Relevantism as an Alternative to Religion, Agnosticism, and Atheism p.1
After composing some writings concerning my concept of relevantism, a topic I sensed to be dear to my heart but of which I have read very little, I came across some sparse writings on the net which vindicated my own interpretation of the term. As I conceive it, it is not cultural relevantism, and is almost diametrically opposed to radical forms of relativism.
Here is what I wrote:
God isn�t a drug. Spirituality is about seeking relevance. Seekers do not demand. How could a drug tell me that sharpness cuts? That a song is sung? That I belong? The truth is situational and can be approached determinatively, but it cannot be said for certain whether the same expression will always connote the first intention.
Finding relevance is an adaptive technique. If you know you are lost, you have to trust others. If you know you have found yourself, you must trust your own resolves and certainties. When you know you have done well, you can grow to trust the moment as it carries you.
Ask yourself: Am I lost? Have I found myself? Have I done well? Admissions give you permission.
Finding relevance is about realizing what�s important to you. When I do the things I do, am I just being needy? Is there something to be said when the day is done? Am I really here, or is part of me living somewhere else? You can also ask yourself: �What is the big idea?� What are you describing with your life? What is the cheapest way to amaze yourself, or barring that, to keep up the appearance that you are who you once thought you were? Do you feel that who you are is someone else�s problem? Maybe you aren�t who they think you are. Maybe you�re angry, and with that anger you�re going places.
Relevantism might loosely be conceived as a pragmatic religious movement. Spirituality may be found without God, or at least without the conventional idea of God. To me the focus of the spiritual quest is not to find deity, as is implied by agnosticism, but rather to seek spiritual relevance.
Virtue is not the last resort of the virtuous�a holy grail only achieved by foolishness and suffering�it is a way of living independent of the world�s hunger for virtue. Even when man does not swallow God (and how could he?), we cannot say that life is without spirit.
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