everyone is looking at the same moon. "Interpretations are may, but the truth is one," Shuddhananda said. Some speculate that an emphasis on nature by Eastern teachers is what attracts those in Western states. Others say their individualistic mentality, shaped by a frontier history, complements Eastern theologies of tolerance and blazing your own spiritual trail. Or perhaps the West is simply a progressive place where trends, even spiritual ones, tend to begin. According to an often-quoted survery early this decade, less than a third of Oregonians regularly attend church, a figure that tied the state with Alaska in the next-to-last-spot. Nevada ranked 50th. Another survey showed that 17 percent of Oregonians, the highest in the nation, claimed they percent in Washington, which puts that state in second place. Ann Shannon of Portland wouldn’t pop up on such a survey as a regular churchgoer, even though she sees herself as quite spiritual. Raised Roman Catholic, she left church as a teen-ager. She’s now a devotee of Shuddhananda and thinks she was a nun and a priest in previous lives. Page No.1 |