What is God, Community, and How Religion Provides Footing

Disclaimer!! I am not a professional on the matter, and I think my opinion could possibly change if I acquainted myself with the scripture of different religions more. This is just something I've been thinking about!

I've always seen God as something symbolic, not literal. Even though I was pretty far gone into Russian Orthodox Christianity as a kid--voluntarily, may I add--I never believed that God was an entity. After I grew up and thought about what religion and God really mean to me, I came to a conclusion that finally sat right with me. God is a metaphor for hope.

This thought visited me again today when I was on my way home from work and passed a local church. Their announcement board said "God is everywhere, so pray any where." I'm not sure how the rest of the thought fit into place then and there, but this statement equated to "hope is all around" in my head. Religion was always a way for people to keep living during the toughest moments in life. Many turn to religion specifically because the burdens in their life are getting harder and harder to bear, or the fear of the unknown weighs on them too heavily, so they turn to something that can provide answers and, most importantly, hope. All scripture has the same message in one form or another: if you follow certain steps in your life, you will achieve a higher state of being. This is most obvious in Buddhism, with reaching Nirvana and all, but it is also the case with Christianity, which states that if one lives a noble life and sins as little as possible, repenting for the sins they do end up committing, they will end up in Heaven, where they will be rid of life's burdens as a reward for being a good person. God, or any higher being / concept that a religion worships, is a symbol of that hope. The existence of God proves that there is something divine and weightless unlike regular humans. And the similarity between humans and God, whether it be the fact that humans are made in the image of God, or that the equivalent of God a human that reached another state of being, like Buddha, makes people believe that their efforts to follow scripture and achieve a higher state of being in the future are not useless. Texts like the Bible also talk of humans that have managed to reach that higher state, whether due to their relation or devotion to God. This encourages people to continue trying. If one just like them got to a happy place, they can too! This is the reason I consider religious texts as a sort of flavor text. If a religion is one book, its scripture is a moment where the character wakes up grumpy and makes themselves a cup of coffee to prepare them for the day. It may not reveal anything crucial to the plot of the book, but it makes the reader see the character as a person, empathize with them, and see themselves in them. Religious tales play a similar role, relating those who have touched divinity to the regular person. 

Another important reason why hope through religion is needed in the first place is that people are afraid of death. This is that same fear of the unknown that leads people to seek answers in religion, but while there are questions that are personal to each individual--like ones regarding their fate or suffering--not knowing what death holds is universal. No one knows what comes after. Naturally, everyone is scared of it. Religion always has a certain answer of what the afterlife entails and what happens to your body and spirit after you die. There is not a single religion that has nothing to do with death, because it is a universal question that everyone needs an answer to, and it alone can lead a person to despair and panic. A vulnerable state like that is usually what pulls people towards religious groups. They want stability, as I will discuss later on.

The phrase "God is everywhere," in the context of God as a metaphor for hope, makes me visualize a forest of swaying trees in the cool breeze, or a vast mountain landscape, the size of which astounds. Witnessing nature so grand and beautiful makes you believe that maybe things can be okay. If beauty like this exists somewhere, if people are here and looking at the same sight and smiling as I do, no matter how good or bad their life is, I am capable of finding peace. This feeling is beautifully described in a quote I read in Saving Beauty by Byung-Chul Han. It wasn't originally written by Byung-Chul Han, but I don't own this book, so I can't find the source (I apologize).

"The sky, the same sky, suddenly open, absolutely black and absolutely empty...The unexpected aspect of this scene (its interminable feature) is the feeling of happiness (bonheur) that straightaway submerges the child, the ravaging joy to which he can bear witness only in tears, an endless flood of tears."

This excerpt has stuck with me more than any other from the books I've read. That entire section of Saving Beauty talks about the divinity of experiencing nature in all its beauty, so grand and otherworldly that it pulls a person from their self. This sort of happiness, this sort of beauty is what gives people hope, what makes them keep going. This is what experiencing God is like.

But it's more than just wanting hope. Or, rather, there is another aspect of hoping for a happy future that is influenced by scripture. Sins. This is where my experience with the subject matter becomes very limited, because I only have a good grasp on the sins in Christianity, but I believe that my conclusion can be applied to any religion. A list of sins is a list of things that one should avoid doing if they want to reach a higher state. If you want to go to Heaven, you have to refrain from adultery, killing, the base sins like gluttony and greed, etc. And, in the context of existing in a community, these demands make sense. As someone who does not believe in God as a creature with their own demands, prohibitions like sins seem almost like laws. To fit into the community you live in, you have to refrain from doing these things, because they hurt others. Adultery will cause the downfall of a family (or, it should, even though this hasn't been the case historically, with women enduring their husbands cheating), greed will cause arguments with your neighbors or start fights that disrupt the community's peace, and gluttony will deprave members of the community of their food portion. Scripture makes sense as a set of laws to prevent people from ruining the harmony of a community. And most are willing to follow these rules because even though immediate desires may seem tempting, if you resist and follow scripture you will have an ETERNITY of happiness and peace. Although people cave to their desires--we are only human--eternity is a lot more meaningful than Now. 

( Some sins aren't explicitly promoting community peace, but are results of taboos relevant to a time in history, for example, lust. At a certain point in time, and a long one at that, engaging in intercourse, and especially sexual deviancy of any form, was incredibly frowned upon. Of course, whether people were punished for it or not depended on one's place in the social hierarchy of where they are--kings could get away with pretty much everything, especially during the times of the Divine Right. But the existence of these rules in the first place shows that taboos were also factors, which makes a lot of sense. If there is a taboo on sex, people want to abolish it. I wish I knew more about the timeline of how the scripture in different religions changed, with translations and different denominations appearing, as all these factors did change the set of sins, how they were handled, etc. But this does not stop me from making my conclusion that religion was a way for people to fit into a community. It's just nifty information I would like to know. )

This harmony of the community can be related back to people in vulnerable states wanting to join religious groups. It's not just about finding hope in life, it's about finding that hope with your kin by your side. No one wants to be alone. A big part of the happiness people want to achieve is a loving community. When you're desperate and alone, you're more willing to follow through with any demands that you're told will bring the community together and make the people around you respect you and accept you as their own. Sure, many people practice religion just for the hope of finding salvation after death, but I've heard many people I know say that they enjoy religious practice, like church ceremonies and participating in church choir, because of the sense of community. When you go to a place of worship, you can be sure that everyone is there was similar reasons - your God, your scripture, what comes with it. Different people are united by religion in places like these, and that is a sense of community that is rarely found. Sometimes it's the only place where people can enjoy human connection and feel completely at peace. It is also about stability. Religion was always most rampant in places where there was little structure that allowed people to organize. If you live in a country with a flimsy imitation of a central government and about a hundred small villages scattered here and there, having a universal set of rules makes it easy for people to live in harmony without oversight and supervision. This was the goal of spreading Christianity in the Middle Ages, or, at least, one of them. People were afraid of paganism and other races, anyone different from them, and by spreading Christianity they were sure that the "more primitive" communities were more like them, more peaceful in their understanding of the term. It became a great tool for rulers to ensure they only need to specify laws, not create them, as there were already basic rules everyone could follow, even if they aren't under the king's constant observation.

To conclude all that yap! God is a symbol for hope rather than a singular being with demands, and scripture is meant to give people hope that if they follow a certain set of rules they can achieve happiness. This set of rules is determined by the needs of the community and its well-being, and people follow it because they want to be accepted by said community and reach stability. Religion is motivation to be a good human being in relation to the ones around you.

Anyways! Just a little something I've been thinking about. It's hard not to write a whole book, because I lost the ability to think about things in isolation from the rest of everything. Religion has historical factors, linguistic factors, social factors, etc., etc., and I can't fit it all into one blog post due to a lack of knowledge and the realization that if I get to it, I'll end up spending years writing a book about Everything.  

May be a bit loosely structured, but it's basically just a flow of consciousness, so that checks out. Hope you enjoyed my rant, lol!

- Yule