Vague thought on religion inspired by the Samhain celebrations this evening

[andrewducker]

It's funny how our metaphors seem more real than reality.

Comments

[henriksdal.livejournal.com]

PICS PLS

I mean, explain a bit more?

[andrewducker]

Look at the emotions produced by stuff like Samhain last night - what you had there were representations of various aspects of the world, visual metaphors for the events the way that people viewed the changes happening in the world each autumn. And the representations produce more emotion than the thing itself does. Not always, and not in everyone, but a fair chunk of the time.

Religion's like that - it takes the real world, parses it through a filter of human perception and then tells a story that somehow seems more acceptable than reality itself. Of course, this is because it's more human than the real world, so it shouldn't be surprising.

[henriksdal.livejournal.com]

That's what I thought you meant but it's nice to hear it! It's a very good observation, one of the reasons I struggle with paganism is that I find it very difficult to relate to my own experience of nature and wilderness, especially when mixed with a totally atheistic upbringing. It's just another baffling religious thingy - my imaginary friend is both bigger than your imaginary friend, and makes the world go round single-handedly.

Still, religion does inspire people to do some pretty amazing art!