Fictional Religions

[Heyo]

Oh, wait!

There's a book called, "The Glass Bead Game" by Hermann Hesse that involves what seems to be a kind of religious obsession that takes place in the far future. But that is really a metaphor for the strange 'catch-22' that a lot of modern religions tend to trap their adherents in.

There's probably others, too, if I sit and think about it long enough.

[Off topic]
Hesse was into eastern religions and "The Glass Bead Game" is about his perceptions of Buddhism and Confucianism. The game described is a de-familiarized version of GO.
[/Off topic]

 

[Vinayaka]

Oh, wait!

There's a book called, "The Glass Bead Game" by Hermann Hesse that involves what seems to be a kind of religious obsession that takes place in the far future. But that is really a metaphor for the strange 'catch-22' that a lot of modern religions tend to trap their adherents in.

There's probably others, too, if I sit and think about it long enough.

I read that ... the Magister Ludi title.

 

[Gargovic Malkav]

Do you find any importance on the knowledge and culture of fictional religions? Are there any religions you consider fictional but are still culturally aware of and attuned to?

In TES, I've always liked the book "Ruminations on the Elder Scrolls" written by a character named Septimus Signus, a man driven to madness because of his exposure to the contents of The Elder Scrolls and lived to tell the tale.

In the DnD universe, I had a particular fascination for the deity named Ao after I became a theist, as I felt this one reminded me a lot of the God I worship in real life.

Edit: I just read a wiki page about this deity, and it seems even Ao reported to a higher entity/consciousness called the Luminous Being.
So I think this being is even closer to what I worship, as what I call God is by definition the apex of "everything".

I also like how it is described as cold and harsh while simultaneously warm and forgiving, reminding me a lot of what people think about Him.

 

[Brickjectivity]

RF, Religious Fiction... I was wondering what Religious Forums thinks about fictional religions.

If God exists then they matter, because to a greater or lesser degree they will align people with God or not. They become real, then, and more than a mere fiction.

Another possibility is that we all exist in a chaotic miasma with bubbles of order, like snowballs melting on a hot day. A fictional story is a snowball of order, separate from the other snowballs. Depending upon the nature of reality some stories might become more real than they seem. For example some people like to imagine that there used to be real magic and that it might return. A fictional religion might benefit from such a scenario.

Excluding that, let us suppose there are other details which make them matter. Some ideas are that they could have a health aspect to them, or they could encourage mental discipline or introspection or something like that. In which case their value is whatever value they bring.

 

[lewisnotmiller]

Many feel they are called to the priesthood, but what they really hear is an inner voice saying, ‘It’s indoor work with no heavy lifting …’

T Pratchett (Small Gods)

 

[Quintessence]

For starters, I don't consider them fictional. Perhaps more precisely, I don't categorize religions into boxes labeled "fictional" and "non-fictional." Religions are religions. Any and all of them can be followed or drawn from for inspiration as one wishes and it is all more or less real.

That said, the foundational assumptions and grounding of a religion are important to understand when incorporating it into one's practice. All human religions more or less emanate from the human experience (because they can't do otherwise, really). The original religions of humanity stemmed from raw experiences of reality, both this world and the myriad otherworlds. In the case of so-called "fictional" religions, they are grounded more firmly in the otherworlds by their nature. Whether or not this is a problematic issue depends on what the person needs to make meaning in their lives. Generally, a religion too divorced from the person's life ways is a bad fit. But a theological structure based on Elder Scrolls makes a tremendous amount of sense for someone who is religiously devoted to the study of and participation in that otherworld - it is part of their life way.

I recall some years ago being part of various conversations about pop culture magick and pop culture religion. There is, sadly, a fair amount of bias against such practices even within communities that one might think would be more open to that sort of thing. Not sure if that needle has shifted at all, but I've always been 100% behind it. If for no other reason than the polytheistic theologies of antiquity were the pop culture of their day. Why exclude something based on modernity? Ah yes, there is the Pagan trope of ancestral authority I suppose... (and other paths are prone to the "it's old therefore it's legitimate" trap too). But there's on reason to limit oneself in that way unless one wants to. New, old, ancient, modern, this-worldly, otherworldly... explore and have fun!

 

[CharmingOwl]

The thing I notice about fictional religions like in a Game of Thrones world is they lack the complexities and theological ambiguity of many real-world practices. It's very simplified and more used for storytelling or characterization than something you would actually see someone practicing as shown. If fictional religions were fleshed out they could easily become practices.