Monday, January 24, 2011

the things I do for fun

Mormonism scratch that, fundamentalist religion=unbelievably boring. You can believe in a lot of things, a lot of people do: Gods, monsters and so forth. But I defy any man, woman or child to exercise the imaginative powers requisite to form a belief in just how fantastically mind numbingly banal living with a religious world view actually is (a lot of people will disagree). Only experiencing it can do the thing justice, but why would you want to? Yes I know, spending eternity with a red satyr, trident wielding asshole is a powerful incentive to stick to the straight and narrow, but at least the guy makes things interesting. You've gotta give him that.

I feel compelled to document all the crazy (by some standards), but mostly normal (by normal standards) yet still morally reprehensible (according to my tribe) hijinks that I've been up to. You know how a certain subset of ex-Mormons want to assure their former comrades that they don't automatically participate in things like recreational drug use, casual sex, alcoholism, bizarre sacrificial rituals, moderate cannibalism etc. just because they left the fold? Well I do all of them. Will I ever learn? Only by experience. I'm glad I live in interesting times.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Fundamentalist religion = boring... add to that soul/mind numbing, sexually repressive, restrictive, unimaginative, and mentally and spiritually taxing. The number of internal arguments one has that defy all logic when trying to justify that particular world view is beyond belief... from ideas on marriage and families (why yes you can have eternity - but only if you're straight. Oh you take it from behind? Whoops, no pearly gates for you then - hoe bout a pearl necklace instead), agency and accountability (accountable for your own sins and not for Adam's transgressions - oh wait sorry, you're black? Mark of Cain and withheld priesthood rights for you then - at least till the Civil Rights movement)

It's a scary place sometimes, but power to you for making the most of your life and taking the steps to learn and experience it in all it's wonder.

As an ex Mormon myself, while I can't say I've ever engaged in bizarre sacrificial rites, moderate cannibalism or sex of the casual carte blanche kind, I can relate to everything else there and applaud you for sharing your experiences. For my part, there are times I'd give anything to have the blinders back on and experience the bliss of ignorance but that's not what life's about. It's about experiencing it and finding your own way and for that, I applaud you =) Keep it up

Loren said...

cheers anonymous person, i'm so happy to be out of the morg, but sometimes in my weaker moments, a little sad too. that's life though, good luck making any sense of it.