A life transformed

The folks at Get Religion are pretty conservative, but recently tmatt made common cause with Hugo in denouncing makeover TV. Unlike Hugo, who mainly comes from a feminist perspective, tmatt attacks it for hijacking the Christian language of sanctification and redemption:

This show performs miracles in the lives of women, helps them exorcize their inner demons through secular forms of confession and produces transformations that could only be called "born again" experiences. Oh, there's lots of ritual cutting involved, too. Blood must be shed, if you want a new life.

In the comment section, he quotes from the Swan Handbook:

Becoming a Swan requires faith. And I don't mean religion. I mean the faith that you'll be taken care of in the universe if you do your work.

As tmatt points out, that basically is religion. It was interesting to see this on the same day that Jennifer was quoting Mark McIntosh, who defines spirituality as "discovery of the true self precisely in encountering the divine and human other who allows one neither to rest in reassuring self images nor to languish in the prison of a false social construction of oneself." Some of the Swans might do well to ponder that one, it sounds like.

TS O'Rama has been thinking along the same lines, but much less seriously, with the "Extreme Soul Makeover":

Dah-ling, you've let yourself go! Those are the seven deadly sins, not virtues, for heaven sakes. Thank God he starts where we are and not where we should be.

Fortunately we have a team of specialists here to assist: soulatologists, prayer stylists, alms artists, confessors, soul beauticians, spiritual personal trainers, and most importantly the Soul Surgeon, who never leaves a scar. He's always available and no appointments are needed, so don't hesistate to talk with him.

I think I had something profound to say about this, but my brain is dribbling out my ears.

Posted by Camassia at October 29, 2004 02:56 PM | TrackBack