Religion Separate From How We Act?
The intentions of the sacred writer could also be expressed using the medium that we call religion. Not unlike art, religion is a means to pass down from one generation to another a psychic heritage shrouded in archetypes and motifs, a psychic heritage that is open to interpretation.
The intentions of religion don't essentially correspond to the meanings the adherents give them. There's no causation between the religion, itself, and the movement that follows.
Subjective Interpretations Shaping How One Acts?
All over the planet and on each corner of the world, there are religionists who use their beliefs to enrich and promote the lives of others, and there are religionists who use their beliefs to the effectuation of death and destruction.
To blame religion for death and mayhem, one should also blame religion for all the civility and morality it has afforded our species. I'm of the opinion religion has done neither of these things, but rather the fault lies with the heart of every man, woman, and child.
A Beauty That Is Still With Us
For me, religion is merely a history of our psychic past; it's a telling and a retelling of the evolution of the human mind. We, ourselves, will add to the rich mosaic of our psychic history; our thoughts and our beliefs are going to be enshrined for future generations.
To blame the beliefs of those generations that follow us on the religious heritage we leave behind is like blaming the people of ancient civilisations for our misconceptions of who they were.
A Form Of Identity
I don't believe the focus of religion is usefulness but identification. Like art, I feel the intentions of religion are psychic expressions and followers identify, psychologically, with these expressions. In other words, I feel it is the soul of the past reaching out to touch the soul of the future.
It is a metaphysical bridge from one generation to the following. It isn't a recounting of our material history but a recounting of the history of the human soul. It does not chronicle physical phenomena but psychological phenomena. It does not tell us about that which happened; it recounts subjective interpretations of that which happened.