Religion is a cheap shortcut to happiness

My ever-increasing love for my immediate surroundings and my feelings of interconnectedness carry far substance and depth than when I simply found happiness through the idea that "God" created my life for some convenient, comforting purpose.

Letting go of religion, re-evaluating my existence and learning how to deal with the pain of the real world is the best thing i ever did. Clouds aren't beautiful because god made them. They are beautiful because they are clouds, and they exist as do i.

What do you think?

 

If embracing a religion makes someone happy, keeps them from criminal activity, and makes them an all-around better individual, then it gets a thumbs up from me regardless of its factual content.

 

Alright big brother. Lets all bask in the sunshine of your oh so positive view of humanity

 

Cheap?

Like any other 'idea' that is but a 'concept' [like justice and beauty]
Value is assigned by those who value...
A work of art is worth only as much as what one will pay for it..
Maybe religion is neutral in value.
Only worth how much belief one commits to it...

What would christianity be if NO ONE valued it?
Still the 'truth'..?
or but a 'myth' label that we mostly give to mount olympus and valhalla.

Occam

 

I guess I just need to embrace my inner-fascist more and worry about and try to control what others believe.

 

You wish to embrace your inner anti-communist feelings...
Dont worry then...
communism is as dead as a doornail..

others believe what they believe..but it is fun to play with their heads.
Might inspire some thinking.

Occam

 

Giving religon a value is easier than you suggest. I'm talking about how much it pays off...and from my perspective, it payed very little.

 

On the topic of perspective - someone else may perceive it to be a beautiful concept which saved them from the depths of "death". But, in my case I have to agree with your perception on religion. I've never quite found a place for it in my life...too organized and laid down by people that I've never even met. Perhaps, that is a short coming on myself since I cannot quite grasp why people find pleasure in following things...other people have discovered. Anyways, I also have to agree that if it makes you happy and isn't harming anyone immeadiately, then all speed a head by all means.

As for me, I will follow my own instincts.

The problems I see with religion is that it is much too discriminatory and demanding. Christianity, as my favorite example - you must attend church, be saved, and please do not kiss other guys/girls. That's a terrible over generalization, but sadly it is a generalization that is often times true. My mom tells me that I need religion to make me happy, but I really...really am not happy within an organized belief system. Anyway, I ramble on about nothingness and I am not really getting any point across...so to wrap it all up...

Do whatever makes you happy. Don't press what you think for other people to think...you can share ideas but don't shove it down their throats. You can choose to ignore all my statements, including this, if you wish.

 

That was great...you've really summed up my feelings. What you said about "following your own instincts" is a good way to describe how I choose to live my life.

I want everyone to duly note however that this is not an attack on religion nor an attempt to dissuade. It is a personal testament, otherwise it would be somewhere other than the athiest/agnostic forum.

 

Cooloner

Actually, not quite as dead as a doornail, it still lingers in the totalitarian
gerentocracy in Beijing and Hanoi. [with their free market ecconomies]
In the thriving, happy and just societies of Cuba and North Korea.

Can the world communist experiment be summed up by
"It seeming like a good idea at the time" ?

Which actually fits in with this thread. Many thought it would
give equality to the masses. [fairness/happyness]
Now it is given little value as application resulted in tyranies
that killed more of those masses than total losses in WW2
[20m dead by stalin and at least 50m by Mao]

occam

 

Yay for not bashing religion! I much prefer discussions of the upsides and downsides and whatsides turned me away from it!

 

Yay for sex cults that live in tree houses and live off organic bananas.

 

O A

Put the above two together.

 

Cooloner

Capitilalism is but
" a lesser of two evils" [compared to tyrany by the gun]

Occam believes humanity cannot leap from "statist power through violence"
To a state of rational racial harmony.. [ what some may call a socialist utopia.]

In between these two comes power through manipulation of 'self interest'...
The essense of capitalism.
This is how dynamic systems work. incremental change.

In the objective world ,, all process requires time.
In the human world it is the same.
The inertia of the unthinking is a great weight to haul onto a path
they only see when on it.
[the fate and lives of those 10 billion is decided by 10 million. And the 10 billion want this.
They wish others to oganise it so they are comfortable.
Which is why capitalism is all the rage , even in the last great
communist basions of russia, china, and vietnam ..those nations are now.. capitalist dictatorships.. but russia is more like a a poor version of america in the great depression.]

Occam

 

Cooloner

Then between us it is but a mater of how long it will take.

Occam thinks we WILL do so..And that such is where we should go.
But he thinks thousands of years yet.
Occam believes that
Individual co-operation and racial sanity is the path that will
result in the IDEA lenin wanted...And the WORD of the US constitution

All are equal

Occam

 

Cooloner

So its about u?
And not your race. What socialist thinks like that

Occam

 

Any clue yet dummy?

 

cooloner

cool, occam too
[formal training?, what is that?]

Occam

 

yea fuck formal training

 

De-institutionalisation

is the key to real intelligence.