"The choice isn’t between religion and the secular world, as it is nowby Maria Popova
— the challenge is to learn from religions so we can fill the secular
world with replacements for the things we long ago made up religion to
provide. The challenge begins here"
“We need reminders to be good, places to reawaken awe, something to reawaken our kinder, less selfish impulses…”
In their series of animated essays, The School of Life have contemplated what great books do for the soul, how to merge money and meaning, and what philosophy is for. Now comes a wonderful animation that builds on School of Life founder Alain de Botton’s book Religion for Atheists: A Non-believer’s Guide to the Uses of Religion (public library)to explore what comes after religion and how we can begin to address
the deeper existential yearnings which led us to create religion in the
first place — a meditation that calls to mind Sam Harris’s recent guide
to spirituality without religion and the broader question of how we fill our lives with meaning.
Transcribed highlights below.
Fewer and fewer people believe nowadays. It’s possibleFor more on this slippery but vital question, see Alan Lightman on finding transcendent moments in the secular world and Mary Oliver on a life well lived.
that in a generation, there simply won’t be religion across Europe and
large sections of North America, Australia, and Asia. That’s not
necessarily a problem — but it’s worth thinking about why people made up
religion in the first place.
[…]
We may no longer believe, but the needs and longings that made us
make up these stories go on: We’re lonely, and violent; we long for
beauty, wisdom, and purpose; we want to live for something more than
just ourselves.
Society tells us to direct our hopes in two areas: romantic love and
professional success. And it distracts us with news, movies, and
consumption. It’s not enough, as we know — especially at three in the
morning. We need reminders to be good, places to reawaken awe, something
to reawaken our kinder, less selfish impulses — universal things, which
need tending, like delicate flowers, and rituals that bring us
together.
The choice isn’t between religion and the secular world, as it is now
— the challenge is to learn from religions so we can fill the secular
world with replacements for the things we long ago made up religion to
provide. The challenge begins here.
