Why I go to church, and so should you
Friends, I know religion is one of those pointlessly divisive topics and usually do all I can to avoid it in all public exchanges. However, please take a minute to hear me out.
Looking around us, one can ask “what is all this for?”. I am fairly nihilistic myself and deeply feel that — although we must continue to live fully — most of human endeavor is fundamentally pointless: The person whose life you save will ultimately die, the mega-corporation you start will eventually close, the beautiful piece of music or software you write will soon enough be forgotten. Even the lineage you leave will eventually fade away after hopefully living long enough to forget your existence (or evolve into another species?).
When you think of it in that way, you realize that we as individuals are not very incentivized to build things that last. So, faced with such a gloomy ocean of futility, we need a construct to provide us with the impression — illusory as it may be — that our lives are more than what Shakespeare’s Macbeth called “ a walking shadow”. And here religion gives us a formidable tool: a formal definition of spirit (soul, chi, life energy or whatever you call it — an element which is con-substantial with a person and yet exists forever).
With a spirit that lives on, we can take part in eternity, and that is amazing. It raises us above that feeling of unavoidable nothingness in a powerful way. Eternity is transformed into something which can enrich every moment of our harsh lives. It gives us enough purpose to build things which we cannot see and will never see completed.
What one can call “filial” spirituality (existence for the sake of future humans) is present in almost all men and is powerful enough to make them engage in endeavors whose utility unfolds over centuries and more (great companies, buildings, constitutions). But theistic spirituality (existence for an entity or more which are out of time and will essentially reign forever) can even take this concept further.
Religious conviction of some sort is an amazing ingredient if you want to build something which lasts, and in modern times, there is no better example of this than the [Roman catholic] church. Its longevity, its infrastructure, its ability to bring populations across place and time to a certain conformity (through all means necessary I know) are all very powerful. And what makes it all so impressive is that all the humans who built this edifice are all but tiny cogs in a humongous machinery, whose output they will never see personally.
Although I boycott “white Jesus”, I am proud to associate myself to the majesty of old intimidating buildings across the world, I am safe in knowing a few cryptic Latin phrases which are sure to make people across the world accept me as a brother, like pass-codes to a global VIP club. I am happy to be a de-facto heir to the thousands of years of art which elevates the human mind and the implacable hegemony, while conveniently attributing the atrocities of my “family” to our eternal foe.
Until we have a one-world government (looking at you, Google), this is the closest humans have gotten to being a true hive organism. And one can safely entrust oneself to this family: it is exceptionally resilient as all its ills and drawbacks can conveniently be explained away by an addendum to its body of beliefs. Knowing all of this, you certainly want to be a beneficiary of such an edifice!
I bring to you good news my friend: All you have to do is show up!
See you next Sunday.
