If you were to follow a particular religion...

[Angrboda]

Rumi rocks my world. For such an intellectually oriented person, I seem inexorably drawn to mysticism. This likely fits with a half-baked theory that I have concerning religion. My suspicion is that for most people, religion serves (at least) two distinct functions; one is descriptive, and one is proscriptive. The descriptive aspect, which includes both metaphysics and history, provides the believer with a model of reality, by which they can reason toward instrumentally utilitarian responses to life. The second aspect is proscriptive in that it tells the believer how to behave. My theory, based on my own experience alone, is that we tend to choose religions whose proscriptive aspect complements a lack we have in that area. So one might choose a religion of compassion because they see compassion as something valuable, but something which they largely lack.

I don't know where to go with this, other than to expand my data set.