Friday, March 30, 2012

Why do you have a religion at all?

Why do you, personally, have a religion? (or faith, or a path...)

(Full disclosure - I was told in a dream that I should ask people that question. While it felt more like brainspam dream than a genuine encounter, I've spent the morning thinking it's an interesting and important question and one I'm not sure I have an answer to.)

And trying to answer it:

I list my religion as bokonist - from Kurt Vonnegut, where it is a religion invented purely to fulfill social functions. For me, that's a structure for awe and being grateful for the natural world, and a reminder to have quiet "sacred" time. I'm researching chaos magic because it seems to contain that self-referential playfulness that allows me to keep my skepticism and explore magic at the same time. But all the ideas I've had are things it brings me, not things my having religion gives to gods, community or the wider world.

Which makes me think:

Why should you have a religion? Are some reasons better than others?

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