![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
11 July 2020 13:20One thing I've managed to find through my Reading - a thing I've always wanted in paganism and never yet found - is religion as a consolation.
Atheist types often mock the "comfort blanket" aspect of religion, but truly I've always envied the Christian thing where time sat spent with the Bible or in prayer produces a kind of happy glow of certainty and peace. There's enough discomforting things in the world that a comfort blanket, even if imagined, is very necessary to stay centered and able to function. And I wonder if this is why the "new atheism" thing attracted so many straight white blokes specifically, people who one would assume are already being "comfort-blanketed" by dominant structures of societal power. Those of us on the margins are, I think, a bit less fast to scorn the need for cultivating our hope and strength.
(In fencraft, atheism is Stellar. What could be more disturbing than the true understanding that humans are insignificant, meanignless and alone in a vast, meaningless universe?)
And so, here it is. At long last. Without really intending it, a spiritual practice where I can go for a walk or dip into a stack of consciously chosen books and films, and feel reconnected to something bigger than myself - something which acts as a release valve for the little grot of the day, and strengthens me ready to go back in and face it. I am very greatful for this.
Atheist types often mock the "comfort blanket" aspect of religion, but truly I've always envied the Christian thing where time sat spent with the Bible or in prayer produces a kind of happy glow of certainty and peace. There's enough discomforting things in the world that a comfort blanket, even if imagined, is very necessary to stay centered and able to function. And I wonder if this is why the "new atheism" thing attracted so many straight white blokes specifically, people who one would assume are already being "comfort-blanketed" by dominant structures of societal power. Those of us on the margins are, I think, a bit less fast to scorn the need for cultivating our hope and strength.
(In fencraft, atheism is Stellar. What could be more disturbing than the true understanding that humans are insignificant, meanignless and alone in a vast, meaningless universe?)
And so, here it is. At long last. Without really intending it, a spiritual practice where I can go for a walk or dip into a stack of consciously chosen books and films, and feel reconnected to something bigger than myself - something which acts as a release valve for the little grot of the day, and strengthens me ready to go back in and face it. I am very greatful for this.
