A Religious Experience

So, having been raised agnostic, I've never really understood what people get out of faith.

I really don't.

I cannot conceive of a God who gives a shit what we do on an individual basis, any more than we care about what a given single ant is doing at a specific moment in time.

Or to put it another way, God may see the fall of every sparrow, but I don't think He/She/It/They cares very much.

But I do find myself profoundly awed and moved, from time to time, to feel something I feel must be akin to religious devotion.

Standing on top of a small mountain in Utah, looking down at a small herd of bison grazing on a bleak island in the Great Salt Lake as a powerful wind whips salt spray nearly a mile up the mountain to me.

Watching as a magnificent storm tears its way through the sky of southern Indiana, the lightning dancing from cloud to cloud.

Seeing a bird of prey strike at its victim, doing exactly what it was built to do.

The feeling of warm, familial camaraderie I experience with my friends as we sit around a roaring campfire under a beautiful full moon.

Standing uphill of Secret Creek near Talkeetna, and turning to find Mount Denali clearly outlined as if it's only three feet away.

Hearing the crash of waves on the seashore as I walk along a cliff in northern California after sunset.

The almost insane joy I feel as I fire a round and it slams into the target.

The sounds of gifted singers performing, say, the operas of Puccini.


Thing is... no church I've yet encountered would include any of these in its services.

And thus, I remain uncommitted.

But I do live in awe of the universe we inhabit, and some of the things we, as a species, do for no readily apparent reason.