*a person who journeys to a holy place for religious reasons
IF there is anything that I find fascinating in this world next to writing is the insistence of religion, in any form upon our attention. Bluntly speaking, like writing, religion can manipulate thoughts of those who give it their attention. Religion like writing can be responsible to build within those committed to it ideals that are positive with the underlying motive of developing the broader aspect of the society within which it is rooted. Inversely it can be destructive to the minds of its devotees if its message is destructive and meant to hurt. All religions that I have come into contact with, never mind the platform of life’s inevitabilities unto which they were conveyed to me, preach peace and love (and cunningly covertly, when the adherent goes deeper, – they also teach prosperity; which is a conundrum, for me, when it is tied with money). Flawed are religions when they drunkenly proclaim to be more supreme, holy and gallant than ‘other’ religions that exist alongside them. But why do we need religion? I suppose because deep within our self there is this undeniable yearn to belong somewhere besides our family structures, added to this there are certain aspects of our lives that remain uncontrollable and unexplainable and we find solace in ‘religion’; for religion allay fears about the unexplained. Even one who has experienced apostasy can come to appreciate the power of religion as a hearth that rally the distraught towards a communal affinity of some sort. Religion is a sideshow if it does not epitomize the aspirations of a people its wants to attract, if it suffers this anomaly it remains outside of their experience of reality. Unfortunately we live at a time whereby religion has been commoditized.
