Samantha Rinne
Resident Genderfluid Writer/Artist
All of you people talking about books of faith (I won't call them holy books) as dusty old tomes, or stuff about goatherders and fishers, aee starting to come across as not only mean-spirited but also kinda ignorant.
Do you actually know the how and why about religion, or are you just making assumptions? So, I'll tell you what religion officially is according to World Religions class, and you can debate that if you want to. But hopefully that should stop some of the snotty behavior I've seen latelym.
First off, religion does not require a God or gods, nor a view of the afterlife, nor many of the other things associated with religion. You see, at its most basic, the word means to "reconnect" (you'll see some dictionaries give a false word origin of "to chain together" or something but this is not only a bad translation , but basically a jab at the role of religion, marking it as some sort of oppressive force).
How did religion start? Well, it's believed to be a survival method. The first believed religion was the cave bear cult. Basically, a group of humans tried to appease a predator by worshipping it, and offering food. You say, "How foolish!" But you'll notice, they didn't get eaten. Gradually, the thing they were trying to appease was less actual creatures, and more about concepts. In particular, humans trying to fend off death somehow, or the forces of nature. Whether this works or not is a matter of opinion, but I hope you understand something by the end of this. It isn't beliefs that are important, it's reconnecting.
What do I mean by reconnecting? Well, I've been watching an anime called Love, Chuunibyou, and Other Delusions (Chuunibyou are Japanese students, typically 2nd year, who basically engage in fantasy as a way of breaking from from the extremely conformist Japanese culture). Anyway, it details this girl and a boy, who help set up a club for goofy ppl like themselves. But all the weird behavior isn't what's the point. Rather, this story is about the girl trying to come to grips with her dad dying and deciding to have fun with her friends. And, much like Don Quixote, when her guy forces her to face that her dad in fact is not coming back, her world falls apart. The club disbands, those friends disconnect from each other, and she just kinda... shuts down. She leaves town to go back to her grandparents, and her friends in turn stop being goofy and just kinda take apart all that the club did because "it wasn't that important anyway." Eventually, he tracks her down and convinces her that it's okay to wear a goofy eyepatch or whatever.
After death is tempting to say that only real is that nothing is beyond that, but don't actually know that. And more importantly, the point of religion is to form a club of souprts. To reconnect: with our true selves, with each other especially, and with the sense of wonder and mystery of the world. The idea is that people who are suffering or dealing with loss have a sense of hope, because they have other ppl giving them tidings.
That's my take on what religion means. What exactly are you "reconnecting" with?
Do you actually know the how and why about religion, or are you just making assumptions? So, I'll tell you what religion officially is according to World Religions class, and you can debate that if you want to. But hopefully that should stop some of the snotty behavior I've seen latelym.
First off, religion does not require a God or gods, nor a view of the afterlife, nor many of the other things associated with religion. You see, at its most basic, the word means to "reconnect" (you'll see some dictionaries give a false word origin of "to chain together" or something but this is not only a bad translation , but basically a jab at the role of religion, marking it as some sort of oppressive force).
How did religion start? Well, it's believed to be a survival method. The first believed religion was the cave bear cult. Basically, a group of humans tried to appease a predator by worshipping it, and offering food. You say, "How foolish!" But you'll notice, they didn't get eaten. Gradually, the thing they were trying to appease was less actual creatures, and more about concepts. In particular, humans trying to fend off death somehow, or the forces of nature. Whether this works or not is a matter of opinion, but I hope you understand something by the end of this. It isn't beliefs that are important, it's reconnecting.
What do I mean by reconnecting? Well, I've been watching an anime called Love, Chuunibyou, and Other Delusions (Chuunibyou are Japanese students, typically 2nd year, who basically engage in fantasy as a way of breaking from from the extremely conformist Japanese culture). Anyway, it details this girl and a boy, who help set up a club for goofy ppl like themselves. But all the weird behavior isn't what's the point. Rather, this story is about the girl trying to come to grips with her dad dying and deciding to have fun with her friends. And, much like Don Quixote, when her guy forces her to face that her dad in fact is not coming back, her world falls apart. The club disbands, those friends disconnect from each other, and she just kinda... shuts down. She leaves town to go back to her grandparents, and her friends in turn stop being goofy and just kinda take apart all that the club did because "it wasn't that important anyway." Eventually, he tracks her down and convinces her that it's okay to wear a goofy eyepatch or whatever.
After death is tempting to say that only real is that nothing is beyond that, but don't actually know that. And more importantly, the point of religion is to form a club of souprts. To reconnect: with our true selves, with each other especially, and with the sense of wonder and mystery of the world. The idea is that people who are suffering or dealing with loss have a sense of hope, because they have other ppl giving them tidings.
That's my take on what religion means. What exactly are you "reconnecting" with?
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