It seems to me that organized religion has become or perhaps always was kind of like a little pill the average human takes to make sense of his life, and to give him or herself something to be right about, and which the not so average man uses to assert his authority over others. Even atheism falls into this trap which is ironic because most atheists claim to not even be a religious group. Why do so many need a crutch to help us stand in life? Is it because humanity as a whole is mentally crippled? Or is it that many of us just want to be that? Hmmm
organized religion tells people that they are born sick and bad and need religion to be a better person. which is BS. but it is funny that so many human beings don't see through the BS of that. they hear some religious nut telling them that they need faith in god to be moral or good and they believe that. now that is weird. also i don't need atheism to make sense of life. i study physics, astronomy, human physiology, chemistry for that. and it's not because i am an atheist that i turn to science. but it is because i have studied science and found it to make sense and found religion not to make sense that i am an atheist. atheism has nothing to do with religion. at least not for me.
Science is fine, but limited as a guide to meaning. Science doesn't even attempt that, because it's not what science is good at. When my brother was dying of kidney cancer, science told him that his best course of action was surgery, chemotherapy and radiation. He did that, and his doctors pronounced him cured. He wasn't. It came back with a vengeance, and by the time they went through their protocols testing for everything but the obvious--that the cancer had come back--it was so out of control that they told him there was no hope, and he accepted that. Here was a good looking athletic guy, honors student, engaged to be married--and about to have it all taken away. And all science could do was tell him too bad. Science, of course, could tell him in general what happened. He had cancer and it spread to various vital organs of his body. It could also tell him the probable outcome--a long, horrible, incredibly painful death. Terrific! He had the choice, said the doctors, of continuing intravenous feeding nutrition and feeding the tumors at the same time, or stopping nutrition and starving to death--which is what they recommended and what he opted for. What my brother did was not curl up into a ball of pain and self pity. He was a philosophy major, and he put his "useless" knowledege to work. He thanked me for making him aware of Viktor Frankl, the Viennese logotherapist, who thinks that the most basic human need is the need for meaning, and that (paraphrasing Nietzsche) humans can endure almost any what if there seems to be a why. My brother turned first to nature for meaning. We took him for outings in the mountains and parks. When he could no longer do that, he decided that the meaning of his life would be to model the dying process so that others could learn from it, and his last days became a set of discourses on the meaning of life and death. The biological outcome was as science predicted. He died a skeleton. The outcome would have been the same if he had spent his last days screaming in pain, crying, or railing against God and Nature. And his sisters couldn't understand why he didn't. But throughout the experience he never complained and he seemed to be at peace when the end came. Science failed him, but philosophy got him through. So what, if anything, should we make of all this? One interpretation would be that my brother was using ideas as a crutch or opiate to distract himself from the true reality of his existence. He should have been "honest" that his life had no meaning, that he might as well never have been born, and that it was really irrelevant what he did with the last months of his life. More compassionate comforters might (and did) recommend prayer, or the mental oblivion of drugs, sex, rock n' roll or perhaps suicide. Or some, like me, might actually think his life was exceptionally meaningful because of the choice he made--that by accepting death and dealing with it with dignity, he transcended it and left behind memories that could inspire others about how magnificent it can be to be human. Are those questions about ultimate human meaning important? Let me leave you with some words by great scientists to take with you to your death beds: "The more the universe seems comprehensible, the more it seems pointless." physicist Steven Weinberg 'the ancient covenant is in pieces.: man at last knows that he is alone in the unfeeling immensity of the universe." biologist Jacques Monod For more upbeat views, I recommend Paul Davies, physicist, The Mind of God; Freeman Dyson, physicist, Infinite in All Directions; and Bernard Haisch, astrophysicist, The God Theory.
We should all look for the things that give life meaning to us and I am glad that your brother was able to do so. When I say that people use religion as a crutch I mean many use it as something to lean on when things aren't going their way, or to explain something they otherwise wouldn't understand. For instance when a man or woman is healed during prayer at a Christian service, which I have seen happen with my own eyes, most people will say it was God that healed that man, or his faith in God. I say that the human mind has more power than any one imagines and that when many people are in accord with their thoughts so called miracles can happen. Can I scientifically explain this belief? No, but it is my personal belief and I don't need religion to keep that belief. I'm glad that you don't fit in with some but when I say that atheism falls into the same trap I mean simply that most, not neccesarily all, atheists are constantly trying to assert their science given authority over those who don't see the same way as them.
i'm not searching for meaning. this whole 'meaning of life' business is ridiculous. you make the meaning for your own life.
There is no god, but there is godliness. ~Osho Nature has inherant in it the quality of love, joy, and intelligence. Every religion was once explaining how to connect with this quality, to bring it into your own life. That is how you "know god". But everything has been lost, perverted, and transformed. Somewhere in religion there is still the sweet nectar of the divine, but as for most of it, it has been transformed into a pill for the ignorant. But never forget, there is truth, it is inside of you, waiting to be discovered.
Me, too. Of course, everybody makes the meaning of his/her own life. Viktor Frankl, however, argues that lots of us are looking for meaning in all the wrong places--wealth, status, power, drugs, sex, etc. The results are usually unsatisfying for the person concerned and those around him, because "whatever floats your boat" may bring net misery over happiness when the drug wears off. Sam Harris, atheist, struggles to make this point in The Moral Landscape. There isn't a single, one size fits all, meaning, but there are limits to what things lead to long-run satisfaction.
Eid al-Fitr in 2011 is on Tuesday, the 30th of August. North America, 2011 Eid al-Fitr will start in North America a day later - on Wednesday, the 31st of August. Note that in the Muslim calendar, a holiday begins on the sunset of the previous day, so observing Muslims will celebrate Eid al-Fitr on the sunset of Monday, the 29th of August. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=padvnsLUhUM"]Tupac - Only God Can Judge Me - YouTube :seeya:..
it is often a pill taken for many reasons. some, like protective coloration, more reasonable then others, like denying personal responsibility. sometimes survival depends on that kind of protective coloration. denying that all of us together create most of the conditions each of us experience individually lacks anywhere near that legitimate of an excuse.
LOL "Only God can judge me". DOUBLE FALLACY! Ignorance pills come in all sizes for those who can't live with themselves or reality. Any 'religion' in the name of atheism would be pseudo-atheism, ignorant of the full definition.
I am sorry Indy Hippy, but may you clarify this part of the post? In other words define what you mean by "religious group"...
I've always hated most organized religion, but I've taken the view that its a necessary evil. Most of the comments here reflect the attitudes of people who have minds that are advanced in their thinking; some folks mention how they have immersed themselves in science/philosophy etc to gain real knowledge and wisdom about fundamental purpose, and the OP hit on the fact that organized religion tends to turn into a dogmatic system of control happy to simply keep the 'sheep grazing'. What I think is important to realize here though is that the majority of the human population is NOT enlightened. Many people are confounded by much more basic problems than 'what is the meaning of life' or 'what/who is God', so they cannot approach these questions using their own faculties, however they ARE STILL HUMAN and thus have an innate yearning for the inner peace that comes from gaining some understanding on these questions. This being the case, how else are people like this supposed to at least be helped to some truth other than 'organized religion'? Many people I think will suggest smaller groups sans the dogmatic qualities of most organized religion, but going this route I think inevitably leaves people disconcerted because the lack of a simple narrative to grasp and authority to find comfort in.
i think for some, most of those who are reasonably mature and intelligent, it's a matter of "protective coloration"(i.e. "camo" if you will) to avoid being discriminated against socially and economically. i.e. to get paid and get laid. not denying that the big three, christianity, islam and judaism, do their hard sell of the after death advantage, but i don't think that's what motivates people to identify themselves with whatever belief happens to be dominant in their country or culture.
