How important is spirituality in your life?
I don’t believe in a God, but I believe in happenstance. I believe that life has a way of bringing about a sort of order, for better or worse. Sometimes resistance is futile, other times, pulling away from nature is for the better.
I like Buddhism and Taoism from an intellectual curiosity point of view, and find the Old Testament (Torah) a lot more interesting than it’s given credit for. I think a lot of the value is ‘between the lines’ and that close readings may suggest some ideas that many find uncomfortable.
This attitude towards religion is very polarizing in that many younger Americans grow up believing religion is silly, without taking the time to understand it, and actually assess what it’s trying to say. The patience and curiosity isn’t there. This manifests in people trading religion for things that I think are less valuable.
Here are a few of the things that I think are valuable about religion:
Self-Cultivation
Forgiveness
Acceptance of death
Wanderlust
Community
Here are a few attitudes I think we’ve exchanged religion for:
Egalitarianism
Universalism
Emphasis on justice
Interestingly, these ideas all show up in religion, but have been stripped of their complexity, and are valued more highly based on their accessibility and ease of understanding than their corresponding importance.
I think interestingly, we’ve stripped a lot of the mysticism from religion, making it harder to justify hard decisions. In a sense, this is fairer, but it also comes with challenges associated with wisdom of crowds. One man’s wisdom is another man’s mob rule.
Isadore Johnson's Website 