What's primal

I remember when our girls were little all the high end toys and crib mobiles tended to be in primary colors. There was some great theory associated with that – something about primary colors and cognitive development – but of course by the time they were out of their cribs the fashion was to have lots of stark black and white around babies – some other cognitive theory, no doubt.

It makes me think, a bit, about how everyone was eating bran muffins in the 80’s, for health reasons, and then suddenly bran wasn’t all that good for you any more. Or about that wonderful Woody Allen movie, Sleeper, where he’s propelled into a future where cigarettes and bacon are suddenly good for you…

Whatever the theories are, people will always be following new fads, I suppose: Silly Bands, for example – those goofy rubber bands which were shaped like animals, or stars, or whatever – were ridiculously popular at camp last year, and this year “Oh, those are so last year.”

Religion, or spirituality as it’s often referred to these days, seems to go through phases as well: certainly in my life it’s held a number of different shapes and guises. But at the root of it – for me, at least – is something as primal -- and appealing -- as primary colors: a conviction that we are NOT the most important thing in life, that there’s something bigger, more noble, more caring that links us all together in ways we are only beginning to understand. Whatever way I worship, whatever church I attend (or don’t), that doesn’t seem to change.

So I ask you this: what’s primal for you?