Sunday Morning

When I hear secular religion, I think of contradiction: how can anything secular be considered a religion and how can this definition be so open? Professor Smith cleared my confusion of the definition of secular religion in class on Wednesday. Secular religion does not mean that anything can be considered a religion, such as smoking weed. What differentiations secular religion from an obsession or habit and enables it to be compared with religion is that it offers an individual a concept of reality and motivation in life, without being selfish or harmful to the individual in nature. Wallace Stevens’ poem, Sunday Morning, can be considered secular religion because it exemplifies Stevens’ concept of reality, which is different than a traditional religious view of reality. Most traditional religion believers live their lives on Sunday morning with attending church to save their souls, but Stevens views soul-saving as having enjoyment, peace, and happiness for the body and mind such as staying at home on a Sunday morning while drinking coffee and eating oranges. So Stevens’ concept of reality is based off of living in the here-and-now only for the benefit gained from that moment’s experience whereas traditional believers live their lives for the benefit that they will gain in the afterlife. Yet Stevens does show a belief in a higher power because he mentions religious concepts in his poem, such as the “holy hush of ancient sacrifice” and “things to be cherished like the thought of heaven.” I feel that Stevens has this view because he does believe in a higher but a traditional religious belief did not seem to work for him, so he sought out another belief in life that was in tune with his mentality and concept of reality, which is what makes his poetry to be defined as secular religion.