Wednesday, June 19, 2019

The Varieties of Relgious Experience


Houses of worship tend to be populated by old people. They’re filled with young people too in evangelical religions. However, if you go into your local house of worship you're more likely to find many people who have crossed the halfway mark. That may be one of the reasons they're termed sanctuaries since they offer a respite from the exigenies of fate. Faith over fear is one of the mantras you're likely to hear in this regard. But where how does belief actually figure in? In the age of scientific disenchantment many rationalistic people don’t take belief in God seriously. So what does adherence to religion comprise in modern society? Certainly, it involves congregation, but also the practicing of ethical principles that tend to place emphasis on charitable acts, which don’t involve satiating the demands of the self. If you help others, the thinking goes, then you're getting a temporary reprieve from appetites that are rarely if ever satisfied. Desire is but the beginning of suffering goes the Buddhist koan. The covenant many worshippers experience is less with God than the principles which have emanated from varying spiritual traditions. The Varieties of Religious Experience is the title of a famous tome by William James. Religion is for those who want to avoid going to hell runs a well-known homily of the recovery movement—an offshoot of religion that is not specifically religious—spiritualism is for those who have been there. 

N.B.: read Francis Levy's short story, "Pet Buddha"in Vol. 1 Brooklyn. 

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