As part of my attempt (as an employee) to increase my understanding of Unitarian Universalism, I’m working along with an online discussion of Building Your Own Theology. Here’s my response to a recent topic.
Here’s one of my favorite religious texts from a nonreligious source:
Only in silence the word,
only in dark the light,
only in dying life:
bright the hawk’s flight
on the empty sky.
–The Creation of Ea
Ursula K. LeGuin’s dedication page in A Wizard of Earthsea
It seems religious to me for these reasons:
1. the feeling it evokes (most important to me, but least expressive)
2. it deals with the nature of existence, and touches upon the role of suffering
3. it contains precepts for behavior
4. it celebrates mystery and reminds me of nonverbal ways of knowing or of transmitting knowledge