Western consumer culture is creating a psycho-spiritual crisis that leaves us disoriented and bereft of purpose. How can we treat our sick culture and make ourselves well? asks John F Schumaker.
Despite the common perception that religion seeks to answer mankind’s questions about life and death, in reality, religion is the practice of engaging with the ineffable, with a mystery that has no solution. This is a fundamentally different function than that of political ideology.
The confusion comes from the fact that a lot of what passes for “religion” in contemporary consumerist societies operates in exactly the same transactional mode as the rest of life. It’s a kind of consumer capitalist degeneration of religion, where the original religious function (reconnecting) has become overwhelmed by the consumerist dynamic of making payment (financial or by performing supposedly “moral” or “godly” acts) for some reward (salvation, heaven, prosperity or just membership of the club).
Religion isn’t special or even that different from a political ideology.
Despite the common perception that religion seeks to answer mankind’s questions about life and death, in reality, religion is the practice of engaging with the ineffable, with a mystery that has no solution. This is a fundamentally different function than that of political ideology.
The confusion comes from the fact that a lot of what passes for “religion” in contemporary consumerist societies operates in exactly the same transactional mode as the rest of life. It’s a kind of consumer capitalist degeneration of religion, where the original religious function (reconnecting) has become overwhelmed by the consumerist dynamic of making payment (financial or by performing supposedly “moral” or “godly” acts) for some reward (salvation, heaven, prosperity or just membership of the club).