Definitely not a Christian, nor do I plan to ever be one. However I am stuck in this small town for now, been spending WAY too much time alone indoors so I got mildly depressed. Saw this TED talk about how members of religious groups generally feel better about themselves (from the social integration) and so I thought I'd give it a shot.
With this in mind, last Sunday I figured I'd start checking out some of the more "animated" churches, see what's out there. My family are Orthodox Christians, I've been inside their churches since I was a kid, and found them excruciatingly boring, so I was looking for something more lively.
I started with whatever was closest, it happened to be an Apostolic church. These guys weren't too bad, I don't know if it was a special event or it's always like that, but they had filled the front area of the church with all manner of colorful fruits, pinned wax grapes all over, and the main preacher dude was talking about this plentiful day of harvest. I found it nice, as it reminded me of Pan, fertility deities and abundance. Nudism. Luscious fresh teenage skin, ripe for some frolicking in the grass. Then he started talking about human sacrifice so I got up and left immediately.
Then I explored some more, and ended up before the local Baptist church. Now I've seen a few in movies and of course on youtube, but I've never checked out what they do in my country. Went in and to my surprise the experience was quite positive. At least half the preaching sounds like self-improvement and motivational material, the kind I'm used to listening to anyway. Minimal threats of fire and brimstone, far more reminders to be active, proactive, effective and victorious in whatever you set your mind to. Some chill jokes here and there, definitely not as serious and stuck up as what I'd seen in church before.
Then the choir started singing. Fantastic sound, nice lyrics, and as far as I'm concerned a very nice emotional vibe to it. I found it very much personally relevant, because all their reference of being with Jesus, talking to Jesus, Jesus is my friend and so on, all of it precisely matches my view of shrooms And aya, and mescaline and acid 
The music itself reminded me very much of the Ayahuasca church experiences with the Santo Daime, but of course it was IMO empty of the main point of such a gathering, the "real" immediate felt presence of the Other World, the Endless Source, expressed and manifested deeply, presently, alive and interacting. This very emptiness, this very "going through the motions" without the actual deeper presence, I found to be a great reminder, that no, life without psychedelics is NOT enough for me personally, it's not complete living, and that yes, I have to put in the effort and make the move to where I can make them a major part of my lifestyle, along with others who feel the same.
So having tripped a few times, I saw the value of tripping, the potential. However I don't have the skills yet to make a full lifestyle of it. I believe this is something I can learn from these Baptists. How to take a few ideas, insights, and turn them into an actual lifestyle, periodic gatherings, moments of the day, week and year and so on.
Will definitely go again, very good vibes in that group. I could probably even fake some decent looking religious convictions if need be, it's just that I won't mean the same thing when I say Jesus as when they say Jesus
-------------------- Blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear.
For truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it. - Matthew 13:16
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A bit of clarification: I placed this in the P&M Well-Being section, as opposed to the Spirituality section, because I think there are some nice health effects coming from getting out, spending time with larger groups and benefiting from their enthusiasm and celebrations.
At times (or in certain places) such organized gatherings can be hard to find. This can lead to more alone time indoors, and the depressive / social anxiety type threads that we see here quite regularly. Bars and clubs might work of course, but they also come with higher costs, potential for substance abuse / relapse for those with preexisting conditions, and frankly they require more energy to pull off. If one is lonely, depressed and shaken by social anxiety, chances are they won't go to a club or bar. Even if they do, they'll likely spend an evening alone and awkward, and return feeling even worse.
Religious groups on the other hand have far lower requirements to show up and integrate in. Less judging of your clothes, haircut, energy level and so on. As such they might be a decent temp solution to get some good vibes going, some momentum, start getting out more, etc. I don't think one has to agree with their beliefs, to benefit emotionally from actually being there.
Here's a nice TED Talk about it, to clarify the "belief" part:
-------------------- Blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear.
For truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it. - Matthew 13:16
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