Secular Chaplains
Practicing a Secular Chaplaincy
(in the “spirit” of Burroughs and Muir)
-note: this can be practiced whether you are a person of faith or not
“True religion is not a theory-it is a practice.
It is not a creed-it is a life.”
~Robert Green Ingersoll
“Secular”: concern for this present world; without concern for any other
“Chapel” (Church/Sanctuary/Temple): the natural world and universe
“Chaplaincy” (“Ministry,” “Mission” or “Call”): Wonder; Reverence for Life; Presence; Listening; Compassion; Inclusive of Diversity; Justice; Preservation; “To entice into Nature’s loveliness” (Muir); To practice the “Faith of a Naturalist”–an enthusiasm and love of the earth (Burroughs)
Primary Professor/Respected Teacher: Nature
“Clergy” (“Saints,” “Prophets” and “Honored/Holy Heretics”): Socrates; Hypatia; Copernicus; Thomas Paine; Frances Wright; Margaret Fuller; Ralph W. Emerson; Henry Thoreau; Frederick Douglass; Walt Whitman; John Burroughs; John Muir; Theodore Roosevelt; Aldo Leopold; Rachel Carson; Carl Sagan. . .many, many others (famous and unknown)
“Scripture” (Veda/Gita/Dharma/Torah/Gospel/Qur’an): The Cosmos
“Religious Rituals”: silence; sauntering; presence with the smallest and largest; appreciation for “the breath of life” (Burroughs); searching and questioning; communion/eucharist=grateful taste of living
*Qualities of a Secular Chaplain
-Awake and alive to the world, the cosmos, Life
-Humility as a Human made of Humus (one species among species)
-Practicing a “natural spirituality” and “sacred secularity” (constantly reflecting on what this means!)
-Caretaker of the Chapel of Nature (“ecumenical”: managing the great household)
-A respectful relation to other inhabitants
-A curiosity about inter-connection and inter-dependence
knowing that everything is “hitched” to everything else (Muir)
-No focus on “worship” (immanence rather than transcendence)
-Naturally undistracted by the non-natural, the super-natural
-A sense of the Wild and Wildness (as “the preservation of the world”- Thoreau)
-Do No Harm (“ahimsa”-Gandhi; not only “leave no trace”)
-Practicing the art of seeing (direct observation)
-Noticing the unnoticed (minding the margins)
-A delight in discovery; excitement for exploration
-Endless education, continual learning, active openness to new insights
-Building bridges rather than walls
-Working beside people of faith and people without faith to “do the right thing” for the common good
-Encouraging other Secular Chaplains and learning from their experience
-Having a “joy in simple living” (Burroughs)
-”Climb the mountains and get their good tidings, Nature’s peace will flow into you” (Muir)
Secular Chaplain 