I have a (religious) challenge for you lot!

[Little Dragon]

The challenge is this. If you are religious, be not religious for a day. If you are not religious, be religious for a day.

I could try but my friends and family would think I have finally lost my marbles.

 

[Little Dragon]

Not possible

It's like asking me to stop having brown eyes for a day

Or to stop being 6 foot 2

Nobody could do your challenge it is not possible

You cannot switch your religion or lack of religion on and off like a light

Not unless you are lucky/unlucky enough to possess multiple personalities, perhaps.

 

[rocala]

You cannot switch your religion or lack of religion on and off like a light

I totally agree, and that applies to pretending as well. Can you imagine a devout Muslim spending a day eating bacon sandwiches and drinking beer?

 

[Little Dragon]

I totally agree, and that applies to pretending as well. Can you imagine a devout Muslim spending a day eating bacon sandwiches and drinking beer?

Quite. If I started going around telling my peeps that they need Jesus tomorrow, I am going to get some concerned and puzzled looks, at best.

 

[Sgt. Pepper]

The challenge is this. If you are religious, be not religious for a day. If you are not religious, be religious for a day.

I can't accept your challenge because I will always be spiritual and a spiritualist, even if I don't practice Wicca and Druidry. I've believed in supernatural phenomena since I was a small child, and it's been an integral part of my life ever since. So it's not something that I can just turn off whenever I feel like it.

 

[crossfire]

I understand that in Western culture it is typical to compartmentalize religion as if it's somehow seperate from one's everyday life and living. Like it is something you can just "turn off" somehow. That's not how I understand religion - religion proper is one's way of life (whether or not one calls it one's religion).

Want to eat food? Nope, can't do that because that's partaking in a sacred relationship with other-than-human persons who sacrificed their lives so you can exist. ​

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Want to walk around? Nope, can't do that because the intimate connection of foot to earth is also partaking in a sacred relationship with the other-than-human greater powers upon which we depend. ​

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Want to look at literally anything? Nope, can't do that because the sensuality of sight is a deep and reciprocal relationship between the seer and the seen as no light reaches my eyes without first touching thou. ​

If this sounds weird, I wouldn't be surprised and don't worry about it. When you are an animist who sees spirit/gods in everything, or who sees not "things" but persons all around? Each and every moment and act is a sacred relationship whether or not I am actively mindful of it at the time. We're all part of this magical, amazing, interconnected weave of reality. Technically, even death doesn't sever that magic, it's part of it.

So many want to insist that observation is passive, but it is not. It changes the observer (more that it changes the observed.)

 

[RestlessSoul]

Sounds like Hotel California……
"Relax, " said the night man
"We are programmed to receive
You can check out any time you like
But you can never leave!"

Exactly my experience. I checked out of the Catholic church almost 50 years ago, but it's always been part of who I am. I'm grateful for that, and nowadays I can occasionally participate in it's beautiful and mysterious rituals without having to accept the authority of the church. I'm a heretic, basically, but no one seems to mind.

 

[RestlessSoul]

So many want to insist that observation is passive, but it is not. It changes the observer (more that it changes the observed.)

One might argue that the object, the observer, and the act of observation are inseparable, and all distinctions arbitrary. And one might reasonably argue this from philosophy, religion, or science.