Blaze of light

On clear summer evenings in San Francisco, one discovers a little-discussed advantage of the usually present fog: it blocks the setting sun. Not that there's anything wrong with sunlight or sunsets, but late afternoons -- by which I mean 7:30 pm, like now -- with the sun slanting low across the city: man, what an explosion of light. (Someone wrote me after seeing my abortive "Living in SF" blog, in which I made all of three entries. They wanted to know things about what it's really like to live in SF, which is just why I created that blog. But I didn't have time to do two blogs and write a book. So all you get is this one. I'll try putting more "what it's like to live in SF"-type things here.

For today, there's the blazing low sun of early summer, and this website, which quite boggles my mind in its earnest reaching attempts to invent something we otherwise call "religion" or even "spirituality" without ever using those words or even admitting to the existence of same.

Several years ago, at the instigation of a supervisor at work, I signed up for a couple of weekends of what was billed as a "communications seminar." I showed up at the first session, at a rented hall in downtown San Francisco, and found that I had signed up for basically an EST-like weekend in which we were going to be put through the wringer and then all bond. During the opening address, the event's leader discussed a number of concepts relating to new age spirituality (like "your soul's desire"), apparently supposing that none of the 100 people attending the event were aware of the existence of organized religion, since she said several times that there was nowhere in today's society a person could have these spiritual needs fulfilled -- except, of course, in the very seminar we were attending.

I'm not suggesting that the person behind "Your Celebrations" has any relation to that EST-like seminar, but her assumption seems to be the same: One has a need for events, consultations and rituals to mark the significant occasions of one's life, and for presumably wise people to help you get through them; since human society has never seen fit to meet these needs until now, we'll just make it up as we go along, producing "healing ceremonies to release illness, forgive others or let go of anger."

It's all so earnest and well-meaning that it seems mean to make fun of it. But are people really so clueless that they are in need of a made-up spirituality? Aren't any of the religious traditions of the last 3000 years sufficient to -- to quote them again -- "expand your horizons and nourish your soul"?

All this is illustrative of "what it's like to live in San Francisco." (Okay, this woman's from the East Bay, but here it's the same.) Not the new age spirituality per se, but the notion that one is supposed to regard anything well-meaning, no matter how preposterous, and accept it with a mild sense of tolerance. As I've written elsewhere, the one taboo in San Francisco is not some outré sexual act, but disapproval or, more precisely, laughing at someone's earnest attempts at identity. If someone says "This is me, this is what I do," you're not supposed to laugh. You're just supposed to say, Oh, how creative of you.

So I'm obliged to say: Vaya con dios, Alexandra True -- or whatever your real name is. Or... well, not con dios. I guess it would have to be con "the light of your own acceptance and unconditional love until you are overflowing." No need to ask forgiveness of a God, to accept or try to improve your karma, to follow a law or a tradition. It's all within you -- "flood yourself" (holy baptism, Batman!) with "your own acceptance." Sheesh.