The dictionary defines religion as follows:
1. the service and worship of God or the supernatural 2. commitment or devotion to religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices 3. a cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith 4. scrupulous conformity
It also defines religionless as follows:
1. destitute of religion
Religionless is referenced to in classic literature:
--Picture to yourself, oh fair young reader, a worldly, selfish, graceless, thankless, religionless old woman, writhing in pain and fear, and without her wig. Vanity Fair by Thackeray, William Makepeace
That kinda implies all those without religion are also without happiness.
I have faith I just don't have the cause, principle or system of beliefs. And while I may not live a devoted life in service to God I like to think I don't do anything contrary to that. Well, not in so many words. OK fine, God is watching etc.. I mock the occassional idiot. After watching a travel show on the telly not so long ago it got me thinking, namely about:
What's the deal with the hats?
I have been to countless churches/places of worship. Clearly I'm missing something. Many religions are pretty insistent about covering your head, I realise this practice is referenced to in the bible..so is not shaving and cutting your hair and the eating of certain foods. Here's a random thought.. maybe if they were allowed to shave the bush it wouldn't have burst into flames ( just putting it out there ). Anyhow, this particular group of scrupulous conformists adorned their shiny pips with what can only be described as a mix of Marvin the Martian's nifty headgear and well, a gold broom. So they are added to my list of hat people. Are they really onto something there? Who knows, perhaps I should fashion myself a tinfoil hat, that would serve 2 purposes.. a. would provide me with an antenna of sorts to our divine being and b. would protect me against aliens. which is awesome, unless said divine being is an alien..less awesome.
Secondly, how far are some people willing to go?
Our Marvin inspired fellas and their townsfolk also have a super system of spinning prayer wheels. These wheels have a prayer painted or stuck on them and many wheels are placed around the place of worship ( which I will now refer to as Monktown ). The main objective here is for the dwellers of Monktown, and tourists if they so wish, to spin these wheels as much as possible. Why, you ask? Well that's simple.. the more you spin the wheels the better your next life will be. Now personally I can't think of a better way to spend this life..spinning a fairly large wheel or two and ensuring my next life measures significantly lower on the suck-ter scale. Now while this is fairly humbling to watch I get pissed off with myself and end up thinking "why..can't..I..just..be..like..that and do those..kinds..of things with the required devotion. dammit..things would be so much easier" ( please note, the spaces included are not included because it takes me that much longer to formulate those words, it's because I'd more than likely be smacking my forehead at the same time.)
I wonder what goes through the head's of these Monktownians, I suppose spinning a wheel once or twice and not going bald prematurely in their next life would probably be a plus for some of the men. I guess that's a good enough reason? Now there's a concept for you, spinning a wheel and waiting for a better outcome. Why haven't we thought about incorporating that into our lives.. say in a casino perhaps.. hmm? Takes alot of something to spend your day doing that, that's for sure, especially if you happen to be the unlucky sod who spins the wheel one too many times rendering all previous spins redundant. That would really suck..frantically spinny wheel, spinny wheel, spinny wheel.. *poof - next life* guess what? you're back in front of that wheel with a funny hat on your head. SUCKER!
There are many things I'd love to see, Dime play again, world pea...hmm...alright yes, world peace, block of cheese spawn arms n legs and parachute off the end of the kitchen table screaming, "eeeeeeeEEEEEaaagle...." The list continues, but I can tell you I'd love to see all the spritual leaders and heads of churches and religions etc gather around the Pearly Gates all waiting in bated breath for the head honcho himself to beckon them forth. All clearly adamant they are right and 'you'll soon see' like. After the puff of smoke disappears and everyone's eyes are glued to what will soon be their divine answer, after all their devotion, their random acts of religion and beliefs, the services, the singing, the stale cracker eating, the early Sunday mornings, the hats, the everything. They look up to see the one and only Giant Green Space Lobster..sitting.. tapping his claws together and smiling as much as any lobster can.