Preserving religious feeling requires abandoning religious forms

Evidence

One could use an apparently paradoxical expression and say: The soul can find faith only by losing it. To preserve the integrity of religious feeling, it must shake off all determined and predetermined religious form. — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 865

Categorization

• SEED: Suggests an essay angle: the paradox of preserving a thing’s essence by destroying its institutional vessel — applies to faith, to urban community, to the flâneur’s detachment.
• XREF: connects to: Religious estrangement from earthly life mirrors the adventure’s fragmentary character — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 474; A non-religious impulse within religion can destroy its own forms — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 852; Intellectuals turned to mysticism because church forms felt inadequate — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 863 (+13 more)

Related

• A non-religious impulse within religion can destroy its own forms (similarity 0.88)
• Modern religiosity persists after its supernatural objects are excised (similarity 0.87)
• Religion should consist of principles rather than fixed rules to preserve moral responsibility. (similarity 0.86)
• Sacred values’ interpretive ambiguity allows peace-oriented reframing (similarity 0.86)
• A religion’s failure by demanding standards offers no comfort to its defenders (similarity 0.81)
• Religious estrangement from earthly life mirrors the adventure’s fragmentary character (similarity 0.80)
• Real change requires discarding rather than reforming the old religion (similarity 0.80)
• Intellectuals turned to mysticism because church forms felt inadequate (similarity 0.79)
• Fake believers would invade and destroy prosocial religious groups without safeguards (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• Real change requires discarding rather than reforming the old religion #corroborates (0.80)
• Ending a ritual can be the final act of preserving its meaning #contradicts (0.55) — Jamal Awil, The Whispering Archive, 1423
• Coding religion as rule-like law crushes moral freedom and spontaneity. #expands (0.50)