Postaday for January 9th: In Good Faith. Describe a memory or encounter in which you considered your faith, religion, spirituality — or lack of — for the first time.
Let’s say you have a belief, such as: you believe that one of your two local grocery stores has those new “Orchards” style Skittles, and the other one doesn’t. “Orchards” come in forest-free package and out of all the Skittles styles you’ve ever eaten, these are the very best.
Now you could call the store and confirm your belief, and even call the other store to see if you’re right about their not having any. But what if the person you talk to is wrong? Or what if they lie? Or what if they don’t know what you mean? What if no one even answers the phone?
The belief’s not the thing, really. You just want those Skittles. So you decided to go there yourself.
You grab your keys and you step outside and realize, wow, it’s a really nice day. It would be a shame to drive one lousy mile in such nice weather. And it’s not like you have anything else to do— why not walk?
I’ll tell you why not— what if you’re wrong about the store having your Skittles?
You decided to walk anyway. And you decided that, surely, putting in the effort of walking to the store means the Skittles MUST be there.
Now the belief IS the thing. Because when you get to the store, the point is not whether or not they have the Skittles, the point is your belief got you to walk a few miles in the sunshine. And your reward might be the Skittles, OR, it might be learning a little humility when you get there and discover you were wrong. OR, it might be not getting indigestion like you always do when you eat too many Skittles.
Religion is the story you tell yourself once you get to the store. It’s the compromises you make, in your heart, to convince yourself that going for a walk to get a bag of Skittles has value.
Religion is the walk back. I was 22 when I first saw Nikolai Ge’s painting Golgotha, hanging in the Musee D’Orsay.