What is "Religion?"

What is "Religion?"

 

Here's a three-part definition I made up. A religion consists of

• an object or focus of attention, 
• a feeling about the object or focus, and 
• a practice of paying attention to the object and having the feeling, some or all of the time. (That corresponds interestingly enough with mind, heart, and body.)

The object would be some sort of ultimate, most often, whatever is selected as being the ultimate cause and nature of everything we are aware of.

By “ultimate” I mean that for which there is nothing underneath, prior to it, a cause of it, or beyond or further into which we can become aware.

The feeling would be some sort of awe, reverence, appreciation, or wonder, and the object would be that which evokes the most intense of those feelings for a person. It has to be “evokes awe” rather than “is deemed worthy of awe” because it would not be ultimate if we apply to it some criterion of “worthy” of awe.

I choose “awe” because it seems to be the deepest, most profound, most “cosmic” of all emotions. It does not have "otherness" in it, as the concept of "gratitude" does. Also, it goes beyond appreciation. Its relationship to Divine, Unconditional Love that is an experience of Being, is beyond the scope of this particular blogpost.

The practice would be various actions that involve paying attention to the object and experiencing the feeling. These often involve rituals, but need not. Those actions are what is generally called “worship.” It is also plausible to regard the feeling of awe as worship--worship as a feeling--and the deepest, most meaningful worship practice, as feeling awe.

In some sense, everyone has a religion, given this definition, but most people hold it and experience it only subconsciously. And in most people who think their religion is one object/feeling, it’s actually something else that’s the ultimate object of awe for them--which they would be very reluctant to admit.

What is "a religion," to you? What is your religion? If you differentiate "spiritual" and "religious," what are the similarities and differences for you? What do you think they are for others?

This blogpost is part of a four-part series exploring these concepts. The others are What Does "Divine" Mean?, What is Theology?, and What Do "Sacred" and "Divine" Mean?

Questions and comments welcome below!

By Rev. Alia Aurami, Ph.D., Head Minister, Amplifying Divine Light in All Church

"Amplifying Divine Light in All" is a completely independent church fostering empowerment of people to co-create loving, thriving God-realized lives, and wellbeing for everyone, on a clean, peaceful Earth.

Our main religious purpose and mission is to amplify the Divine Light in everyone. When you read this article, you will agree or disagree with its various points, and then you will know more about what is true for you. Knowing more of your own Truth amplifies your Divine Light. Thus providing/presenting this article is one way for us to accomplish our purpose and mission. 

This article and our providing/presenting it are therefore a central and essential part of our exercise and practice of our religion. 

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