Messy spirituality

OK, so I'm working away on my book a bit today, after having left it aside for way too long. I had this piece on the theme of "messy spirituality" all written in my head at one point, but I seem to have lost bits of it, having not written it down in any sort of timely manner. So, the part I've got at this point is below. If anyone wants to comment, maybe that'll jog my memory as to what else I wanted to say here.

One of the purposes of religion is to explain an infinitely complicated world. Using stories, symbols and rituals, we simplify things so that the universe can be understood, and our place in it can become clear.

But the universe is not small or simple. It is ancient, and huge, and unimaginably varied and complicated. And really we have no idea what part humans have in this great story.

I think we should challenge ourselves to develop a messy religion. Let’s try to avoid creating symbols for things we can experience directly. Let’s try to imagine the whole universe, in its infinite glory and with its infinite variety. Let’s learn and incorporate what we learn into our rituals. Let’s learn even more, and re-write our rituals from scratch. Let’s use all our senses and all our imagination. Let’s remind ourselves over and over that we are small. Let’s challenge ourselves every time we start making the world a simple place.