Religion: Magic vs. Solace

There are those who turn to religion in search of magic; I would suggest that the vast majority of the adherents of the world's religions belong to this population. Included in this group are those who desire salvation--which, as a practical and emotional matter, consists in deliverance from guilt over past actions. The Christian doctrine of "substitutionary atonement" is, in this sense, a magical offering to the believer.

On the other hand, there are those who turn to religion for solace (consolatio). These individuals are, likewise, the "philosophically" (falsafi) inclined. Their religiosity does not emerge from the well-springs of regret but from a more hopeful orientation. Comfort may be derived from the excellent example, the beautiful vision, the fair deed--for all of these gifts of the religious imagination suggest possibilities for future attunements, future attainments (in the present life, primarily, but also in a "next life" which is ontologically continuous with the present one but which represents an ethical and aesthetic advance over it).

I am with the second population: a minority of minorities but a persistent one, nonetheless.