Two months into the new year and I am still continuing my experiment in attending a weekly congregation in my neighborhood. I find myself looking forward to attendance. I missed a service a few weeks back and it weighed on my mind for the rest of the day. Fascinating that I should start to miss something that 10 weeks ago I didn't really even know existed.
I've met a variety of people there. I've continued contact only with a handful of these. Introverts, extroverts, a pretender, people seeking the same way I do, people taking vastly different paths to get there.
I've told a handful of people in my life about it, but so far nobody has shown interest in attending. I guess I can understand, and besides, my journey is my own.
One of my favorite things about the congregation is in the way they are rather democratic, in all material that are posted which try and represent the ideals of the organization. Furthermore, instead of having a set doctrine for the youth, at the end of their "coming of age" class they are encouraged to present to the whole congregation what it is that they believe. I find this truly remarkable.
I heard an off hand remark about the theist vs atheist distribution which said that about 40% of the attendees were aged atheists who long ago grew tired of the hypocrisies inherent in any organised religion. I can definitely see how they would find a haven there, where humanist ethics seems to be the stronghold.
Networking has been an interesting bit of learning. I feel slightly safer being myself there than I do in many places, though I'm still hesitant to drop all pretenses at all times. It's still early yet. Stay tuned for another update after tomorrow...
