Image Description: A person holds rocks and dirt in their hands in the shape of a heart.
This summer, the Michigan Nones and Dones community is exploring spiritual values and practices, and we’re applying them to commitments of anti-racism. We’re also asking ourselves: As we think about our religious/spiritual upbringing, what did we learn about these values? What do we want to shed? What do we want to retain? What do we want to deepen or take on in a new way?
We recently held a conversation about the spiritual practice of worth. We asked, “How is dignity a spiritual practice?”
With permission, I am sharing our answers.
As a spiritual practice, dignity involves…
1) treating people and interacting with people with the worth and value they have
2) taking interest in people as individuals
3) engaging justice in a macro-way and viewing people with compassion and interest in a micro-way
4) honoring that we are created equally as an expression of God, and we are uniquely beautiful
5) respecting people as an expression of love
6) choosing to actively love everyone
7) treating people in the way they deserve to be treated — with respect and honor
8) honoring that the divine in me recognizes the divine in you
9) recognizing God in ourselves and in everyone
10) believing in shared humanity
11) loving your neighbor as yourself and recognizing their are no limits on who is your neighbor
12) caring for people with whom I disagree
13) pushing up against the cavalier attitude we have about death and harm
14) reminding ourselves of the Imago Dei in people
15) building empathy in ways that challenge us and shift us
What would you add?
Smuggling Grace 