Religion it seems, true or not allows us to live, after all, if there was no god, or at least if we didn't believe in a god, what reason would any of us have to live? All of us common, unrecognized, people, whose presence may never even be known or cared for by the world as a whole; would have nothing to live for. As Shakespeare said, "Ti's nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing end them?" Why should we suffer the pains of daily life if all that awaits us at life's end is but an un-waking sleep? Religion spares us that painful pondering, and affords us a reward, a goal, a purpose to exist. The idea that there is more to life than just what is experienced is infinitely powerful in killing the pains of life. TO be able to say, "yes its bad now, but things will get better," or "I will be rewarded for my suffering," these phrases give us hope, and a reason to continue to live, without a religion or at least the concept of it, we would be devoured by our own thoughts. Our primal urges would run wild, while conflicting with our intellectual inclinations, destroying us from within. We would want to live for each day, but be crushed by our own meaningless, and eventually come to realize what good is even the greatest euphoric experience, if every sensation will soon end, and all that we've done will count for nothing.
So this begs the question, is our tendency to lean on religion actually a defense mechanism, or a natural tendency to search for truth, and possibly come to know and love our creator, creators, or spiritual superiors? If any of the religions are in fact true then our habit of depending on, or searching for the defined supreme being, or state of being, is just as natural as depending on one's mother at birth. On the other hand if this life is all that we have, and we are actually only over analytical animals, who have no real right to rule the world as we do, then life is futile, and our very existence is a burden to all life on our planet. If that were the case we still could have purpose, of our own manufactured nature, to enhance all life, and prolong our planet so that we may live as long as possible, since that would be all we could gain in existence anyway.
TO sum up I'll spare you any more of my moderately depressing wonderings, and propose an idea of mine to relieve and hopefully uplift you. I believe that in truth God does exist. It is actually an undeniable fact. Philosophers before me have attempted to prove such a fact using dizzying logic, and calculated statements, however I believe it is much simpler. One of the few absolutes in this world is that something is absolute, or it is not. Since nothing can be almost absolute, and be considered absolute. Therefore God can either exist, or he can not. Likewise if we are God's creations we can also either exist or not exist. Assuming that we do exist, and anything that is created by God, or even by us also exists, then God absolutely exists. This is because even if God is not real, and is merely a thought shared by many people, that thought is a creation, and that which is created must exist. Whether God is actually God or just a creation of the mind also does not diminish his good. Love is also a shared thought, people believe in it, appreciate it, and benefit from it, just as people benefit from believing in God.
What troubles people I believe is when they become confused about whose God is the right one, and attempt to force theirs on others. God ultimately is good, otherwise there would be no point for he/ she or it to exist, so no religion can argue that their God is more good. To force anything on a person not desiring that thing is universally bad in fact, and would not be something a just and good God would desire. Also a universally good God would not punish people on a technicality for not finding him in the right manner.
Religion therefore whether a defense mechanism, or a search for truth should not cause different people to conflict with each other. Religions are all searching for the same thing, and should embrace other ideas which may help us understand our God or an ultimate good. Either way it gives us purpose, no religion, if true can deny that all humans are creations, or servants of the religion's deity, and to harm a fellow creation, or servant is harmful to that god, but enhancing the lives of others, so that they may worship better, or experience the best existence possible, can not be considered bad within any religion.
My conclusion, religion, no matter what it is, or what is true about it, if pure, and understood properly is a universal good. If people of all religions would practice them as they believe, but embrace others in the same search, but using a different religion to do so, we may either come to find the ultimate truth in existence, or at the very least come together is we should as human beings.
1 comment:
Religions are commonest in societies and among people who are unsophisticated and uneducated. This should tell you a lot. The fact that religion is extremely popular in modern america probably owes a lot to the sad state of our education, and particularly to the lack of understanding of science and cosmology.
Religion is not a necessity, although it is certainly comforting to imagine that some paternalistic Divine Intelligence is watching over and caring for you. Unfortunately, the evidence does not support it, and the problem of evil basically disproves the hypothesis of a benevolent god.
Five million plus children under the age of five years old die of starvation related causes every year. There is no way to square that with a benevolent god except to fall back on the "god's ways are mysterious and hard to understand" non-answer. At the same time, of course, those theists imagine that god is intimately involved in every tiny detail of their own lives, down to finding them parking spaces and clearing up their acne.
Evolution has done away with the need for a creator god. There are now two gaps in the scientific knowledge: Abiogenesis and The Big Bang. You can insert god into those gaps if it makes you feel better, but any intellectually honest person will admit that the gaps just keep shrinking as does god's role in the universe.
The universe looks nothing like you would expect if there were a divine human-focused intelligence behind it, either. Billions and billions, as Sagan liked to say, of stars, and billions of galaxies. And most of the universe is actually nothing but a vacuum hostile to all life.
Finally, research into mind-body dualism pretty conclusively deflates the "soul" hypothesis. Without the soul, what is the point of the deity?
I would suggest you explore the following sites if you really are interested in the answer to the god question:
http://www.godisimaginary.com
http://ebonmusings.org, particularly the atheism pages.
http://infidels.org, particularly the library and this essay by Richard Carrier .
Someone once asked Carl Sagan what the meaning of life is, without a god. His answer: "Do something meaningful."
Truly, if you honestly explore the idea of an eternal god, what was the ultimate purpose of that paradigm anyhow? How boring would eternity actually be for limited beings like ourselves? Sure we might like a few extra years, but eternity? Nope.
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