Filipino free-religion
As a free-religionist, who also comes from the Filipino tradition, the religious expressions of my ancestors are still valuable to me because they remind me of this living, dynamic, creative impulse in all humans to name what is sacred. It also reminds me, of course, of "the great life of free and selfless creative evolution" that makes Filipino religious expressions possible.
With this jiyū shūkyō lens, how could I approach a study of Filipino spirituality?
- Engage in deep research or show deep interest in the growing scholarship in this area.
- Perhaps, even join the scholarship.
- Include remnants of Filipino spirituality in my tabernacle.
- Look for ways I could give new expression for these old practices.
- Write more about them, particularly through comparing or connecting them with other things in my path like jiyū shūkyō, Jōdo Shinshū, Christianity, etc.
Possible projects
- Compile sources of Filipino spirituality.
- Translate them to English.
Emerging issues
How to approach returning to indigenous spirituality
How do I approach this returning to roots while honoring the naturalistic partialities that I've developed through my spiritual journey?
There has to be a balance here. I want to avoid "cultural appropriation." But I also don't want to compromise my personal truth. How do I use them?
Ideas:
- Position yourself as a humble student, asking what I can learn from it and how can it reshape my worldview.
- Seek knowledge directly from cultural and knowledge bearers of indigenous communities.
- Before integrating a knowledge, concept, or practice, deeply learn about its original context. Ask myself how I could practice it informed by that context.
- Resist cultural commodification for personal gains.
- Try to give back to the community.
- Use them for decolonizing relationship with land, community, and self.
- Instead of borrowing rituals, focus on shared themes.
- Create new practices based on these shared themes or indigenous concepts.
- Transparently document your integration—sources, uncertainties, and values.
- Be willing to let go what is not yours to hold.
Two questions:
- Do we have existing obvious free-religious exemplars?
- How can indigenous spirituality be integrated into a modern, contemporary free religious spiritual life?