Letters from Camp Rehoboth

CAMP Spirit

by Tom Bohache

The Time Is Now

A couple of weekends ago my partner and I ventured into downtown Rehoboth on the first really hot day we’ve had this year. Naturally, it was crowded with cars and people—a little foretaste of the season. The ocean was a beautiful bright blue; the sky was cloudless; and the air was fresh and crisp. Why we chose to go indoors to shop for books, I will never know, but we did. Ever bargain-hunters, we made our way into Atlantic Books and went our separate ways. I checked out the aisle marked "Spirituality, Inspiration, Recovery, and Self-Help," but found that this part of the store was so crowded I could not even get close enough to see the book titles.

Later on, I found myself ruminating on that experience. Why is it that people flock to these types of books? Why does the current nonfiction bestseller list reveal a combination of spiritual, self-help, and diet books? Why do Dr. Phil and Oprah get such high ratings? I think it’s because human beings are so desperate for a "quick fix" to solve all our problems. Living in a fast-food, internet, reality TV culture, we are used to having things come to us quickly, without waiting. As the late comedienne Thelma Ritter once said about the new medium of television, "They don’t want it good; they want it Tuesday!"

When it comes to spirituality, though, I don’t think one can get a quick fix. Sure, we can read books that give us a sure-fire plan for success and happiness. But, as they say in AA, it is still up to each one of us to "do the footwork." Developing a plan or program for spiritual fulfillment takes time; it is often a lifetime quest. I like to think of it as a journey: We start off, we wander, we take short-cuts and detours, we look for places to pause. We encounter peaks and valleys, oases and desert territory. Sometimes we cut short the journey before reaching the destination; often we just sit down by the side of the road and give up. But the journey goes on, if we are serious about wanting that spiritual fulfillment.

There are many ways to develop a spiritual plan, but each requires consistency and dedication. Like learning a language, spirituality must be practiced every day in order to become familiar and effective. The three monotheistic religions— Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—encourage adherents to both read the scriptures (Bible and/or Qur’an) and to pray. Eastern religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism recommend meditation and contemplation as well as spiritual readings. Native and earth-centered traditions include rituals of various sorts, chanting, and self-introspection. Some spiritual paths are communal; others are solitary. Some are organized into hierarchical churches or focus on the leader of the group, while others such as twelve-step groups concentrate on principles rather than personalities.

Spring and summer are wonderful times to embark on a spiritual plan. There’s plenty of opportunity for solitude: walking in the woods or on the boardwalk, sitting on the sand looking out at the ocean, gardening or yard work, swimming or other exercise. I don’t think the type of path or whether it fits into traditional religion or spirituality is important; what is important is that the journey is begun.