It [religion] consummates
one’s dissatisfaction with oneself,
and at that extreme point
gives one satisfaction in “God.”

It pushes weariness with humanity
to the limit,
and offers instead
the image of a divine savior;

It takes away one’s taste
for life on earth entirely,
and promotes the quest for a
“higher world.”

The Self-Overcoming of Nihilism by Nishitani Keiji, trans. by Graham Parkes and Setsuko Aihara, page 74

Later this morning I have an appointment to participate in a discussion on religious experience. Another phrasing of what is meant by religious experience is “the fundamental it.” At this point I’m unsettled about having to say anything, hazard any comment whatsoever about religion. As a rule I do not label myself an agnostic or atheist, nor can I justify saying that I am Christian. I am still swimming, staying afloat in a rapid stream of enchantment with the concept of “G/god”, with how deep and wide is this foundation of human experience. No doubt this is fate, my destiny – being raised in a Southern Plymouth Brethren church.

Religion is inescapable. If you belong to the species homo sapiens “intelligent man” you are a troubled mammal, full stop. We use the word “happy” to refer to a condition of bliss, a calming of the roiling waters of self-doubt, or of fear of non-being, perhaps even the more mundane ache in my strained muscles. The consequence of yesterday’s overdo at the gym.

Enter religion, the shaman, the purveyor of divine nostrums for the endemic dissonance of the human experience. Give your life to Jesus, you must “be born again,” Bible study will help, perhaps praying the rosary more often (when feeling anxious), confession and so on, and so on.

Nishitani writes, echoing Nietzsche, that religion is a great bait and switch (my phrasing) that suffering is intentionally intensified, in order to make a “remedy” maximally attractive. Why linger in this world of pain and sorrow, when another world of bliss is promised to the faithful?

I just do not know what I want to say in anticipation of the up and coming discussion on the topic of religious experience.

And there is always music, a this-worldly comfort as often as we are troubled. Black Velvet by Alannah Myles.