I’m using William Grimbol’s book, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Spirituality for Teens, for a session on youth spirituality in Adelaide next Thursday.
William Grimbol is pastor at Shepherd Island Presbyterian Church, New York, and for some years has worked with young people in the area through a youth centre.
Grimbol writes the way he talks – a bit like Robin Williams, if the online sermon reviews are to be believed.
I like Grimbol’s grappling with spirituality a way of experiencing life. He says that spirituality is all about awareness, being fully awake to life, mainly noticing. Spirituality, Grimbol writes, frees you to see deep into the universe that exists outside and inside, looking deep insisde yourself, others, the world, the earth, and even God. Spirituality, he says, is a vision of the best you can be, the best we can be, and the best the world can be – heaven on earth.
Spirituality, Grimbol reminds us, is not becoming less loving and more indifferent or hostile. It is not about becoming less forgiving and more judgemental, less tolereant and more intolerant, less open-minded and more rigid in your thinking, less willing to change or compromise and more inclined to be fixed in one position, less willing to make a mistake and more inclined to have to be perfect, less humble and more self-righteous, less fascinated by life’s many mysteries and more certain that you have it all figured out. As I read this section I couldn’t help thinking of the movie, Saved.
Grimbol offers some very practical approaches to spirituality for teenagers. There’s material on learning to recognise the language of the body – paying attention to lumps in the throat, goosebumps, tears, dumbstruck feeling, breathlessness and so on. He introduces the language of artistry – learning from the masters, experimenting with creation, claiming mistakes.
He goes on to explore spirituality through the five senses – vision quest, listening to your life, smelling like a rose, getting in touch, and developing good taste.
Grimbol finishes with an examination of spirituality as living the longings for home, calling, life to the fullest and forgiveness.
I really like the thought that spirituality is a means of noticing. I think it has a lot to do with looking for a deeper meaning in everything. Spirituality is about asking questions and not being afraid of asking questions. Being aware of what is going in your world, your life, and your heart will all heighten the level of spirituality. I really liked the connection that is made between spirituality and your five senses. One has to be aware of all five to be conscious of their spirit.