tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7942601.post1008172001915352647..comments2023-10-14T08:32:48.543-05:00Comments on Wild Rumpus: ConvergencePrincessMaxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09197008991622181061noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7942601.post-49542678792027294352009-10-24T11:05:47.125-05:002009-10-24T11:05:47.125-05:00Yessssssss to this. This is one of my favourite to...Yessssssss to this. This is one of my favourite topics (i.e. rants) re: religion.<br /><br />You might like to read Danya Rutenberg's _Surprised by God_ which is her memoir of going from disaffected atheist secular Jew to observance (and to later becoming a rabbi). Different religion, I know, but I really got a lot out of it as I was trying to figure out how religious I did or didn't want to be.<br /><br />Anyway towards the end she talks about the sort of post-capitalist approach to "spirituality"--self-help books that borrow from religions with the promise of self-improvement, and she rightly rails against the perversion of religion to make it about filling some spiritual void left by consumerist culture. The whole "what can I take from a religion to feel more spiritually fulfilled?" Of course we are all trying to find our own paths/ways to practise that sit right with us and our consciences, but I agree with Rutenberg that you kind of miss the point of Judaism/Christianity/WHATEVER when you make it about self-improvement. It is about tying ourselves to things bigger than us, be that God, or community, or history, and we become better people through the collective processes, not through spiritual narcissism.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com