Someone (can’t recall who) describes his lack of religion as “I believe only in nature” - which I like because it leaves room for the magical, the inspiring, and the sublime. There is plenty in nature - and in our many man-made worlds of art, science, technology.
I went through a similar journey though I quickly found Dawkins a bit smug and his arguments at times dishonest. Hitchens still inspires me as I feel he embodies the beauty of language, art, and other ways humans create meaning.
I tend to feel religion is more and more being replaced with other ways of creating meaning and examining philosophy. More and more when I’m in a religious setting, I find myself able to appreciate what’s good - the feeling of connectedness it encourages, the meaning it’s given to my relatives and ancestors, the music and art it inspired.
Zakir Hussain said something when he taught a class at Princeton: for musicians, both Hinduism and Islam are true - in a way, music is a religion that inhabits both worlds. (I might be imprecisely paraphrasing here).
Similarly, it’s hard to listen to Bach and play Bach and not be, at least in an abstract sense, religiously moved.
Someone (can’t recall who) describes his lack of religion as “I believe only in nature” - which I like because it leaves room for the magical, the inspiring, and the sublime. There is plenty in nature - and in our many man-made worlds of art, science, technology.
I went through a similar journey though I quickly found Dawkins a bit smug and his arguments at times dishonest. Hitchens still inspires me as I feel he embodies the beauty of language, art, and other ways humans create meaning.
I tend to feel religion is more and more being replaced with other ways of creating meaning and examining philosophy. More and more when I’m in a religious setting, I find myself able to appreciate what’s good - the feeling of connectedness it encourages, the meaning it’s given to my relatives and ancestors, the music and art it inspired.
Zakir Hussain said something when he taught a class at Princeton: for musicians, both Hinduism and Islam are true - in a way, music is a religion that inhabits both worlds. (I might be imprecisely paraphrasing here).
Similarly, it’s hard to listen to Bach and play Bach and not be, at least in an abstract sense, religiously moved.