I’ve been reading a lot of esoteric belief systems and normal philosophy books trying to build my own religious practice.
To me the things that are important are
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System of morals and values.
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Rites and rituals that must be performed
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Community engagement.
The first two are pretty obvious, but the community engagement is tricky for me in that its the most important and I have no intentions of spreading my religion.
To me its just a fun psychological game after all.
So to me, engagement means having something to relate to people or do with people.
In my case nature walks and meditation are important rituals to be dome regularly. So inviting people to come along or going to meditation classes creates a community engagement.
Is there anything else a religion needs outside of these things?
Its more fun to think of it as a religion.
I’m a total atheist, but the idea of being religious has always sounded fun. So instead of using the sterile descriptions of what I’m doing I’m choosing to use the grand poetic language of a religion to fully express its beauty.
Why call it a “mindful nature walk” when I could say “Pilgrimage through the unsoiled heavens” or something. The point is to make an action more symbolic and whimsical.
I think the religious have too much of a hold on whimsy and wonder.