I believe the
internet is encroaching onto the purposes of religion in several significant
ways. As for finding a community of like
minded people, websites like Reddit are forming a multitude of arenas for
people with shared interests in whatever field.
Thanks to the internet, people are no longer forced to be corralled into
a community group because of local practicality. In remote small towns, the church, mosque or
what have you, used to be the only place where the community got together and
talked about ideas. If you were someone
who thought differently than most people in the community, the house of worship
may have been a lonely and alienating place.
Even in very remote communities, you can no longer be intellectually
alienated in the age of the internet.
You can find a group of very like minded people in practically any
specified interest. Although I can
obviously concede that the internet community has its drawbacks. Of course the internet cuts off a huge part
of community, namely the actual physical human interaction. The internet also can be a hotbed for
fostering radicalism in any kind of ideology.
Since you can find such specific interest groups, it is much easier to
create your own sphere of influence without any of the checks and balances of
outside criticism. As a consequence you
can have a type of radical ideology festering worldwide. Such is the case with many terrorism
inciting, brands of Islam.
Personally I
have found the internet to be an indispensable resource for finding people who
are like minded as me. I have found
many niches of thought that would be rare to find in real interpersonal
communication. Also, I have found that
the internet has created several virtual Gurus for myself. A phenomenon in many eastern religious
traditions like Hinduism, a Guru is a kind teacher or guide in a Master-teacher
relationship. Now through the technology
of the internet, the free exchange of uncensored opinions and ideas can be
broadcast through podcasts, YouTube and so on.
It has allowed for eccentric and charismatic people to have to ability
to be great role models for millions of people
Through the
internet I have found People such as Penn Jillette, who has taught me the value
of celebrating the preciousness of life as an atheist. He is an incredibly open, true to himself and
honest person. Qualities I respect in
people more than any others. His weekly
podcast “Penn’s Sunday School” offers
an hour and a half exploration of a totally free expressive mind offering his
life experience, free of charge for the world to hear. He has been instrumental in being a guiding
influence on my very optimistic idealistic, political and moral
ideologies.
Comedian Joe
Rogan is another one of these virtual role models. His podcast The Joe Rogan Experience has be an incredible guide for my
Intellectual, physical, emotional and interpersonal improvement. A motivational and unconventional personality
such as his offers a form of the ideal fulfilled, happy man. A stand-up comedian such as Joe, is someone
who is also unashamedly himself in the ways he expresses himself online and
onstage. On average he produces 2-3
shows per week and each show being around 3 hours long. It would be very difficult to produce that
much conversational material without being totally true to oneself. He is someone who above all expresses
unconditional love towards his family, friends and people around him. He is someone who is uncompromisingly able to
pursue his passions in life with martial arts and comedy. He has the utmost respect for the physical
vehicle of life, the body. He has helped
me understand the incredible importance of feeding the body properly and
keeping it in peak physical shape. His
podcast demonstrates an insatiable hunger for knowledge. He continually has incredibly interesting,
ideologically varying, intelligent guests such as Sam Harris, Neil deGrasse
Tyson and Graham Hancock on the show.
Complimentary to that, he expresses total humility of knowledge to what
the possibilities of what the universe can be.
Without being tied to the very often compromising restraints of academia
he is fearlessly able to admit his responsible exploration into the nature of
consciousness through introspective meditation and mind altering
substances. By no means does he
unconditionally encourage their use, but can objectively realize the potential
of the physical, chemical realities of consciousness, positive and negative. On
my quest to find a definition of secular spirituality, I believe Joe Rogan’s
personality expressed through his podcast represents an ideal model for what I
am searching for.
Looking
introspectively, this slightly resembles cult and religious like behaviour, but
having great intellectual role models in life doesn’t mean a solid adherence to
everything that person does and believes.
My admiration of Joe Rogan or Penn isn't WWJD (what would Jillette or
Joe do?). Their personalities act as
more a guide to pursuing a happier and fulfilled life. If Muhammad, Jesus or
Buddha were alive today, would it be out of the realm of possibility for them
to have free life coaching podcasts? I think much stranger things have happened
One field
regarding the secularization of religious functions that must be investigated
further is the parallels in the stories of modern day science fiction and
fantasy and the myths of ancient religion.
The theory of the “Monomyth” presented by Joseph Campbell is one that is
fascinating and I must do more research into it.
All and all it
is looking as though the purposes of religion in western society is changing no
doubt. But into what form is definitely
yet to be seen. I believe I have
demonstrated that those who are of an atheist mindset, it
can be possible to fill the functional properties of organized religion almost
entirely. Now according to theists, the
only thing left to be fulfilled in my own life is a god and faith shaped hole
somewhere inside me.
Here's an interesting video demonstrating the networking power of podcasts
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