The Mundanity of Modern Religion
Originally - I was going to write something about nostalgia and multimedia projects and the frontier of innovation - but instead, I’m going to talk about Religion (how fun!). I’ll still do the other one later…
So this week I happened to be in New York City - perfect timing too, with the World Cup and the Knicks parade - whew! Growing up on the east coast - I spent a lot of time as a kid making trips up to the Big Apple with my mom. We’d take the famously sparking clean New Jersey Transit, get some breakfast, and explore different parts of the city. At Christmastime we’d explore the Bryant Park market and go ice skating, or in summer we’d stroll around Central Park. I learned my way around New York even better than my own hometown - so going back always feels like homecoming to me.
Growing up Catholic, one of the stops we used to make often was St. Patrick’s Cathedral. As a kid, I was impressed mostly with the sheer scope of the place - and for something as silly as a church? To this day - I find it more of an architectural marvel over anything else, but this time I was struck with a new realization.
The absurd coexistence of the holy place and the kitschy-ness of tourism.
How does this fit into Shattered Stars, you might ask?
Great question, dear reader! I myself wasn’t sure until I walked inside and was hit with the uncomfortable reality that while this was a place of worship, it was also a bonafide Tourist Trap™.
Religion is one of the founding parts of Shattered Stars, and I think growing up in a religious culture shaped the way I think about it to this day. One of the basic questions that the book asks is:
What if the gods were real? What if everyone knew this as fact?
This idea spawned the Order - an ancient organization that served as the interface between humans and the Gods. In order to emulate the Gods they worshipped, the Order moved to the planet where the Gods lived - Zviera, and also began working on a process to both extend their lives and their power → Crystallization. This allowed the first Diamonds to exist, and set the foundation for the Order’s heirarchy.
As with most modern religions, the most noble of origins can have odd ripple effects. In the case of the Order, donating magic to the Gods became a tourist activity as banal and standard as ‘taking your kids to Disney World’. The reality of the Gods is put aside, and the Order is run much like a modern corporation - Donations coming first, with units for operations coming shortly after.
This happens in the real world too - as I quickly observed as I sat on a bench and watched swaths of tourists and families enter the old church, snap a million photos, and scan a QR code so they could say a prayer and light a candle.
The entire idea is quite funny when you think about it for too long.
That said - I might not be the religious sort anymore, but through writing this series - they do revolve a lot around the idea of faith and belief. Not religion in the traditional sense, but the role that faith has in our lives. The faith we have in our friends, our families, and ourselves. Faith keeps us going in a lot of ways - the faith that something will work out, someone will come through for us - or even the old standby “everything happens for a reason”. In many ways, it’s our faith in the world around us that continues to make humanity worth studying (for books! I swear).
Instead of going on and on about the pitfalls of religious capitalism and cultism - I think I will leave you with this:
While I sat on a bench in the early evening, I watched a young woman on her knees in front of a statue of the Virgin Mary, tears in her eyes. Her family impatiently waited to the side while she prayed, fervently as a monk. She stood solemnly, lit her candle in complete silence and reverence, and returned to her family - bright smiles like nothing had even happened. Her son bounced up to her hip and they left together, happy as can be.
I wonder what she prayed for. But maybe it doesn’t matter at all.
Detestably yours,
lexe
