CAVE NOTES - The Search Is the Religious Experience

'I have also come to see that maybe the search is the religious experience - the desire to believe and the longing for meaning, the moving towards the ineffable. Maybe that is what is essentially important, despite the absurdity of it. Or, indeed, because of the absurdity of it. When it comes down to it, maybe faith is just a decision like any other. And perhaps God is the search itself.'

'The rigid  and self-righteous certainty of some religious people - and some atheists, for that matter - is something I find disagreeable. The hubris of it. The sanctimoniousness. It leaves me cold. The more overtly unshakeable someone's beliefs are, the more diminished they seem to become, because they have stopped questioning, and the not questioning can sometimes be accompanied by an attitude of moral superiority. The belligerent dogmatism of the current cultural moment is a case in point. A bit of humility wouldn't go astray.'

'Sadly, organised religion can be atheisim's greatest gift.'

'I think of late I've grown increasingly impatient  with my own scepticism; it feels obtuse and counter productive, something that's simply standing in the way of a better-lived life. I feel it would be good for me to get beyond it. I think I would be happier if I stopped window shopping and just stepped through the door.'

Extracts taken from Faith, Hope & Carnage,
conversations between Nick Cave & Sean O'Hagan 
Published by Canongate 2022