Why Do You Practice Your Religion?

We choose our religious convictions. This fact may be a bit occult; we tend to imagine we've been convicted or converted to our faith in some way, by some revelation that came from outside of us.

But we weren't. Whether we settled for the path of our forebears, or struck out on a new one in response to lived experience, we elected to follow those teachings.

For reasons.

So the most revealing question you can ask a religious person is, "Why did you choose that religion?" The answer, if you can get a candid one, tells you important things about that person.

And if it's the least bit reflective, it also teaches them important things about themselves.

I find "Why did I decide to practice Zen?" a great housekeeping koan. Regular delving into it is an effective hedge against the egocentrism that eremitical practice engenders.


(Photo courtesy of Sérgio Valle Duarte and Wikimedia Commons.)