Belief

                Religion: from Latin “religare” – to bind fast, to bind together.
                (Note from author)



What is belief?
A square wheel, an annoying speed bump on the
   racetrack of progress?
Clinging to ‘good ol’ times’,
   opium of the masses?
A vestigial
   superstition,
Administered with a plentiful dose of
   contrition?
Was faith ever heart-felt for most or was it
   mostly skin deep?
And if so, is the world shedding its skin? Should we cheer
   or weep?
Can we function in a religious
   vacuum?
Give heaven and hell its much deserved
   requiem?
But faith is pervasive,
   a universal theme -
As varied as fashion
   or mores or cuisine.


Some faiths become hits, others gradually fade.
Churches are in decline, but mosques are doing great.

What is the whole point of belief?
Don't we have science to tell us how to live?

Is there such a thing as "too much reason"?
Or are 'the faithful' committing intellectual treason?

Science can only tell us 'how', but not 'why' -
That is the axe faith wants to grind.

Faith is more about the NOW, not some Paradise folly,
Stitching people together with whatever is "holy".

Theology and mythology - more powerful motivators
Than mere psychology.


We seem to need stories to give us the "why"
Without them we resort to just getting "high",
Drug, alcohol, shopping - anything
To stupefy, blunt the edge of
   reality,
Unsure how to deal with our own
   mortality.