Warning note on this topic. I mean no-disrespect on any level with this particular discussion, if you are offended by anti-religious discussion, please do not read any further, skip this topic. This topic regards "religion," as, 'social and personal' programming, and discusses it from that perspective. The reality of life and death can be emotionally disturbing. You should only review this discussion if you are emotionally sound of mind.
We are born into this life without any explanation. As we grow, we discover that we came from our mother's womb. We learn that we are born, will grow to maturity, start families of our own, and then grow old and die. We come from atoms, live, die, and then decompose back to atoms. We only have the physical experience of 'life-itself' to define an elusive definition or meaning of life.
In the nature of death, physiologically, all body functions stop; there is no consciousness, no sound, no touch, no taste, no smell, no sight, no thought, no dreams, no time, and no sensations of living. Our bodies decompose into molecules and atoms, back to that which they came from. We experience a simulation of death whenever we sleep. Those moments of sleep when we are not dreaming, pass without notice as if we do not exist or ever existed. Those moments are not a sensation, not even an emptiness; it is a simulation of timeless non-existence. Death is the same as something that never existed.
Nature is harsh. When we look at animals in nature, we see that 95 percent of life struggles to live, and ultimately, horrifically die by being captured and eaten. Only a small fraction of humans die comfortably, the rest die by, natural disasters, accidents, disease, war, crime, and starvation. The elemental nature of life is predominately a struggle and then traumatic death. We vigorously push back by trying to override the elemental conditions of nature with knowledge and technology.
The only true meaning life has, is 'what we are' while we live. Our temporary bubble of existence serves only the moment; what we build or destroy in that moment, we leave for others yet born to live their moment in. The character of life is built by successions of brief individual lives, which collectively construct the ongoing scheme of life. We carry our rocks as far as we can, then die; another picks up the rocks and carries them a bit further, then dies, the rocks move in ongoing successions. We do our job then die, with no more explanation than when we were born. We live and then we die.
Damn... how we want it to be more. To live a moment then die seems so empty; we would cry out, "Hell no - I will not go," but we recognize that we have no choice. Futurists know that humanity will eventually reach a stage of virtual immortality - someday, but that day is not now, and the best that we can do, is help the future reach that state; so at least, they and their children will never die. We are the sacrifice to the future, i.e. the stepping-stones; just as our ancestors were our stepping-stones. That deep want to exist forever that we each feel is subliminally driving humanity to build an immortal future. Until then, we use surrogates (religion) to comfort our soul.
How do we deal with this harsh reality of life and death. Within death, there is nothing to lose; but within life, there are the sensations of life, which is everything to lose. We do not want our loved ones or ourselves to just cease to exist; it is completely unfair, and such a waste of learned knowledge and wisdom. We cannot bear the reality of absolute death, so we fabricate shielding conceptualizations "religion" that we can live by, and comfortably die believing. Religion is an ingenious design developed to shield us from the harsh reality of nature.
For those who use religion... the meaning of life is spiritually defined, where there is no actual death, just a transition to a different spiritual state. To the religious, death is a transition to what they believe is a place called heaven. Many believe they will see their love ones and friends again in heaven. A few believe so strongly that they are eager to die, longing to be with deceased love ones. Religion can be a profoundly powerful belief system.
Religion has many benefits. For example, when we pray, we believe we are talking to God, and believing that God knows if we are lying, we are absolutely honest in what we say. The benefit is that while being honest with god, we are also being honest with ourselves; which is always helpful in dealing with situations. In prayer, we inadvertently tell ourselves what the actual problem is, and teach ourselves 'through clarity of thought' what the solutions are. Praying to God is a pathway into one's own psychodynamics. Who else besides an elusive God hears your prayer... you do. You anticipate what God's answer might be and often find your answer in the clarity of your description. A prayer to a God is perhaps the most honest moments in a person's life, and consequentially the most productive in some cases.
Religion acts as an intermediary in explaining life. Religion/God/Deities are scaffolding that life uses to build conceptions of security, identity, purpose of life, hope, and immortality. Religions are a scaffolding of reasons that explain every aspect of life. Religion removes the burden of "What is this thing called life, and what happens to us when we die," so we/life can go about the business of living. Religion has many positive social and personal benefits. Religion in effect, is an artificial operating system that large portions of society run on.
However, religion has a severe price to pay on multiple levels. Religion is a psychological construct that allows for supernatural explanations, which becomes pervasive in cognitive processes. When an individual believes in supernatural explanations without physical facts, it becomes possible to believe many other things without fact. Religion is an elusive lens used to interpret other data or conceptualizations/conventionalism through.
Using the lens, "In the name of God," religion has murdered hundreds-of-millions of so-called infidels, heathens, and atheist. In the name of God, religion has destroyed many civilizations throughout all history. In the name of God, religion has been used to illusively justify atrocities of every kind against man and beast, such as the Christian and Muslim crusades, human and animal sacrifices, or religious wars. In the name of God, many religious believers will do almost anything to buy favor with their Gods. Religion unconsciously promotes psychopathic behavior.
Further motivating religious aggression is the promise that God both authorizes and absolves them of crimes against humanity, and will reward them in an everlasting afterlife. A person that would harm or kill another person for favor with an elusive God, or a place in an elusive heaven, is an extremely delusional and dangerous person. As recent examples: The Islamic suicide bombers, the 911 hijackers, Jim Jones in Jones town Guyana, and Marshall Applewhite's Heaven's gate, compose the tip of the religious atrocities. They all initiated death believing that God wants them to kill and destroy, and that they are going to a better place after doing God's work.
Presently, the Taliban suppresses women to live lives of forced marriage, sexual slavery, illiteracy, and limited medical care; and if women disobey, they are publicly executed. Their pain is shrouded under Burqas, covering up their personal suffering. Many Taliban women have been taught to believe that this is what God wants of them, according to the teachings of the Quran. Religious Taliban men with disturbing desires, rule the lives of women in every way.
Religion is a sinister tool when used as a conduit for social engineering. Social engineering is a process of programming specific ideas and institutions into the behavior of the masses. Religion is a powerful social organizer that can unify large masses of people. Once the masses are assembled - they can then be directed. History is littered with extreme examples of religion directing individuals and groups to engage in horrific acts of violence towards life.
Throughout history, religion has been the primary social tool used to enslave billions of humans through theological beliefs. Religion uses the threat of peril if they do not concede. Religion invented the word "Heretic" (someone that questions/contradicts established religious teachings,) those labeled heretic were/are often socially shunned, tortured, or executed. Theological social order is maintain through fear, oppression, and bribery of heavenly things.
Throughout all human history, there is not one group of people that were agnostic, every group of human civilization has always had strong overtones of religious structuring. Small groups of individuals have been able to control entire civilizations using religion to conform human behavior. Religions have battled and destroyed one-another for thousands of years, over who has the theological control in directing the behavior of humans. Those who orchestrate theological control, have enormous power to direct and shape human conceptualizations. Religion is a 'directed' form of passive slavery.
Theological anthropology, is also the sociological history of human intellectual evolution, because human cognitive evolution is completely based on religions institutions. Theology, politics, and war, are profoundly related. Each is the motivational function of the others. The separation of church and state is not possible, because, the people who make up the state (government,) are also the people who make up the congregations of religion. World estimates are that 89.9% of humanity is, in one way or another, religious. Religion is social engineering that has historically been the primary horror of humankind.
Religion uses a simulation of facts as proof, such as using the Bible as proof that God exists. Proof of God is proclaimed by scriptures, which were generated by men proclaiming to be prophets/guru's/etc... talking on Gods behalf and authority. From the words of many prophets we get the Bible, Quran, Torah/Talmud, and Vedas, and countless other forgotten religious doctrines. Most religions require that you do not question faith or belief, that questioning is offensive to God. As well, most religions teach to trust God, that man is often an instrument of evil.
Religion is a belief in elusive "God/Gods" that you cannot touch, taste, smell, hear, see, or prove on any level. It is a belief passed on from one generation to the next. Many humans believe that they are more than the sum of their parts, that they also possess a sprite that is immortal/supernatural. They believe this because mystical books and people told them that they were true. Religion is the words of men, passed off as the words of Gods. Man created God in his image, to serve mans needs.
Each specific religion believes that they are the only true religion. Cavemen, who once danced and chanted around fires and idols, believed that they were worshiping the real God. We all know that they were just primitive people worshiping magical things. If we went back to their time and told them that they were worshiping fantasies, they would do great harm to us in defense of their beliefs; or at a minimum, they would think that we do not know what we are talking about, and probably going to some kind of hell. Modern religions are no different today than they were thousands of years ago. One cannot walk into a Baptist church and state that their Bible, God, or Jesus, are just human inventions; they would become very violent in ousting you.
In the name of God, many would sacrifice their children to God. As an example; when little Jenny is deathly sick from pneumonia, it is not God who heals her, it is doctors and medicines. An elusive belief system does not heal, hands on medical treatment does heal. There have been parents so convinced that God will heal their sick child, that they do not attain medical attention; allowing their child to potentially die, calling it God's will. However, a caveat must be mentioned here that some parents may have experienced. The placebo effect, affects about 31% of people with chemistry ailments only, like infections, tumors, and metabolic imbalances, but not ailments such as tissue scares, disfiguration, or missing limbs. The placebo effect is generated by our physiological chemistry figuring out how to counteract an ailment.
The placebo effect has been used as proof of God, and the effectiveness of many drugs and remedies "snack-oils," for a very long time. In religion, the placebo effect is called a miracle from God. Without medical care, little Jennie's fate has a 69% chance of dying, and a 31% chance of spontaneously healing herself. Doctors and medicine are the miracles, and religion is the illusion (placebo effect) of programmed ignorance.
If religion were benign, then it would not matter what a person chooses to believe; but when a belief system causes a person to harm others or themselves, it is a direct threat to humanity-at-large, and must be treated as a deadly communicable mental disease. Hoping that God will save little Jenny from dying of pneumonia is attempted manslaughter/murder; if Jennies dies, it is murder by 'reason of insanity'. Most religious people are indoctrinated as children. If Jenny does survive on her own, how will she treat her own children someday...
So, what is the truth about life; it is the obvious facts you already have, you exist only in the moment. If you trade the 'moment of your life' for a religious fantasy, such as intentionally living in poverty all your life, believing you will live in heaven afterwards, you sacrifice all that you could have been for something that will never be. All-the-want-in-the-world, does not, and will not, make it so. Religion is a form of psychological insanity; sacrificing all that your life could be, for a fantasy.
The religion shield has inadvertently created all these delusional conceptualizations, to give life an explanation, and to hide from the reality of death. Religion is a primitive, yet ingenious means, to deal with the unpredictable and traumatic circumstances of life. What we fear most is death, and we have built elaborate conceptualizations to mask it. Religion is an operating system designed to give comfort to the realities of life, but in the end, religion just mystifies life. Primitive is as primitive does.
You only get one existence, and that is "this life." All that you want life to be, can only exist in the moment of now, not in an imaginary next life. If you spend this life preparing for a next life, you spend your life preparing for an illusion. Believing it, does not make it so...
Additional data on 'Religions' can be found in the topic, The nature of "human behavior." As well, there is an enormous amount of data on the Internet, with different perspectives. Research and learn about what it is to be human, and why we 'believe and behave' as we do. All you have to lose is ignorance.
A question never asked is worth nothing,
An answer never given is worth even less...
What are your opinions, comments, or questions?
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