The Mission

I am not a believer. When pressed, I define myself as "agnostic," which translates to "waiting to see how it all turns out." To be painfully honest, I have no desire for faith in a higher power. Or, to be accurate, I have no desire to belong to any of the major religions. Their concept of the Universe and our role in it always struck me at too nitpicking, arbitrary, and...well...too human to accurately represent the plans of any omnipotent Creator.

This project isn't about finding "meaning" in my life. It's a pure quest for knowledge. Short of the fact that I don't want to be a member, I know little of the details about most major religions. It's a sad commentary on how informed I am if most of my understanding of some faiths such as Mormon/LDS were weened from South Park. So when I found myself a year out of grad school and facing the prospect of making myself comfortable in a mental rut for the foreseeable future, I set out to find a mission. This is the project I settled on.

Here is the plan: August 1, 2010 - August 1, 2011

I will be doing an independent study and comparison of major world religions and the psychology of faith. Luckily for me, the world of online degrees and college course Web sites has provided me with plenty of syllabi (plural of syllabus) to be found online. I will be taking my readings and some of the structure from these.

As one does not learn from books alone (as much as I try to prove otherwise), there will be an element of field work involved in my project. I intend to bodily enter various houses of worship, as many as I can access and that my schedule allows. I'm particularly excited by the prospect of visiting a temple of Buddhist monks right here in town.

I may also audit a couple of college classes in order to get a firmer grasp of the discussions and different opinions involved in the study of these religions. So here is the trinity of my study: 1) reading, 2) observation, 3) discussion. By posting the development of this project in an online blog, I also hope to spark some debate. Even flamers can be learned from, once you filter out the inappropriate language and common misspellings.

So, there you have it. Anyone reading this blog can also help me with motivation, since it's always more difficult to throw in the towel when people are watching. Wish me luck.