I hear this phrase all too often. And it is so beguiling to me. It also means to me:
“I don’t ponder about the afterlife and the repercussions of my actions then.”
“I don’t believe that I have to be grateful to the creator of my body and circumstances.”
I have met individuals who have told me that religion plays no role in their life; they are not atheist, they are not agnostic, they are not anything. They just exist.
I understand that religion has become equated with “old school understanding”, “barbarism”, “male-chauvinism”, and even “ignorance”.
However I honestly think that to be apathetic towards any type of religion is a serious sign of compound ignorance.
I think that most people have become so distracted and focused on the present moment–the tangible items and ideas that shape their life–that they do not have the time to ponder about anything metaphysical. They are focused on paying the bills, making money to survive, and having some casual entertainment along the way. They are focused on solving the world’s problems: poverty, inequality, tyranny. However there is a realm beyond all of this. Those who ask the existentialist questions often bump into this realm. It is the intangible realm, the realm of metaphysical ideas and the unseen dimensions that surround us. These are the questions that religion aims to answer. Some of these questions are:
Where did I come from?
What will happen to me after I die?
What is my purpose?
How do I know what is right and wrong?
What is reality?
What is love?
There are humanist and free thinker philosophies that aim to understand these questions. But neither of these movements have a basis in revealed texts. There is a difference between “divinely inspired” and “revealed texts”. Revealed texts are absolute truths, while divinely inspired writing can be tampered with-either through mistranslations or misunderstandings.
I’m not exactly sure where I’m going with this post, so I’m going to break for now.
