I would like to push back on this. Dedicating your life to accomplishing something is only good if the goal is actually worthwhile. Beliefs are only good if they are true. Even though I never was religious, I never felt lost, and I’ve always felt like my life had meaning.
However, I feel hurt when people get mad at me for believing what’s true, or try to impose their nonsensical rules on me, or give me misguided advice I never asked for. A fellowship based on lies is fake and not worth having. If I have a psychological need, it’s to never again have to deal with this BS in my life.
I also feel hurt when people get mad at me for believing that which I believe to be true. It sucks, especially when they give you grief or it and try to coerce you into believing things you know not to be true.
But not all religion is like that. In my own practice of Soto Zen, I’ve not been asked to accept any doctrines on faith or follow any rules that don’t serve a useful purpose. Instead I’ve been given some practices and rituals to follow, and because I found them useful I’ve developed trust in the teachings and myself. This is honestly not too different from what goes on around Less Wrong, except that in Zen we get to wear special robes. :-)
I’m glad you’ve not felt lost. Perhaps you have no need for religion. My experience is that something like 90% of people are not so lucky.
I would like to push back on this. Dedicating your life to accomplishing something is only good if the goal is actually worthwhile. Beliefs are only good if they are true. Even though I never was religious, I never felt lost, and I’ve always felt like my life had meaning.
However, I feel hurt when people get mad at me for believing what’s true, or try to impose their nonsensical rules on me, or give me misguided advice I never asked for. A fellowship based on lies is fake and not worth having. If I have a psychological need, it’s to never again have to deal with this BS in my life.
I also feel hurt when people get mad at me for believing that which I believe to be true. It sucks, especially when they give you grief or it and try to coerce you into believing things you know not to be true.
But not all religion is like that. In my own practice of Soto Zen, I’ve not been asked to accept any doctrines on faith or follow any rules that don’t serve a useful purpose. Instead I’ve been given some practices and rituals to follow, and because I found them useful I’ve developed trust in the teachings and myself. This is honestly not too different from what goes on around Less Wrong, except that in Zen we get to wear special robes. :-)
I’m glad you’ve not felt lost. Perhaps you have no need for religion. My experience is that something like 90% of people are not so lucky.