I’ve sometimes wondered what Lent must look like to a non-religious person:
- We spend one day a week not eating meat, and on a few days we skip meals altogether.
- We voluntarily deprive ourselves of good things.
- We intentionally ponder and ritualize the torture and death of our God/Leader.
- Oh, and our male leaders all dress in purple (and occasionally pink).
In this thought experiment, I can imagine the other thinking: “Those people are intentionally causing themselves to suffer. Who does that? All the sane people are trying to avoid and reduce suffering.”
Checking in with myself, I notice that often avoiding suffering is indeed my main motivation. Read More →