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If you assume that religion isn't just a club for ideologues, what you get is more of a research-program. There's a technique, there's a mystery, you do the te
by swayvil 10y ago
If you assume that religion isn't just a club for ideologues, what you get is more of a research-program.
There's a technique, there's a mystery, you do the technique to address the mystery.
Techniques : meditation, fasting, hallucinogens.
Mysteries : God, Tao, Ultimate Reality.
Given the lack of technique in most of what we call religion these days, I think what we're looking at is a degenerate form of something that was pretty cool once upon a time. What we've got is basically fanfic.
- ajmurmann 10y agoI think what you describe would nowadays better be described as "spirituality". The term "religion" has mostly been hijacked by organizations that give you a book and claim they are the only ones to have the authority to interpret it or worse claim it has to be taken literally and interpretation is a sin. It's all very sad.
- flogic 10y agoThere's more to it than that though. Christianity for example exists in multiple aspect in people's lives. The aspect you're talking about is the actual belief. But there are other aspects. There is a set of traditions and ceremonies that people perform. There are the local communities. There is a set of values. Then there are the overarching organizations. And at the same time, there is a set of mental tools for reasoning about things that while they look like belief may not be. All of these fit into a ball of mud that can be called religion.
- gnipgnip 10y agoVery well put :) (although it probably doesn't fit the Abrahamic conception, practice and history).
- swayvil 10y agoThat would be a case of the fanfic becoming the authority. Like a robot turning on its creators.