Konfessionen einer Ritualtäterin

[oloriel]

... WHY DID I JUST SPEND TWO HOURS WATCHING OLD MEN IN DRESSES TALK IN LATIN AND PRANCE AROUND UNDER BLUE ROMAN SKIES. OK, not exactly prance. You know what I mean. WHY IS THIS PAPAL STUFF SO ADDICTIVE.

I'll admit it: I'm a sucker for ritual. And for living history. And for costumes. And they're good at all of that. That was probably real gold

Comments

semi-random rambling ahead, beware!

[jokergirl]

Oh, I'm not religious at all and I still completely understand you on this. I am much more for having the atmosphere right than bombastic effects, and a minor random event can be turned into something symbolic if played right. (I used that a few times for good effect on Nimlith. ^^)
I also can completely understand the point of symbols, and their importance, and just because they are symbols does not make them less important than the real thing. I'd completely side with Luther on the whole "the body of Christ is symbolic, not a literal magical transformation" thing if I was still subscribing to Christian religion at all, but the Catholic church kind of burned me on this.
(This is not to bash any believers mind you. I have nothing but respect for true believers, I just don't believe in organised religion any more.)

;)

[spiced_wine]

if you see those evangelical [was nicht das Gleiche ist wie evangelisch, falls gerade jemand verwirrt ist] events on TV some time, where people pretend to speak in tongues (or maybe they really believe they do) or sway with their arms held up like they're possessed by the holy spirit (or maybe they really believe they are) - that makes me deeply uncomfortable and, I admit it, disdainful.I saw that when I went on a church weekend years ago. A lot of people fainting, too, or pretending to. We were in this large room, and I was thinking: 'Why are there gym mats on the floor

[sermanya]

I once experienced a catholic service in a monastery with about 10 priests standing in a circle, waving their hands to conjure the body and blood of christ from some wafers and wine. Wow, that was spooky...

[indy1776]

Back when I was Catholic, I once told Mom that I loved the ritual of the Mass. I am 100% certain she misunderstood, because when I left the Church, she told me, "But you loved the Mass!" Yes, Mom-- the ritual itself. Because by the time I'd originally said that, I had serious questions and doubts about the beliefs behind it.

So everything you said makes sense and made it a lot clearer to me why Mom misunderstood.