Irreligious people: what does "sacrality" mean to you? How does that answer affect your behavior?
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I know this was not meant to me, I hope you don't mind me giving my opinion (which you're free to disregard of course).
I don't think "sacrality" can mean anything to irreligious people, but your question is very deep. I'll keep thinking about it and maybe I'll change my mind.
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I ask in part because the word is quite meaningful to me (an irreligious person)! But I'm still negotiating my sense of it; was curious how others relate.
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I'll try.
For me, "sacrality" describes a way of relating, emphasizing reverence, awe, majesty, transcendence.
Some things reliably exist in this relationship with me: Pale Blue Dot, forests, dancing cellular mechanisms, Falcon stages landing. Most flicker in and out.
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I notice that I can sometimes cultivate a kind of awareness which allows me to relate to almost anything in this way. There's a kind of sacrality in a glass of water, in a a ball of dog fur.
Most of the time some things are "more naturally sacred" than others, but it's fuzzy.
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How does this change my behavior? When something feels sacred, boundaries and my sense of self recede. My stance tends to be one of "participation" or "observation" rather than of "trying" or "acting".
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In an oddly literal way, I believe (non-theistically!) in immanence: the divine really does permeate the mundane!
I should say also: I feel very intense joy when I relate to things this way! It feels like someone just wrote "maestoso" over the soundtrack of my perception.
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Replying to @andy_matuschak @kanjun and @_Jose_Miguel_S
How does this change my behavior? When something feels sacred, boundaries and my sense of self recede. My stance tends to be one of "participation" or "observation" rather than of "trying" or "acting".
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