Diary of Uncertainties Log

19/02/2020

Upon hearing the brief for the uncertainties project, I immediately created a mind- map of the concepts in my personal life I found to be uncertain. I decided to look at spirituality as a factor in my self identity, as it was a concept that I had always had my doubts about, simply because I didn’t understand concepts such as where religion and faith stood in my identity. In my box, I chose to put idols/figurines of Indian, Egyptian and Norse gods, tarot and oracle cards, semi precious stones thought to possess power, and my lucky socks. Though each of these items serve a purpose of faith, I have always been uncertain about the idea of giving a physical object a metaphysical or transcendent value beyond human control. However, over lockdown I have noticed recurring articles and studies about the value of faith and religion in helping people all over the world cope with their identity (Sherwood 2020, Tearfund 2020, BBC News 2020). These articles also often mentioned that the government’s policies on places of worship and a lack of support had led to the closure of many of the organisations that were keeping the faith of people alive for months during the pandemic. These articles made me question the role of spirituality in 21st century society, as well as how practices that were continued in a certain way for generations had to be changed dramatically due to the pandemic, and whether that affected the way people believed in a higher power.

20/02/2020

In my own journey with these objects and elements of ‘unknown’, I had never really grown up in an environment that put religion at the forefront of society- and I let it be known to my parents quite young that I wasn’t greatly affected by the concept of spirituality either. However, as I have grown older, the concept of being spiritually devoted has been an alluring area of exploration for me, especially the way in which religion actually forms a part of one’s social identity. It’s an uncertainty I have within myself as well as with the world around me, in terms of why so many people choose to put their faith into a “higher power” and why I don’t believe in it. I have always loved collecting artifacts such as figurines and masks with symbolic spiritual origins, though it’s always been for the way they present as collectible pieces of art. However, in reflecting on the amount of objects I had put in my box, it led to the question – is there a part of me that unconsciously believes in the power of these objects having an impact on my life?

22/02/2020

In an article by The Conversation, spirituality is seen as a buzzword- entirely different to being religious. In fact, more millennials in the West identify as spiritual rather than religious, “critics have suggested it is a byproduct of the self-obsessed culture of today, evidence of a narcissism epidemic” (Watts 2017). This was a learning moment for me, as I had always associated being spiritual as being tied with the values of religion to an extent. “When people call themselves spiritual they are basically signaling three things… that they believe there is more to the world than meets the eye…. that they try to attend to their inner life — to their mental and emotional states — in the hopes of gaining a certain kind of self-knowledge… [and] being compassionate, empathetic and open-hearted” (Watts 2017). This made me question what lived spirituality meant, or how spirituality played a role in everyday life. I frequently meditate in the morning through simple 10- minute breathing exercises, does incorporating that into my daily life make me spiritual? In further exploring this question, I want to be able to use the uncertain elements as an intervention in my daily life, and see if I can experiment with myself and understand some of the processes behind incorporating a practice that is unknown to myself.

23/02/2021

After my presentation, I had received the feedback that my idea of looking into religion was too broad, and I needed to choose one of the elements in order to gain a focused starting point from which academic research could be conducted. It was also brought to my attention that often time religion and academia don’t tend to go hand in hand, and hence it was necessary that I choose a component where I could justify my rationale of uncertainty through a research lens. I decided on choosing the idea of giving statues/idols metaphysical power, as I wanted to be able to explore this through a socio-anthropological lens and see if it helped to make the uncertainty in this belief within myself more clear.

Bibliography:

BBC News. 2020. Covid-19: Religious groups in England criticise lockdown worship ban. [online]

Sherwood, H., 2020. Keeping the faith: religion in the UK amid coronavirus. [online] The Guardian.

Tearfund. 2020. Many Brits look to faith during lockdown – Tearfund. [online]

Watts, G., 2017. What does it mean to be spiritual? [online] The Conversation