Humans are naturally religious. They are enchanted by the world. They engage in collective rituals, and they try to live moral lives. Over the last two thousand years, this instinct has been colonised by churches and other religious institutions. In a personal and intimate approach, Inglis explores his early love of being Catholic, of being immersed in Catholic time and space and how in his teenage years, this grew stale and unfulfilling. He argues we have now entered a new cosmopolitan era of religious freedom in which there is much ambiguity and doubt. People are searching for new meanings of life and what it is to live a good life. He argues that religion has less to do with doctrine and more to do with our experience of beauty, mystery and bonding with each other. It revolves around trying to connect to the divine, call it God, nature or the cosmos. Making this connection has been crucial in this time of climate breakdown

Tom Inglis has spent most of his life trying to understand how he came to be the way he is. He has written extensively about Irish culture and society, focusing on the Catholic Church, sexuality, the media, the state, globalization and, more recently, on love and emotions. His books include Moral Monopoly (1998) and Meanings of Life (2014).