Teknohazard Blog

“The mode of the religious is faith. The mode of the mystic is experience. We do not enact rituals and promulgate dogmas to express our `faith’ that the sun rises in the east, because it is a fact of experience. No more does a true shaman or mystic invest faith in the god(s) he or she invokes; they too are facts of experience. The elevation of `faith’ is, in fact, a sign that a religious tradition is losing its ability to induce theophany, or has already lost it.” – Eric Raymond, 3rd Degree Wiccan

I guess I always knew I was a Christian mystic, and not a member of some dead religion. Funny though… his description of “faith” and “dogma” applies to atheism, just as much as it applies to any other religion.