I do not think people who are seriously awake to the situation that our planet faces can seriously adopt one of the old religions. Yet I think religion (including the old religions) are still necessary.
Why is a very valid question in our post-Christian civilisation where the only flourishing brands of Christianity are regressions to
ancient cult mentalities.
In our supposedly intellectual age, it has become a cliche to call religion primitive. But this is wrong - religion is usually the result of very sophisticated mental processes, at least in its scholastic or intellectual versions. By contrast, science is a very crude way of thinking. That does not mean it is worse. The simple crudity of science is what gets results. But scientists need to reflect that it is their own attitude that is primitive, and successful, whereas religion is the result of thousands of years of high intellectuality. If all that culture was founded on primal fears and illusions, so much the more interesting...
Another half-truth is that religion is founded on visions, dreams and metaphysics. However, if so, why are religions generally so opposed to such things and so unmetaphysical? Ultimately, religions appear to be systems of social control based on a sophisticated view of life.
Thus religion in its purest sense is central to society – inevitably so – but what we call religion is a decaying form, and unnecessary. In our age we have become confused about the relationship between religion and theology, which is a purely intellectual attempt to understand life. By contrast, religion exists to regulate society according to moral laws.
Christianity is the most personal and heart centred of traditional religions – it gives a greater value to the personality and it is based on the experience of Grace which cannot be produced by human effort, but can be experienced through the Spirit.
Theology is essentially a form of ethics and or logic, but religion is a stirring of the will in its origins.
It is only when thought and will become bound together illicitly that religion as we know it comes about. For if your goal is to understand life with an enlightened mind, you become a philosopher/scientist. If your interest is in action, you become an activist or social revolutionary.
But what religion is meant to be is the in between of thought and will – this a matter of the heart and who knows where it leads? For the lost essence of religion is celebration and glorification – life is only justified as an aesthetic phenomenon.
Religion has become a problem because human beings have forgotten the purpose of living together.
When people begin to take seriously the old-fashioned ideas that the world is God's work of art, and that God is love, then our world will regain its hope in a future worth having.
Why is a very valid question in our post-Christian civilisation where the only flourishing brands of Christianity are regressions to
ancient cult mentalities.
In our supposedly intellectual age, it has become a cliche to call religion primitive. But this is wrong - religion is usually the result of very sophisticated mental processes, at least in its scholastic or intellectual versions. By contrast, science is a very crude way of thinking. That does not mean it is worse. The simple crudity of science is what gets results. But scientists need to reflect that it is their own attitude that is primitive, and successful, whereas religion is the result of thousands of years of high intellectuality. If all that culture was founded on primal fears and illusions, so much the more interesting...
Another half-truth is that religion is founded on visions, dreams and metaphysics. However, if so, why are religions generally so opposed to such things and so unmetaphysical? Ultimately, religions appear to be systems of social control based on a sophisticated view of life.
Thus religion in its purest sense is central to society – inevitably so – but what we call religion is a decaying form, and unnecessary. In our age we have become confused about the relationship between religion and theology, which is a purely intellectual attempt to understand life. By contrast, religion exists to regulate society according to moral laws.
Christianity is the most personal and heart centred of traditional religions – it gives a greater value to the personality and it is based on the experience of Grace which cannot be produced by human effort, but can be experienced through the Spirit.
Theology is essentially a form of ethics and or logic, but religion is a stirring of the will in its origins.
It is only when thought and will become bound together illicitly that religion as we know it comes about. For if your goal is to understand life with an enlightened mind, you become a philosopher/scientist. If your interest is in action, you become an activist or social revolutionary.
But what religion is meant to be is the in between of thought and will – this a matter of the heart and who knows where it leads? For the lost essence of religion is celebration and glorification – life is only justified as an aesthetic phenomenon.
Religion has become a problem because human beings have forgotten the purpose of living together.
When people begin to take seriously the old-fashioned ideas that the world is God's work of art, and that God is love, then our world will regain its hope in a future worth having.