I think it was an overcast day in late December of last year
when I had really begun to question my Religiosity (which to be fairly honest,
I never was Religious or really believed there is, was or is going to be
another God). When I had finally let reason take the reins, the time when I had
no longer needed to be suppressed by Religions “proposed reality”, I found
myself able to feel more sensibly in tune with the Universe, not in a
spiritualistic way mind you, but one where I could see things for true value,
purpose and gain .
What does he mean by
“proposed reality” you may be asking… well in my often egocentric mind, I
envision myself as a humble philosopher or indeed someone of a
pseudo-scientific way of thinking – I know many things about and relating to
science and enjoy learning new things to fascinate my mind, but I am no
physicist, engineer or chemist. Anyway, back to what proposed reality is and
why Religion is the best example of this:
Religion claims
certainty to a high degree, or at least its adherents in expensive garments and
own mansions like to claim. It proposes (actually it doesn’t propose, it states
it is already what is known to be true and correct without needing proposal or
acceptance through evidence) that this life is sacred, but some vessel until
you are whole again in some afterlife, and apparently God can control and dictate
whatever he and his adherents claim he wants to whomever he and his adherents
think should apply.
The reason why I call it a proposed reality is because of
the simple fact that it has completely no idea of how it can be true or right
and that it has been benefitting off of the work of Science, and then saying
science is the work of some devil because it disproves God and God’s work! It
can’t fit or interlock with other ideologies or explanations, like science, and
seldom claims to support some things science has to offer. A proposed reality
is like an idea or thought process in which on a level of “experience”
something is believed to be true and real and not some facsimile. This often
means disregarding proposed realities which need not be proposed, only
supported with evidence (like the world we live in now). To imagine what I mean
or picture what my thoughts represent – it would be like putting some magical x-ray
glasses on and perceiving the world as if it was created by some God. The only
way this mindset can be achieved can be a result of the following:
1)
Indoctrination at an early age. Children are extremely
susceptible to influence and indoctrination from beliefs of their parents and
relatives and they discover rather quickly their mortality and are scared of
it.
2)
Fear of Mortality and Death. The constant
reminder of how our life is so fragile and quaint is something which we all
think about. Although this might be a contributing factor to those who choose a
religion or faith, it is also a factor which those of non-belief choose to hold
as a reason to be active and live life to its maximum potential.
3)
The need for guidance if not already aware, or
the lack of a father-figure or guardian from a young age. Many of our moral
lessons come from human experience and are passed on from parent to child
through small lessons. I have observed that those who adhere to religious
beliefs often do so under some hope they will be helped or guided, even protected for believing in some God.
Sigmund Freud relates to God as being “dad”
– the father which watches over everyone…
4)
Poor Childhood development, poverty. I guess
this could come under the last point, though I believe it should be mentioned
properly here. When we are alone, we often have only a few friends to count on,
family members and even family pets. We are both capable of projecting our
emotions – love, sadness and hate upon others and receiving it. From a certain
reclusive stance, the idea of God, the idea of an afterlife and seeing your
dead friends and relatives is something which comforts and reasserts people of
their lives. The projection, or the idea of love is something woven through
religion from humans, but can be seen by the weak, the uneducated, as a beacon
of light and warmth and knowledge. When religious people have nothing or near
to nothing they will pray to their God for shelter, food and love which is why
it is often, to the sceptic and the materialist, considered dangerous or
laziness…
Some questions to the religious:
1)
Where does God reside, where is the location of
heaven and how could you know where it is apart from a Holy text?
2)
How does one communicate with God? I would have
thought God would have kept up with the development of humans and their
technologies – they had holy texts, but why not have holy text messages? More
and more we are coming to the conclusion or idea that it is something like the
Force from George Lucas’s Star Wars: Yoda: “It surrounds us, binds us, it
penetrates us…” If God wanted followers or worshipers, why be so mysterious and
impossible to contact.
3)
If God makes contact, how do we know it is
really God and not someone just speaking gibberish? Evidenced throughout
history, Emperor’s, Popes, Kings and Queens seemingly have heard from God and
have been told the following:
God: “You can control all of the people;
you can also kill anyone you want, even babies. You can tell your subjects from
me that they are to give you all their riches and sacrifices to you…”
Nowadays, this won’t work it seems,
rational thinking has won out, and we do away with stupid sacrifices and gold
thrones (crap, I forgot about the Pope, Herr Ratzinger…damn. Well we have fewer
thrones!)
****
Now after my renouncement and denouncement of
these foolish religions, I have been caught in the crossfire; I now feel
alienated and despised by my religious acquaintances and this sometimes angers
me, not just because they feel they are somehow morally superior because it
says so in their Bibles and Quran’s, but because they become nasty and
subjective and avoid my normal conversations on social media like Facebook.
I have a feeling only the future can tell
what will become of Religion, for now I will settle for joining and discussing
groups who fight against faiths and religions…
