I have gasped , screamed , stamped and pounded a desk till my knuckles hurt. I probably have said all I have to say in exclamations. There’s just one question, maybe two. How does your mind work? And are you really sane?
I've been studying Camus' Myth of Sisyphus essay over the past month, and while I haven't fully subscribed to his absurdist philosophy, I am endeared to one of its most important elements. The concept that there is no eternal and that we have just this one life.
He states that the eternal is just an illusion and is not real, and so chasing it in opposition to living life to the fullest, is a futile exercise.
We put our faith (and therefore, our money, our resources) in an unknown divine. And while that can sometimes soothe the human spirit, spiritual relief doesn't usually transmit to our physical realities. And it's a truth that a lot of preachers and all have conditioned us to look away from.
Someone on Twitter said today that power is the tool that claims to do what religion (at least in this side of the world) claim to do. Religion gives hope, but power ultimately gets stuff done. And I agree. Even the religious empires born out of the sweat of the religious devotees depends on the power given to them by the same devotees. In this market, power is traded for hope (which could sometimes be borderline manipulation).
On the first: off the top of my head, control over other people. That's a form of power. Financial power too. Political power, even, in the sense that they can influence trends in a social scope. For now, that's all that come to mind.
On the second: if you mean proof as in a holistic scientific process and all, no I haven't. I guess it's an opinion.
Saying faith isn’t “real” because it doesn’t produce immediate outcomes, that’s a shallow test. Grief doesn’t produce outcomes. Love doesn’t pay rent. Despair doesn’t show up on a spreadsheet, but it still kills people.
You’re not wrong about the transaction. Hope gets traded for power all the time. But let’s not pretend power is a neutral tool. "Gets stuff done" sounds pragmatic, until you ask—done to whom? Power builds hospitals, sure. It also builds prisons. It topples empires, but it also funds them.
And yes, religion gets co-opted. But don’t confuse the empire for the altar. That hope you call borderline manipulation? For a lot of people, it’s the only thing that ever let them resist the system that power built.
You say religion soothes, but power delivers. I’d argue power often delivers the anxiety that religion exists to soothe.
The irony is power talks like faith now. It rebrands itself as “vision,” “purpose,” “impact.” CEOs give TED Talks about destiny. Politicians sell hope. Everyone’s preaching.
So maybe it’s not that religion is powerless. Maybe it’s that power knows exactly how powerful hope is, and wants to own it too.
Also. I want to point out that my post wasn’t attacking faith. I was naming how modern spirituality, especially the prosperity gospel, now mirrors capitalism. That's it.
I have gasped , screamed , stamped and pounded a desk till my knuckles hurt. I probably have said all I have to say in exclamations. There’s just one question, maybe two. How does your mind work? And are you really sane?
It's a possibility. Hahaha.
Yet another great article. Big ups!
I've been studying Camus' Myth of Sisyphus essay over the past month, and while I haven't fully subscribed to his absurdist philosophy, I am endeared to one of its most important elements. The concept that there is no eternal and that we have just this one life.
He states that the eternal is just an illusion and is not real, and so chasing it in opposition to living life to the fullest, is a futile exercise.
We put our faith (and therefore, our money, our resources) in an unknown divine. And while that can sometimes soothe the human spirit, spiritual relief doesn't usually transmit to our physical realities. And it's a truth that a lot of preachers and all have conditioned us to look away from.
Someone on Twitter said today that power is the tool that claims to do what religion (at least in this side of the world) claim to do. Religion gives hope, but power ultimately gets stuff done. And I agree. Even the religious empires born out of the sweat of the religious devotees depends on the power given to them by the same devotees. In this market, power is traded for hope (which could sometimes be borderline manipulation).
What power gets stuff done? What exactly is “power” in this context?
“And it’s a truth” — Have you proven this truth, or is it your opinion?
On the first: off the top of my head, control over other people. That's a form of power. Financial power too. Political power, even, in the sense that they can influence trends in a social scope. For now, that's all that come to mind.
On the second: if you mean proof as in a holistic scientific process and all, no I haven't. I guess it's an opinion.
Okay, this is me pushing back.
Saying faith isn’t “real” because it doesn’t produce immediate outcomes, that’s a shallow test. Grief doesn’t produce outcomes. Love doesn’t pay rent. Despair doesn’t show up on a spreadsheet, but it still kills people.
You’re not wrong about the transaction. Hope gets traded for power all the time. But let’s not pretend power is a neutral tool. "Gets stuff done" sounds pragmatic, until you ask—done to whom? Power builds hospitals, sure. It also builds prisons. It topples empires, but it also funds them.
And yes, religion gets co-opted. But don’t confuse the empire for the altar. That hope you call borderline manipulation? For a lot of people, it’s the only thing that ever let them resist the system that power built.
You say religion soothes, but power delivers. I’d argue power often delivers the anxiety that religion exists to soothe.
The irony is power talks like faith now. It rebrands itself as “vision,” “purpose,” “impact.” CEOs give TED Talks about destiny. Politicians sell hope. Everyone’s preaching.
So maybe it’s not that religion is powerless. Maybe it’s that power knows exactly how powerful hope is, and wants to own it too.
Also. I want to point out that my post wasn’t attacking faith. I was naming how modern spirituality, especially the prosperity gospel, now mirrors capitalism. That's it.