Survival is good. But I hope your path brings you all the way to fulfillment in the end. If it doesn’t, there are always other paths. It’s never too late!

Long comments are an honour! And you always make me think, too. I’m so sorry about the delay. As you know, a lot has been happening.

I guess I’m *really* irreligious. It hadn’t occurred to me that religious activity could have a point other than the emotional payoff. That’s always how religious people try to sell me on the idea of religion! So yes, it would be nice if they could see the parallel here. But you know, it could work the other way. Couldn’t they say we are idolising a fellow mortal in a way that should be reserved for God? And after all, this perspective hasn’t managed to cure my shame yet, so I don’t think it has a very good prospect of curing their disgust. I think I’m preaching to the open-minded.

I actually wrote this post for a vanilla friend who has been asking a lot of good questions. He wrote back and said he didn’t think the recoil was about self-destruction, because we don’t react that way to bungee jumpers, etc. He may have a point. I’m starting to think it’s actually about not being able to cope with the instinctive fear and horror when lust and affection are also apparent. We humans have a disproportionate reaction to conflicting signals.

I’m curious what you think. (Or anybody else?)

People use prayer to ask God to tell them what to do, because they don’t know the right path. They apologize for transgressions. They thank God for everything he gives, even the pain and suffering, because he helps them see the good all around them. People submit to God in order to get comfort, attention, and approval, yet they profess to be unworthy of it. I’ve seen people all but literally sacrifice themselves to do right by God. Religious self-flagellation is not really popular nowadays, but it certainly has been. People wouldn’t go through all this if they weren’t getting some emotional return out of it all.

In the context of religion, I often find it frustrating — frankly, because I can’t convince myself that any God up there would care about all those small deeds and professions of faith. But whether their God is actually listening vs. how prayer makes the person FEEL…well those are two completely different things.

Maybe if folks who pray (or who can understand the powerful emotional needs it fulfills) saw these correlations, they’d gain a bit of perspective on that oh-so-scary word, “masochism.”

Ugh — long comment, sorry. But you made me think!