*This was a session at [Sol 2012](/Sol_2012).*
[Brandon](/Brandon): Pseudo-religion has been described as "something that produces no fruits other than adherence to itself" - so what fruits does religion produce?
- [Eric](/Eric): community (same as adherence?), comfort, meaning and purpose
- Brandon: individual virtue/moral guidance: generosity, loyalty, service, groundedness, empathy/compassion, listening
- Eric: a lot of those specifics are choices a religion can make ... it doesn't have to include them all
- [Ben](/Ben): that's okay, we may not be looking for a definition that fits all religions
- [Lion](/Lion): Brandon says he's religious but not spiritual ... I agree: I'm religious about life
- The reverse statement implies to me a bubble isolating a person inside his/her own spiritual beliefs from others
- By contrast, I believe what we're doing in the world is serious and important and connected across people ... that's what I want "religious" to mean
- [Hank](/Hank): Does that relate to a church behavior?
- Lion: *All Along the Watchtower* ... we're doing something important ... that means organizing for a common mission, which is church-like
- Hank: That has made successful commun[iti]es in the past
- Twin Oaks (Skinnerian behaviorism)
- Oneida (perfectionism?)
- Aurora colony, south of Portland (don't know their philosophy) ... they do spinning and weaving crafts as it was done 100 years ago
- Rajnishis ... took over a county in Eastern Oregon
- Brandon and Lion: Doing something that matters, that's as essential as your very being
- Eric: People start to believe that their religion has universal value, so they want everyone else to do the same thing
- How to resolve the conflict with our belief in religious freedom?
- Gradient between individual spirituality and universal(izing) religion ... good religions should find a middle ground
- Hank: How are these fruits realized?
- Religion becomes a controlling mechanism that culture produces to create these benefits
- Could a group of "spiritual bubbleheads" function together as a religion?