#when people dismiss the silmarils as shiny rocks i'm like 'but they're SACRED shiny rocks. that's DIFFERENT.'

[anghraine]

Sometimes it's interesting to be a firm agnostic but also to feel a strong attraction to the concept of the sacred and/or mystical. I'm not sure attraction is even the right word—but art that leans into a sense of sanctity or mysticism is intensely appealing to me in a very fundamental way, especially when coupled with a sense of grandeur or glory. And ritual, I love a good religious ritual.

My family's religious background is Mormon, Catholic, and Greek Orthodox, so it's not really surprising. But it's like, despite the standard religious damage, and despite being deeply skeptical of anything smacking of the supernatural, I love entering the headspace of characters with a strong religious sensibility, I love visual art caught up in the sacred, I love fiction that can give you a sense of the mystical in ritual, I love when I'm expected to believe there's something sanctified in a building or relic or rock (real or not), I love visual or narrative art that can truly evoke a sense of the divine.

At the same time, I don't believe it. Nor do I wholly disbelieve it, I'm just like ... eh, idk, this is not in the realm of knowable information. But damn do I feel the appeal of religious conviction.

(This whole train of thought got started because I was thinking about how much I love playing clerics, lol. Anyway)

#that led quickly to thinking about how it affects how i read tolkien who can evoke evil or sanctity or mysticism /so/ satisfyingly #when people dismiss the silmarils as shiny rocks i'm like 'but they're SACRED shiny rocks. that's DIFFERENT.' #their light is divine and they were hallowed after that!! that's special. like the light of elwing's silmaril in the phial of galadriel? #there's a whole spiritual dimension to that! and the spontaneous aiya eärendil elenion ancalima... #i eat up that shit with a spoon tbh #but it's not real to me irl. it's... tropes and imagery that itches something in my brain the way conlangs do #which does feel weird coming from a deeply religious family background #anghraine babbles #cw religion #anghraine's tropes