If spirituality and religion are going to be commoditised, then there will be reviews.

I don’t see much difference between religion and sex. Their natures are diametrically opposite when it’s practiced privately vs publicly.

All forms of evangelism is advertising. Which brings up the question, why?

I have a theory that the reason religions/spirituality are actively encouraged to be spread because mob control and crowd control is necessary in a complex world. Being ‘good’ and ‘righteous’ is about creating homogenous societies who all play by the same rules and the reason these mind virii distinguish from each other with practices and icons and beliefs and structures is to be able to recognize and know ‘the other’.

Someone in the past said, religion is the opiate of the masses. It isn’t so anymore..it is more like pharmaceutical drugs prescribed by your doctor after a very heavy deductible. I can keep going on with this analogy but it is too predictable. So..please fill in the blanks yourself.

The notion is that we should be ‘good’ and easily recognized as ‘one of the tribe’, as it were...and speak the same language. It keeps the peace. Ironically, with the advent of monotheism, not so much anymore. Which begs the question, is the hack..that we know as religion/spirituality...outdated? Is it corrupted to the point that the system is attacking itself?

Certain themes are universal and don’t need institutionalized religion. I will give an example of forgiveness.

Last August, there was a hit and run case and a man died while riding his bike to work. The driver of the car that hit him took off. Last week, he turned himself in..

An overwhelming majority of the (religiously diverse) community was glad that he did and almost all of them thought that he did the right thing, he must face his punishment and that he will be at peace now that he doesn’t have to live with the guilt anymore. And then all said he should be forgiven. They never said that he should be let go and avoid imprisonment or trial. But then said that they forgave him.

I found that fascinating. Forgiveness is important. And promoting forgiveness is more important.

Most of them have children. They were using the same technique parents use with kids. Punishment without forgiveness will make sure that the future mistakes will never be confessed.

No punishment can be delivered without chances of redemption. No rules will be followed without the threat of punishment. I understood religion better at that moment. In a sense religion is for the order and well being of society. It is not for personal spiritual ascension. Not the version of religion with rules and strict observances. And publicly displayed.

Like the tail of a peacock. I don’t mean to make religion vain or vain glorious. To the contrary, I think we need such performances.

My point is that current state of religion is a mixed bag. Some are obviously failing. You can see this in the world arena where there is communal/sectarian violence and religious unrest. The hack has failed.

I suspect it is mostly due to its commoditization and emphasis on the reward system. There are no more sacrifices for the larger community. It is transactional.

My 2c. It was an informative read. Congregations are important to any faith. Religion or politics or family or celebration..all of them require assemblage of like minded people. They assemble because they agree to the rules. For some it is a trial run. Others subscribe to it. Others are initiated and adopt it from their families of origin. But at the end of the day, it’s meant to be a hack for public peace.