Talking about myth got me thinking, I really hate religion. I identify with being jewish but it's the cultural aspect (ie. Hanukkah and the food) that is important to me, not all the gibber gabber that's in the torah. I think religion has admirable intentions but it does more harm than good. Instead of promoting love it promotes hate. It's a tool that simply doesn't work. It's a machine that will lead to the destruction of the human race. I just think we tried, but it's time to give up. I also don't believe in god. Don't get me wrong I consider myself to be a very spiritual person. I believe in a higher power, just not in the god that religion presents to us.
In class we talked about the purpose of myth and religion. Why do we have it? It was created to explain things that can't be explained with simple logic and reasoning. It's meant to give us comfort and remind us that we're not alone. It shows us other people who have gone through the same things that we are going through and have gotten through it. It gives us hope. It warns us of what can become of us if we make the wrong decisions and do bad things. It teaches us lessons.
This sounds oddly familiar. It sounds like a movie. Movie's essentially serve the same purpose as religion. They comfort, inspire, and teach us. I've decided that since I hate religion, I need something else to believe in. I choose movies. My religion is movies. And my favorite characters are like my version of god. Actually I think they're better than god. Unlike god, they are not these all powerful beings that have no basis in reality or proof of existence (or instill fear to get you to do good things). Instead, they are real people, who you know don't really exist, but inspire you anyway. They relate to you and teach you how and why you should do good things. They are much more relevant and useful than god is.
This got me thinking which characters would I file under this category. Harry Potter was the first that came to mind. I would much rather believe in Harry Potter than some old guy who lives in the sky, has a beard and wears a robe and sandals. Like I said before, it's more useful to believe in Harry Potter. He's a person who has struggled, experienced pain, doubted, suffered, persevered, fought, and survived. God on the other hand is this all powerful being who can do pretty much anything with the snap of his fingers. In my opinion he doesn't have much to offer me. Harry is a much better role model. He's an inspiration. He's someone I can really learn from.
Of course this doesn't only apply to Harry Potter and it most certainly doesn't only apply to movies. Dance is my religion. Music is my religion. Books are my religion. To put it simply, Art is my religion. Art is about explaining things that can not be explained with words. It's about reaching out and touching people. It inspires, it gives hope, it teaches us, it comforts us. Most importantly though, it's about creating... making this world into something beautiful. It's the same as religion but better. Because religion celebrates what god has created. Art celebrates what we have created, and that's definitely something I want to believe in.
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