Another Religion

I propose a new religion.

Because, clearly, the world is just begging for another one. Not.

There’s no shortage of religions. And about 80% of humanity belongs to one of them and the rest want nothing to do with any of them. So, why am I gifting another matchstick into the already raging bonfire of beliefs and brotherhoods?

I grew up in a deeply fundamentalist religious ecosystem and believed it all as absolute truth. Until I realized its entire underpinning was, at best, one person's truth recycled by thousands of existentially or socially hungry others. Quite the disappointing, frustrating and discombobulating shift for me and certainly not the grist to create another deck of divinely doled cards with which to build a house of life.

But, while the system that conditioned me claimed to be of components inseparable and absolute, I saw value in some pieces without its structure. Nice color walls; but your foundation’s full of termites. To selectively, however, pick and choose from it, seemed impossible, self-contradictory, and even blasphemous. Can I discredit religion while taking the good stuff? God presented a religious package and I’m like a kid stealing from the collection plate? No can do.

But what about the chocolate chips? The delicious bits cleverly woven into the fabric of many religious tapestries? Do I need to eat the whole cookie and its hydrogenated trans fats?

Turns out: No. I can cherry pick.

Some humans imagined for themselves an unsinkable, formidable mountain of truth, which “god” dictated, packaged, trademarked, and presented as inseparable TruthTM for life and existence - like proprietary hardware that only works with the original manufacturer’s accessories.

And I, human just like them, propose a new “religion” (tongue squarely in cheek):

SMART - Selective Mindful Application of Religious Truths.

Be SMARTish.

The world is a buffet. With luck and a healthy perspective, we can each add whatever we want onto our plate. If a menu doesn't resonate, we can sample or enjoy selected elements. Someone’s theological lock and chain on what they consider an inseparable bundle of doctrines and rituals, doesn’t bind me. You call it divine. I call it a good idea.

Ironically, this is what many non-fundamentalist people have been doing all along. People see something appealing - person, family, culture, country - and adopt it. Human culture is an endless, borderless cross-pollination. Copying behavior is not plagiarism - it’s survival, and thrival. We do it with styles, standards, creativity... Something sprouts in one place, and aspects of it take root elsewhere, leaving stalks and leaves behind. People in Turkey might make shawarma.... and others in China might eat it too, with chopsticks.

I was late to the party.

“Thou shalt not use the divinely trademarked logo, recipe, or ingredient unless you pay a licensing fee – the whole self – and pay a lifetime subscription,” says the religious zealot.

“Pfft,” I say, as I pile samplers from the world’s smorgasbord onto my SMARTish plate. “Behavior, meaning, and wisdom are not finished products with trademarked secret ingredients. They’re universes full of possibilities. All for the taking. Or leaving.”

I’ll be doing both.