Yes, But…
Even people who no longer “believe in God” or participate in the institutional structure of patriarchal religion still may not be free of the power of the symbolism of God the Father. A symbol’s effect does not depend on rational assent, for a symbol also functions on levels of the psyche other than the rational. Symbol systems cannot simply be rejected; they must be replaced. Where there is no replacement, the mind will revert to familiar structures at times of crisis, bafflement, or defeat.
-Carol P. Christ, from “Why Women Need the Goddess”
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The truth doesn’t require your cooperation to exist, but illusion does.
~ Terence McKenna ~
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My story is the story of countless millions of children whose families and nations were torn apart for money in the name of Jesus Christ.
- Sinead O’Connor
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“Without Mercedes I wouldn’t have made it to write the book (One Hundred Years of Solitude). She took care of the situation… I…gave her the money, calculating that it would be enough for us to live for about six months. But I spent a year and a half writing the book. When the money was finished, she told me nothing. She managed, I don’t know how, that the butcher stole his meat, the baker the bread and that the owner of the apartment waited nine months to receive his rent. She took care of everything without my knowledge: including bringing me fifty sheets of paper every once in a while…She was the one who, once I finished the book, put the manuscript in the mail to send it to the South American Publishing House.”
— Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
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I remember when as a child I could no longer believe. I felt a combination of anger at being fed stupid lies and a sense of liberation, a kind of unburdening. It never occurred to me that I was still captured by the unconscious mindset of Christianity and American culture. I wasn’t aware of any empty space in me where those beliefs had been. Many years later, when I saw in Mexico how ancient symbols still engaged the people I received a shock of recognition. I realized some things can’t be so easily replaced.
You can’t paper over a rift like that.
The atrocities of religion are undeniable. It’s also no doubt true that we need a connection to our deep symbolic mind, but that well has been poisoned in our culture. We’re on our own in our search for meaning in life. I assembled a life around art and ideas and it has given me some guidance and roots, but I’m aware that it’s triage to a certain extent. It’s what Thomas Moore calls “a religion of your own,” and it’s a work in progress.
We do seem to need a sense of a larger meaning in life, at least I do. We need to feel and be convinced we have membership within a grand and wondrous drama and that beauty and love are our birthright. The shallow and self-referential vision we absorb from our environment can’t answer that instinct. I’m convinced it’s exactly that, an instinct.
How we thread our way through these questions with or without the help of friends and lovers determines the tenor of our lives. Making a life out of a big challenge, especially if some kind of beauty results from it, is inspiring to others. It helps them find their own meaning, which is life giving. Because the arts deal with both beauty and meaning I naturally gravitated there, not as a substitute for religion but as a more substantial and grounded expression of my spiritual instincts.
Religion should be embodied, in my opinion, which means it should encompass more than abstractions. It should involve the senses, the arts, and the physical experience of being alive on the planet.
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My first book is a compilation of selected Medium articles. You can get it at Amazon. If you read it, please leave a review.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C9RY2XSX?dplnkId=36fc7dd4-54df-4b5a-9b6b-567e03c345e5&nodl=
