[2318] in Depressing_Thoughts
Re: The role of religion
marc@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (marc@ATHENA.MIT.EDU)
Thu Sep 12 22:02:00 1991
>> Marc, do you think I "hold [my]self up in a community which looks out
>> (and down) on everyone else?"
Read more carefully, jik. I said "hole yourself up", as in
"sequester", not "hold yourself up", as in "become stuck up". Very
different.
In answer, no, I don't. If you were in a community like that, you
wouldn't willingly spend time around MIT or any other community which
wasn't strictly Orthodox.
>> It sounds to me, Marc, like you aren't interested in understanding why
>> the rituals, in all their rigidity, can be a Good Thing, because that
>> might put a dent in your philosophy.
Perhaps. But I know that I'd end up making the decision between the
ritual and my friends that Rhu is battling with right now. I spent a
long time in HS with barely any social life to speak of (not related
to religion at all). I'd need an amazingly good reason to go back to
that state. That amazingly good reason may be there, but I'm not
ready for it right now.
What is really depressing is that trying to reconcile one's secular
and religious behavior causes such internal conflicts. Sigh.
