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Keeping the Faith Without a Religion
A Compelling Exploration of the Emerging Secular SpiritualityWhat is faith? It is not something we must receive from a religion, nor is it a quality we must abandon in order to be rational. "Faith is not the same as belief," writes bestselling author Roger Housden. "A nonreligious faith allows us to live with uncertainty, change, and mortality—to embrace life in all its sublime beauty." For the many who self-identify as "spiritual but not religious," Housden’s book Keeping the Faith Without a Religion offers us a way to embrace the extraordinary mystery of our lives without resorting to blind dogmatism or nihilistic scientism. He invites us to and belief—how our hunger for certainty and easy answers impedes the growth of a mature spiritualityGuidance for building a personal faith based on your own inner experienceHow faith in life’s uncertainty can lift us through hard times—even when we know there are no guaranteesLove, joy, and beauty—what these experiences can teach us about the intelligence of the universeToday, many of us seek a new approach to spirituality that honors both the rational and the mystical in equal measure. With Keeping the Faith Without a Religion, Roger Housden offers a guidebook for free-thinking seekers—an inspiring call to step beyond the need for one absolute truth and trust ourselves to the unfolding of our singular, extraordinary life.
153 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 1, 2014
86 people are currently reading
143 people want to read
About the author
Roger Housden
44 books121 followersRoger Housden is the author of some twenty books of non fiction, including the best selling Ten Poems series. His new book, SAVED BY BEAUTY: ADVENTURES OF AN AMERICAN ROMANTIC IN IRAN, comes out on May 17 2011 with Broadway Books.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
February 7, 2015
Housden didn't introduce me to any new ideas, but I like the way he illustrates his themes with stories from his personal life as well as those of others from history and various cultural and spiritual traditions. I'm grateful to him for introducing me to several new poets, and the story of his travels and travails in Iran (being detained by the Iranian police who wanted him turn him into a spy) was gripping enough to encourage me to read his book about Iran.
I'm with him all the way in advocating for being one's own spiritual authority rather than an unquestioning follower of religious dogma and institutions. Housden writes that "The era of absolute truth is over." But he also points out the absurdity of the present day trend to over emphasize subjective experience and "do anything to gain it: life experience, sexual experience, peak experience. Our cultural heros are all addicts of intensity...see the finest gurus, do the most meditation." Poets, writers, artists, mystics and others can be our spiritual guides, whether secular or religious, and Housden weaves many of them through his themes of of trusting mystery, the dark, changes and keeping faith with beauty, kindness and love.
I'm with him all the way in advocating for being one's own spiritual authority rather than an unquestioning follower of religious dogma and institutions. Housden writes that "The era of absolute truth is over." But he also points out the absurdity of the present day trend to over emphasize subjective experience and "do anything to gain it: life experience, sexual experience, peak experience. Our cultural heros are all addicts of intensity...see the finest gurus, do the most meditation." Poets, writers, artists, mystics and others can be our spiritual guides, whether secular or religious, and Housden weaves many of them through his themes of of trusting mystery, the dark, changes and keeping faith with beauty, kindness and love.
March 7, 2016
I found this book less a commentary on religion and more about the intrinsic spirituality we carry as human beings. I would read along and then find a paragraph that really stood out and resonated with me. I highlighted the best passages.
Sociology states that religion persists because science fails to answer some basic questions, so people go looking to fill in the gaps on the meaning of suffering, what happens after this life, etc. Yet, I am constantly looking somewhere (albeit unsuccessfully) for answers to questions that both science and religion fail to answer, hence these types of books.
Organized religion seems only to propose generic ideals that are unrealistic and leave so many feeling they fall short. Modern Christianity and the life of Christ bear little resemblance to one another anymore in my view. I like Housden's statement in the intro that "we intuitively sense that there is an intelligence, and inherent rightness in the way life presents itself moment by moment." Rather than living by religious threat of punishment.
Sociology states that religion persists because science fails to answer some basic questions, so people go looking to fill in the gaps on the meaning of suffering, what happens after this life, etc. Yet, I am constantly looking somewhere (albeit unsuccessfully) for answers to questions that both science and religion fail to answer, hence these types of books.
Organized religion seems only to propose generic ideals that are unrealistic and leave so many feeling they fall short. Modern Christianity and the life of Christ bear little resemblance to one another anymore in my view. I like Housden's statement in the intro that "we intuitively sense that there is an intelligence, and inherent rightness in the way life presents itself moment by moment." Rather than living by religious threat of punishment.
September 17, 2017
Some lovely lines
I want to lie down under a tree.
This is the only duty that is not death.
- James Wright
The right way to go easy
Is to forget the right way
And forget that the going is easy
- Chuang Tzu
Mankind will be saved by beauty.
- Fyodor Dostoevsky
Beauty is one of the saving graces of being alive. As Anne Frank reminds us, it is always there for the looking, even in the ugliest of circumstances. If we keep faith with beauty, then we can keep faith with life. Beauty is worth being alive for. Our hunger and longing for it are intrinsic to being human. At beauty's root is the sheer delight, the awe, and the gratitude of experiencing the transcendent here on earth.
Think of all the beauty around you and be happy. - Anne Frank
“A man should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his life, in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul.” - Goethe
t happens all the time in heaven,
And some day
It will begin to happen
Again on earth -
That men and women who are married,
And men and men who are
Lovers,
And women and women
Who give each other
Light,
Often will get down on their knees
And while so tenderly
Holding their lover's hand,
With tears in their eyes,
Will sincerely speak, saying,
'My dear,
How can I be more loving to you;
How can I be more kind?'
- Hafiz
Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside,
you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing.
- Kindness by Naomi Shihab Nye, 1952
I don't exactly know what a prayer is,
I do know how to pay attention ...
- Mary Oliver
Love is and always will be the best insurance against the despair for which street drugs are the obvious antidote - A General Theory of Love, by Thomas Lewis, Fari Amini, and Richard Lannon
The stranger who was your self.
Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart
to itself
- Derek Walcott, Love after Love
It began in mystery and it will end in mystery,
but what a savage and beautiful
country lies in between.
- Diane Ackerman
I want to lie down under a tree.
This is the only duty that is not death.
- James Wright
The right way to go easy
Is to forget the right way
And forget that the going is easy
- Chuang Tzu
Mankind will be saved by beauty.
- Fyodor Dostoevsky
Beauty is one of the saving graces of being alive. As Anne Frank reminds us, it is always there for the looking, even in the ugliest of circumstances. If we keep faith with beauty, then we can keep faith with life. Beauty is worth being alive for. Our hunger and longing for it are intrinsic to being human. At beauty's root is the sheer delight, the awe, and the gratitude of experiencing the transcendent here on earth.
Think of all the beauty around you and be happy. - Anne Frank
“A man should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his life, in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul.” - Goethe
t happens all the time in heaven,
And some day
It will begin to happen
Again on earth -
That men and women who are married,
And men and men who are
Lovers,
And women and women
Who give each other
Light,
Often will get down on their knees
And while so tenderly
Holding their lover's hand,
With tears in their eyes,
Will sincerely speak, saying,
'My dear,
How can I be more loving to you;
How can I be more kind?'
- Hafiz
Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside,
you must know sorrow as the other deepest thing.
- Kindness by Naomi Shihab Nye, 1952
I don't exactly know what a prayer is,
I do know how to pay attention ...
- Mary Oliver
Love is and always will be the best insurance against the despair for which street drugs are the obvious antidote - A General Theory of Love, by Thomas Lewis, Fari Amini, and Richard Lannon
The stranger who was your self.
Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart
to itself
- Derek Walcott, Love after Love
It began in mystery and it will end in mystery,
but what a savage and beautiful
country lies in between.
- Diane Ackerman
October 26, 2020
This book is amazing and wonderful if you are a person who is reassessing your spiritual beliefs and confused as to what that may mean. Mr. Housden does a great job of pulling out those pieces of humanity that prove we all share the same spirit, regardless of time, space, and beliefs.
August 16, 2020
Good for anyone to read, in my opinion, with or without a religion. Truly beautiful and hopeful.
June 2, 2016
Filled with wisdom and insight drawn from multiple religions (or lack thereof) to get to the heart of what faith can be without the dogmatism of religion: being present in the moment, letting go of certainty to be open to the mysteries of life, letting go of things that no longer serve you (detachment to materialism), loving beauty, being imperfect, accepting change, and being someone who at their core is loving.
Passage that stood out to me:
"...there is usually a lifetime of remembering and forgetting. For moments at a time, for days at a time, we may know that the silent center of who we are is nothing but love that made the world. It may not feel or sound as grand as this. It will likely feel ordinary, even nothing to speak of, because it is self-evident. But we will be in the center of ourselves, tender and open, and from there we shall feel in community with the world...and then we forget...and a longing arises for something we have no name for, though some call it God...and this longing, perhaps more than anything else, points to what we already are, even as it may not feel like it. You cannot long for something you do not already know. The seventeenth-century French Catholic writer and philosopher Blaise Pascal, putting words in his God's mouth, said, "You would not seek me if you did not already possess me." Once we have known this love that we already are, it leaves a mark that never entirely fades away. It is beyond time. It is this timeless love at our core that can find a mirror in the love of another..." (p.113-114).
Passage that stood out to me:
"...there is usually a lifetime of remembering and forgetting. For moments at a time, for days at a time, we may know that the silent center of who we are is nothing but love that made the world. It may not feel or sound as grand as this. It will likely feel ordinary, even nothing to speak of, because it is self-evident. But we will be in the center of ourselves, tender and open, and from there we shall feel in community with the world...and then we forget...and a longing arises for something we have no name for, though some call it God...and this longing, perhaps more than anything else, points to what we already are, even as it may not feel like it. You cannot long for something you do not already know. The seventeenth-century French Catholic writer and philosopher Blaise Pascal, putting words in his God's mouth, said, "You would not seek me if you did not already possess me." Once we have known this love that we already are, it leaves a mark that never entirely fades away. It is beyond time. It is this timeless love at our core that can find a mirror in the love of another..." (p.113-114).
October 9, 2014
Housden presents a view of life and existence that is filled with spiritual wonder and mysticism without a reliance on a specific religion or worldview. He even makes an important distinction between faith and belief, asserting that the former is a matter of the heart, while the latter is mental. He cites personal experiences, people he's known, historic figures, poets and poetry, and various authors to make important and - I feel - valuable points. Good read!
November 4, 2014
Housden makes the distinction between faith (non-rational, intuitive, of the heart) and belief (learned). I appreciated his thoughts of living and trusting in the moment with the great Mystery of life and yet, his theme is "secular spirituality" which to me is a contradiction of terms that I'm unable to buy into.
November 12, 2014
Excellent book. Highly recommended for anyone seeking to understand their faith outside of the confines of am organized religion.
January 13, 2016
Hated the first chapter, but the rest was better. Nothing life-changing, but some interesting book recommendations, and some hope... which is always a good thing to have.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews