New York is a great idea, it is also a great place if you are insulated from the realities of the city by wealth or circumstance. But if you have to actually live in NY, compete with the hordes of plebeians for the sweaty place on the platform, witness the blank, dejected stare of people on the train. Inhale the boiling curry of your third world neighbor who is noisily feasting his fifty relatives and a goat. If your New York is living in constant fear of the wild animals roaming the streets, looking for your car, your wallet and your dignity, than it’s an entirely different city. But just like New York, a religion above all is a nice tourist attraction, alas it is a poor fit for the people who actually live there.
In a way both are nothing but a reflection of our civilization; you know there is something rotten at the very core. Be it the gaming of life through the mercantile chaos. Or the gaming of life by the fearful rejection of the self. They all are the escapism from the essence.