The Forums › Forums › Emotional Journey › Is It Just Me? › ADD and religion › Re: ADD and religion
Another problem with religion is that it’s so dependent on performing rituals. If you’re a Catholic, it’s a mortal sin to miss Mass. I’d have thought it would be a far greater sin to go to every Mass just because you have to. After a while, you perform those rituals purely out of habit, with no real thought or appreciation for what they’re supposed to signify. Sure, you’re very religious, but you’re seriously lacking in spirituality.
This became abundantly clear to me at my Grandmother’s funeral. The priest (who had never met her, since she’d moved out of that neighbourhood, and, indeed, the city, over 10 years ago) was running on auto-pilot, through both the Mass and the eulogy—which it was painfully obvious he was ad-libbing with platitudes…having completely forgotten that my aunt had told him she’d written a eulogy which she intended to deliver.
Before the Mass, the priest had asked me, my mom, my aunt, and my cousin, if one of us would do the reading. As I’ve had broadcast training, and I’m Queen of the Cold Read, I volunteered. I glanced over the text before the service, and when I actually did the reading, I did it in a way that brought the words vividly to life, as though I believed what I was saying, wholeheartedly.
Afterwards, my dad said that I’d not only held everyone spellbound, but I’d also captivated the priest. In fact, Dad said the priest looked as if he were hearing the words of the 23rd Psalm for the very first time. And when an atheist can shake a priest out of his complacency, it’s really something! I hope it also made the priest really think about whether it was enough to just go through the motions.
Truly, I feel far more at one with the world and the universe and the very essence of being, when I’m out in the country, at a lake, on a clear, starry night; than I ever could in any church, even a mighty cathedral. When the water is smooth as glass, and all the stars are reflected in it, and you can’t tell where the sky ends and the water begins, THAT is the holiest of places! And all you have to do is gaze at it in wonder.
REPORT ABUSE