Conceptualizing a Shared Creator-Centric Spirituality
Part 4 of Losing Our Moral Compass: How the Decline of Organized Religion Undermines America’s Pursuit of Virtue
(In the preceding Part 3, "The Sense of An Emerging Dark Ages,” of our six-part series "Losing Our Moral Compass,” we explored the profound implications of America's vanishing shared moral and spiritual frameworks. As the influence of organized religion wanes, the nation faces a crisis of absent spirituality and, with its loss, confronts a fundamental void in the understanding and pursuit of the common good. Our fading moral lexicon, once anchored by maxims like "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you," leaves individuals isolated in determining life's meaning and shaping their life purpose, their behavior now driven by personal impulses and societal influences rather than a collective moral guide. This void results in a public sphere devolving into chaos, characterized by bitter political polarization and a decline in virtues such as altruism, empathy, and sacrifice. Dr. Manion warns of the emergence of a moral anarchy, where traditional virtues are supplanted by self-interest and societal violence, underscoring the urgent need for a restored moral foundation to prevent the path towards self-destruction.)
Part 4
Conceptualizing a Shared Creator-Centric Spirituality
Confronted with this perception of an absent moral grounding and the cultural nihilism that follows the loss of a shared spiritual framework, we would do well to reflect on how to nurture a more enduring and humble form of spirituality. The goal is not to reimpose rigid dogmas or rebuild old hierarchies, but rather to cultivate a climate in which the spiritual imagination can begin to awaken and thrive within both traditional religious institutions and new spaces for moral development.
“Repent and Believe!” versus “Openness to the Spiritual Imagination”
Moral commands and spiritual imperatives seldom draw adherents. Such exclamations may be optimal to retain members in a cult, but for recruiting into a belief system, if anything, they only serve to alienate. It would seem obvious that berating and flogging would only attract masochists.
By 'openness to the spiritual imagination,' I mean fostering a willingness to quieten the discomfort of 'not knowing,' to pause to engage mystery, to allow yourself to experience -- and savor -- transcendent moments, and to recognize or at least consider that moral truth emanates from a timeless wisdom rather than being merely a human invention. This perspective invites us to look beyond our narrow horizons while respecting diverse paths to spiritual understanding.
This openness to entertaining matters of transcendent spirit is not a command; it is simply an invitation.
This spiritual openness need not reject the goodness of humanism or the transcendental possibilities of self-oriented spiritual practices. Indeed, many who begin with yoga’s physical practices eventually encounter a spiritual framework and a set of moral principles, for example those embedded in the yamas and niyamas, and discover that mindful breathing and a series of postures are associated with a deeper moral and spiritual inquiry. Similarly, humanism’s emphasis on human dignity and potential can serve as fertile soil in which deeper questions of meaning and purpose can take root. In other words, we are not discarding these insights; we are placing them into a framework that allows for a more expansive and coherent moral and virtue-centric discourse. Such integration can help counter the isolation and factionalism we’ve seen, offering a pathway back to cohesive communal moral dialogue.
A Shared Language of Spirituality
For societies shaped by a Creator-centric cosmology as ours is, recognition of shared belief in a single Creator offers a convergent focal point, holding that our moral obligations reflect a transcendent order rather than simply rules for navigating a meaningless random existence. Embracing this Creator-centric stance does not minimize humanist or self-spiritual insights, but supports and integrates them into a more expansive vision -- one that affirms our reliance on an envisioned and believed-in moral source. Nor does it demand a uniform creed; instead, it invites humble inquiry before pre-existing truths we did not author, reminding us that the wisdom of a fundamental moral order precedes and outlasts our individual opinions.
By restoring a common spiritual vocabulary – rooted in reverence for an active Creator yet open to the contributions of diverse spiritual traditions – we equip ourselves to move beyond self-spiritual non-theistic relativism. We begin building communities defined not by “I’m right and you’re wrong” and “I can do whatever I want” assertions, but by time-honored wisdom-embraced moral aspiration. Such a shared moral reference point can help bridge our political and cultural divides, reorienting us as a nation from insistence on self-oriented conquest to respect for life and the pursuit of cooperation and collaboration.
Of course, some may argue that purely secular humanism can achieve the same moral ends without invoking a Creator or transcendent order. Fair enough. Humanism, with its emphasis on reason, empathy, and shared humanity, is indeed valuable to a moral order. However, while humanism provides essential moral tools, this essay suggests that acknowledging a higher moral source beyond our human existence broadens our moral horizon and strengthens our capacity to maintain moral coherence, especially in times of crisis and fragmentation when collective human reason fails.
Ultimately, this openness to the spiritual imagination is not passive; it's an active posture of seeking that encourages an array of practices -- prayer, meditation, service -- that nurture virtue and connect us more deeply with one another and, via these bonds, with the Creator. As we turn to practical steps for reintroducing these values into our public and private lives, we'll see that openness to accepting or contemplating a greater unknown is not an unachievable state, but a practical mindset toward renewed moral vitality. In rediscovering a moral and spiritual anchor that transcends self-oriented relativism, we arm ourselves against the emergent tectonic clashes of our time.
Part 5: Some Practical Steps Toward Enabling a Shared Spirituality)