What Is It Like to Be Religious?
As some of my wiser readers have guessed I am not religious. No, not even a little bit. I'm not even one of those mealy-mouthed SOBs who describes himself as spiritual-but-not-religious. I don't think I ever will be religious but of course you never know. I have a question for my religious readers, and I know this is a useless question because I am certain I don't have any (I have never even met a religious person did you know that?). What is it like to be religious?
Now on one level this is probably an unanswerable question. Lots of religious people, the ones who have been religious from birth, are going to say "I could turn around and ask you the same question, mutatis mutandis. What's it like to be godless?" I know there are some atheists who have converted to religion, but I get the feeling that they were never atheists like me. They were probably the kind of atheists who see meaning in a sunset and read books on metaphysics (but not the good kind!) Then one day they read the Tao Te Ching and their life turned upside down. I have a sad idea that being religious is like being one of these atheists.
So what is it like, then, to see meaning in a sunset or wonder what your purpose in life is, or look at all of creation and think that someone just had to have designed this? I can scarcely imagine. I would guess that belief in God is not the same kind of thing as belief in chairs. All those Thomistic arguments that God exists are really rationalizations, whereas arguments that chairs exist can be constructed that are convincing in and of themselves. (ex. You see chairs every day, you sit on chairs every day, certain foundational beliefs that underlie sensory experience are true, ergo chairs exist. That is a tacit argument we use every day to convince ourselves chairs exist) Is that a reasonable view?
So what is belief in God like? If it's not like the usual kind of belief, what is it? Is it like other instinctual unreasoning beliefs, like fear of death, or a belief that you exist? That kind of belief is definitely atypical, and for there to be a belief like that that some of us don't share is even rarer. So while it may be impossible for a religious person to give me a complete account of what it's like to be religious, I think I would really benefit from a partial one. For instance, what's it like when you're thinking about God? Is it like thinking about a really mighty emperor? Or a wizard? Or what? What's it like to want to know the meaning of life (as opposed to being preoccupied with more pedestrian matters)? Give me something to go on please, religious types.
Now on one level this is probably an unanswerable question. Lots of religious people, the ones who have been religious from birth, are going to say "I could turn around and ask you the same question, mutatis mutandis. What's it like to be godless?" I know there are some atheists who have converted to religion, but I get the feeling that they were never atheists like me. They were probably the kind of atheists who see meaning in a sunset and read books on metaphysics (but not the good kind!) Then one day they read the Tao Te Ching and their life turned upside down. I have a sad idea that being religious is like being one of these atheists.
So what is it like, then, to see meaning in a sunset or wonder what your purpose in life is, or look at all of creation and think that someone just had to have designed this? I can scarcely imagine. I would guess that belief in God is not the same kind of thing as belief in chairs. All those Thomistic arguments that God exists are really rationalizations, whereas arguments that chairs exist can be constructed that are convincing in and of themselves. (ex. You see chairs every day, you sit on chairs every day, certain foundational beliefs that underlie sensory experience are true, ergo chairs exist. That is a tacit argument we use every day to convince ourselves chairs exist) Is that a reasonable view?
So what is belief in God like? If it's not like the usual kind of belief, what is it? Is it like other instinctual unreasoning beliefs, like fear of death, or a belief that you exist? That kind of belief is definitely atypical, and for there to be a belief like that that some of us don't share is even rarer. So while it may be impossible for a religious person to give me a complete account of what it's like to be religious, I think I would really benefit from a partial one. For instance, what's it like when you're thinking about God? Is it like thinking about a really mighty emperor? Or a wizard? Or what? What's it like to want to know the meaning of life (as opposed to being preoccupied with more pedestrian matters)? Give me something to go on please, religious types.
posted by apk01004 at 3:39 AM
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