What the fudge IS religion, then?!
I'm currently studying Weber, Durkheim, Marx and Freud, and thus realising that religion really is a more complicated subject than I thought.
It's not a question about being religious just for the fun of it anymore. Nope. It's got to do with society, neurosis, class, despair and economy. For example. It's very exciting. I thought I was spiritual because I wanted to, but apparently I've got some kind of disorder. Which wouldn't surprise me. *grins*
If society makes you religious... then society should be able to un-make you religious, right? But then again, if society un-makes you religious, there's bound to be this anti-movement making you religious again. There is no stopping it! You just have to be religious, one way or the other. Hee hee!
The class factor is also very interesting. In the States, for example, some spiritual and religious movements are "better" than others; that is, they are higher up the social ladder. This is not the case in Sweden - as this is a secularised country, you would never hear our Prime Minister say "God bless Sweden" or anything like that. In fact, being religious in Sweden isn't very... cool. There is no status in being religious.
And I would like to see a functioning relationship between religion and opium in these days. Marx couldn't have been to many afterparties, or he would have mentioned the general uproar, debate and - sometimes - hostility, that religious topics bring with them. Hardly like opium.
Oh, I'll just go with the neurosis and despair option, then. I'm religious because I repress these feelings I don't wish to think about. Instead of thinking about them and acting on the impulses they bring forward, I do religious stuff.
The only problem here is that Asatru and Christianity aren't very much alike, and the things Christianity wants me to repress, Asatru wants me to... embrace. So if my religiousity is built on repression... then I must feel exceptionally bad about the Christian impulses deep down in my soul, and this has made me turn to Asatru. Amen.
Anyone following me here? I'm not sure that I know what I'm talking about, but who cares, when it gives me an excuse to just ramble away? =^^=
It's not a question about being religious just for the fun of it anymore. Nope. It's got to do with society, neurosis, class, despair and economy. For example. It's very exciting. I thought I was spiritual because I wanted to, but apparently I've got some kind of disorder. Which wouldn't surprise me. *grins*
If society makes you religious... then society should be able to un-make you religious, right? But then again, if society un-makes you religious, there's bound to be this anti-movement making you religious again. There is no stopping it! You just have to be religious, one way or the other. Hee hee!
The class factor is also very interesting. In the States, for example, some spiritual and religious movements are "better" than others; that is, they are higher up the social ladder. This is not the case in Sweden - as this is a secularised country, you would never hear our Prime Minister say "God bless Sweden" or anything like that. In fact, being religious in Sweden isn't very... cool. There is no status in being religious.
And I would like to see a functioning relationship between religion and opium in these days. Marx couldn't have been to many afterparties, or he would have mentioned the general uproar, debate and - sometimes - hostility, that religious topics bring with them. Hardly like opium.
Oh, I'll just go with the neurosis and despair option, then. I'm religious because I repress these feelings I don't wish to think about. Instead of thinking about them and acting on the impulses they bring forward, I do religious stuff.
The only problem here is that Asatru and Christianity aren't very much alike, and the things Christianity wants me to repress, Asatru wants me to... embrace. So if my religiousity is built on repression... then I must feel exceptionally bad about the Christian impulses deep down in my soul, and this has made me turn to Asatru. Amen.
Anyone following me here? I'm not sure that I know what I'm talking about, but who cares, when it gives me an excuse to just ramble away? =^^=