Y'know, cheesy things like inspirational seminary songs, or The Work and the Glory, or "Family. Isn't it about...time?"
You have to understand that I just returned from 'The Forgotten Carols' which is a christmas musical by mormon songwriter Michael McLean. It was a fun, enjoyable show. However, the whole show seems to depend on giving you that "warm fuzzy" feeling. The kind that makes you say, "aaawwwww, cuute.."
The show ended with the entire audience linking hands and singing, "We can be together forever, someday."
Now, I'm not saying that it isn't a good thing. I'm not sayin' that at all.
I just don't feel like it's for me.
I'll join in. Heck, I'll even link hands and sway, and enjoy it with you. I'm not against uplifting, spiritual things, of course.
But I would be alright without a lot of the "fluff".
I dunno, maybe I'm just cynical...
4 comments:
Logan, it's people like you that keep me sane. The only way I can get through those sort of things is to make sarcastic comments. I'd rather be cynical than sickly cheesy. Uhh...it makes me cringe! The things people say...and do! Ahhh! I'm so happy to know there's people out there that understand me. If you ever need anyone to help you be cynical, I'm here. Also, you should probably delete this so I don't offend all of our friends. :)
I think a lot of the fluff comes from the idea that is very common in Utah that if it worked to make one person feel warm and fuzzy and that one person enjoys things being cute, that it'll be inspirational every time.. but my very weak theory is that if it's meaningless without the crowd, then the event, song, etc. is held together a little more by groupthink than through individual feelings of something being "cute" or "warm and fuzzy".. and maybe I'm weird because I don't think groupthink is always a bad thing.. but not always a productive thing.
I would say that individual study and learning about religion tends to be more powerful than group activities, with perhaps, the exception of testimony meetings...
Then again, I like Amma (the hugging saint) and the Hare Krishna mantra both of which are kind of "cute" things.. but mean a little more than that to me - mostly because they're things that I respect not because I am Hindu or Hare Krishna, but because as an individual they've affected me...
And as long as this is going to be an outragously long message:
I don't think that many things like the Hare Krishna mantra or... dare I say it? ... the sacrament prayers are intrinsically spiritual.. I think it has more to do with knowing, understanding, and feeling the meaning than it does with the words themselves.
Perhaps the problem with the fluff is that it concentrates more upon the "words" than it does upon getting somewhere deeper.
Sometimes I feel like the fluffiness keeps things at the surface of something that we all could go further into but are simply ignoring for the sake of wanting something to be cute.
Oh, but remember: swaying means marriage. :)
Thank you, once again, for a great time.. by the way.
I couldn't agree more - if it's "fluff" that people are after, then it seems empty. Why do we enjoy that occasional unexpected "warm and fuzzy"? I think I sincerely feel that way occasionally.
Things like "The Forgotten Carols" are full of cheese to you and me because we feel like somebody is trying to manipulate our thinking.
True warm fuzzy feelings need to be organic, not forced.
Ah! I suppose you are right Uncle Dale, it springs from a distrust of conformity.
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