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Date Posted: 11:14:23 10/19/05 Wed
Author: Arethusa
Subject: Willow and Religion
In reply to: Darby 's message, "Willow" on 07:02:14 10/18/05 Tue

I thnk of religion as mankind's attempt to explain the natural world, including himself. It is also an attempt to insulate mankind from the harshness of life. By my definition therefore religion separates people from their nature and the natural world, obscuring reality with a haze of self-protection. This leads to a whole world of behavior that sometimes makes the world worse, because instead of dealing directly with one's problem, one concentrates on the religious ritual for protection against one's problems.

For instance, people are sacrificed to pacify the angry spirits or gods, instead of banding together to protect themselves from nature, or just moving away from the damn volcano. The scientific community must perpetually fight against people afraid of angering their gods, to whom they attribute their own fears of technology. Worse of all, perhaps, because it is the most insidious, are the people who justify doing what they want to do anyway by sanctifying their actions in the name of God. All of the stages have something in common; they separate people from getting to know and understand themselves and the world around them.

Thus Willow fits very well in the model, since she constantly tries to find ways to aviod dealing with the pain of her family and school life. The insecurity she feels, partially because of her lack of closeness with her parents, is mitigated by one thing after another. She buries herself in her studies, then eagerly turns to Wicca (a religion, after all) to help her feel powerful. Her relationships with Oz and Tara also are ways of avoiding the hard work of building her esteem; she gains a new self-image through others, instead of creating one for herself. The "drugs" dull the pain of her unhappiness too, substituting for an examination of the flaws that drove Tara away. When she lets herself feel good and confident about herself, her power increases exponentially, and she no longer *needs* magic, crack, or even a relationship. (And therefore is finally able to have a successful one.)

Why have religions? What do they give people? And what do they obscure?

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