Are You Religious or Philosophical?
Jesus never laughs and Socrates never cries. Why?
Perhaps because religion lacks a sense of humor, but not a sense of suffering, while philosophy lacks a sense of tragedy, but not a sense of irony.
If we accept this crude dichotomy, then many things which pass as philosophy should really be considered religion, and vice versa.
The test should not be about form or content, but mood—is the author in question capable of crying? If yes, we are reading a religious thinker. If not, we are reading a philosophical one.
Why doesn’t religion laugh? Because laughter is a cousin of mockery and jest, which deny the seriousness of the human condition.
Why doesn’t philosophy weep? Because if you know how things really are, if you are rational, you should be protected from strong emotion. The Stoics made it a point of virtue not to be ruled by passions.
When you start relating to people through the lens of mood rather than belief content who do you discover are philosophers? Who do you discover are religious thinkers?
Do you think our age has a philosophical or religious bias? Which areas of life, what fields of study, and what career paths, are governed by which?
