Religion is one of the themes that runs through Nectar of Time. Below is everything in the Nectarium that touches on it.
Where it comes up 9
Within this theme 22
Concepts 10
- Gnosticism
Tamir's 'thought experiment': unlike the Judeo-Christian view of a perfect world and imperfect humans with a divine spark, Gnostic mythology holds that creation on Earth was a cosmic…
- Secular Ritual Gap
Tamir's observation that religious death rituals (Tibetan bardo prayers, Jewish psalms, Irish wakes) have no analog in secular culture beyond the funeral, a gap Mia's gatherings try to fill.
- Song of Ascents
A group of Psalms that Tamir says are recited during the seven days of Jewish mourning at the family's home; his example of religious death ritual that has no secular counterpart.
- Peacekeeper Archetype
The diplomat or ambassador archetype Mia says a grief guide must tune into to find common ground among Christians, Muslims and others: the shared fact that none of us knows what happens…
- First Contact
Science-fiction stories of meeting alien civilizations, which Tamir loves; he thinks first contact is the biggest threat to any religion with conviction because it breaks the frame of…
- Shiva
The seven-day Jewish mourning period at the bereaved family's home that Tamir describes (not named on air).
- Chinese whispers
The children's telephone game, where a message changes as it passes around a circle. Colin uses it to explain how religious texts written decades or centuries after the fact drifted from…
- Demiurge
The 'other God that rules Earth' and traps us here in the Gnostic myth Tamir describes.
- Judeo-Christian Worldview
Tamir's summary: the world is perfect, we are imperfect but carry a spark of the divine, and must overcome imperfection to unite with the divine intelligence; contrasted with Gnosticism.
- Sophia (Gnosticism)
In Tamir's telling of the Gnostic myth, the goddess Sophia (wisdom, root of 'philosophy') is the divine trapped in human souls on Earth.
Books 5
- Bible
Cited for Joseph's dreams and his interpretation of Pharaoh's dreams, which saved his life and made him second-in-command in Egypt. Tamir's example of how much ancient cultures valued…
- Psalms
Tamir describes reciting the Songs of Ascents from the Psalms, traditionally attributed to King David, at the mourners' home for seven days after a Jewish death.
- Quran
Colin lists it with the Torah, the Bible and Buddhist texts: books with great words in them that human beings twist.
- The Gospels
Ancient texts Tamir says he has lately been fascinated by, though he isn't Christian, leading into Gnostic Christianity.
- Torah
Colin lists it among the scriptures that contain great things but get distorted by people.
People 2
- Alan Watts
British-American popularizer of Eastern philosophy; Tamir cites his lecture on the court jester about taking life sincerely rather than seriously.
- Alex O'Connor
Tamir admires his academic debates with Christians, which aim to surface the truth rather than persuade; part of what got Tamir into the Gospels and Gnosticism.
Quotes 1
Insights 4
- Secular culture lacks death rituals
Religions give mourners structured practices (bardo prayers, psalms for seven days, wakes), while secular culture has only the funeral and worries about wills and costs.
- Unite on not knowing
With mourners of different faiths, the common ground isn't doctrine but the fact that none of us actually knows what happens after we die. Mia doesn't dispute anyone's truth.
- Every belief about death is a choice
Faced with death's cliff, everyone picks a mythology to make sense of it. Even atheism is a decision about what to believe.
- Religious war is trauma at scale
Wars over religion are the ego shielding people from facing the truth of death. Facing it risks a downward spiral but carries the seed of something new, if you're brave enough to jump.