religion ramblings

I tend to get rather contemplative in my Cultural Geography class. We just finished a section on religion... I am fascinated by religion, have been for a few years, despite not being religious myself. But really, I'd love to be religious. I'm jealous of people who are religious and really believe what their religion says. It seems like it would be comforting, in a way, to be part of something like that and to know that other people think the same way. I guess I'd classify myself as an agnostic, and yes, I know that other people have the same "beliefs" as I do, but it's not the same...

I jotted down some notes in class...

Prof: "seems to be something in human nature that can't get away from that" referring to worshipping deities. This was referring specifically to one sect of Buddhism that builds idols of Buddha and sees him as a supreme being despite one of the four noble truths of Buddhism being, quite specifically, to not do that. So why did this develop? To help convince people to convert? Or because humans really have some tendency to worship things? And if so, why?

See, so many interesting questions in religion.

What I'd really like to believe in is animism - that nature and the entire world is full of spirits, and has personality, will, etc. Spirits all around you, you'd never be alone. And really, if I can have consciousness, why can't a tree? Or anything? We understand so little about the world, that it could simply be beyond our comprehension. Just because something doesn't have a brain doesn't really mean for sure that it couldn't "think" in some way - it just means that it doesn't do so in any way that we recognise. But do I really believe this? No, I just think it'd be nifty. Can I believe what I want to be even if part of me doubts it? Is that faith? Or is that just dishonest?