A monk and robot book5/11/2023 Today I am thinking of Allalae, god of small comforts, from the Monk & Robot books by Becky Chambers. They offer comforts large and small, the rituals we tuck our bodies into. Its been centuries since the robots of Panga. Each fictional religion provides a window into what religion and spirituality are for- which is first and foremost for the well-being of the practitioner. A Psalm for the Wild-Built (Book 1 Monk & Robot) by Becky Chambers (Hardcover). But they each offfer something to their reader-an opportunity to explore something of lesser “real” consequence than the beliefs that burden us here. Sometimes, as in the case of Octavia Butler’s Earthseed, they are invented in knowing juxtaposition to a religion of our world sometimes they are entirely fanciful. These are religions & practices invented, often by a single mind, to express something. I mean religions invented by fiction authors for their characters to inhabit and practice. 1 : A Psalm for the Wild-Built (Monk & Robot 1) (Hardcover) : 20. I don’t mean “fictional religions” in the sense of religious fiction you’d find at a Christian bookstore and I don’t mean the “all religions are fictions, bro” atheist hot take, either. This is book number 2 in the Monk & Robot series. Fiction, the old adage goes, is a lie that tells the truth-and there’s a lot of truth to be found in fictional religions. When your faith of origin is also the origin of a grievous wound, there’s an odd solace to be found in knowingly made up things. I’ve been thinking a lot about fictional religions the last few months.
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