What does it feel like to believe?

Question

I am an atheist. I was raised Christian but no matter what I tried, I couldn’t “get” religion. It didn’t feel real to me. I tried my hardest and nothing worked. So, I accepted what I feel is right - that there is nothing. I’m not interested in converting or debating, but I am curious. What does it feel like to be honestly religious? What does believing feel like? If you can’t describe it, that’s okay.

Answer 1

Mystically, the religious experience is the 'ineffable'. So, I personally consider receiving creative inspiration and translating it into tangible art to be faith. That is ultimately what religion at its height should be about. Rules and laws are meant, ideally, to deliver to the threshold of the mystical experience.

Perplexity is also very much about contradiction. One Sufi mystic answered when asked: "Where did you find God?" by saying: "I found Him at the meeting of opposites!" The translation of the ineffable into expression is one such juncture of contradiction.

It is less about a lack of rationality and more about a higher state of intellection that is activated during such circumstances I think, that best defines religion proper for me.