Quote from: DoomRulz on Jan 04, 2014, 09:33:34 PM
Humans are on a real downward spiral. It's a shame we live in an apathetic culture.
Spiritual poverty. No doubt religion delayed progress and caused untold suffering and death, but I still think we're too biased against faith (most don't make a distinction).
A lot of people never fully mature as human beings these days--missing out on whole aspects of their existence. It doesn't seem logical to believe a sky wizard watching your every move, but a quantum physicist would never rule that out due the probabilistic nature of their field (ok their profession makes the probability of them ruling out the sky wizard lower).
Even more so you can be atheist or agnostic (I'm the latter) and still have a tremendous amount of raw spirituality. Atheism is just a lack of believing in god or gods--it doesn't extend to believing our existence is random and of no consequence; in fact many atheist communities are all about empowering your self. I'm simply pointing out that people have more options than they're lead to believe (often obscured through political correctness, business agendas, or fanatical bible thumpers).
So whether it's faith in a creator, faith in people, faith in purpose, faith that there is more than this, I think many will find that it fills a void in them that nothing else can. What about belief in one's self? Absolutely, but the more potent tool I think for especially disgruntled and neurotic people is
disbelief. If you can learn to identify the negative thoughts and strip them of their power over you, that's invaluable in itself.
I think any life worth living is going to hurt like hell, and it has to in order to give it the contrast needed not to see in shades of gray. Look at the current state of the world. What's the worst that could become of it?
Another world war?
Nuclear holocaust? Genocide?
Adolf Hitler 2.0 with his thousand year Reich?
Entire regions of the planet becoming inhabitable due to radiation for the next 30,000 years?
Chemical and bioterrorism?
Global Pandemic?
Vaccines and antibiotics no longer working?
Super volcano eruption resurfacing a region and the ash killing the crops needed to support populations worldwide?
Unsustainable population levels--crowded, dirty, inadequate ways of life?
Destroying the ocean and atmosphere; decline of biodiversity and rising sea levels?
Coronal mass ejection sending us back to the 19th century?
A large object colliding with Earth due to some fluke in Nasa's ability to predict it and prepare (if it made a difference)?
Gamma ray burst moving at the speed of light--all life on earth extinct before it knew what happened?
Maybe there will be no significant catastrophe--maybe Earth is destined for limbo.
Consider what all happened around the second world war---before it, a great depression, poor economy, and after, an economic boom, burst in population, and catharsis felt across the planet. Shortly after, intense fear of an even worse war grew that lives strongly to this day.
When we think we're about to lose everything, one of two things happens---we act or we do not, but at some point we have to realize that death is really the only sure thing--we may in our lives see the breakthrough that extends life indefinitely, but entropy--the rule that time must flow towards disorder, ensures there is ultimately no escaping it (unless you can tunnel into other universes). The point is, when the future we fought for becomes the present, most eventually develop that fear of it being taken away. My ancestors believed something to the effect that you had to die fighting to get to Valhalla (heavan). To some this meant dieing violently or in combat---I only see one meaning---that we should never stop fighting for a future--for a better life, and for all unborn souls
...and it's ok to be afraid.
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Cliffs:
Are you a religious person?
Religion's early history was a little too archaic for my taste.
But when widespread internet came out in the 90's,
I think religion's image really came into it's own, figuratively and literally.
The whole concept has a clear, purposeful message,
that can really give your life a big boost.
It's been compared to winning the lottery,
but I think it can have a much more profound, cleansing effect.
In 2000 BC, humanity released this--
Abrahamic religion, their most accomplished doctrine.
I think their undisputed masterpiece is "heaven and hell."
The theme's so catchy, most people probably don't make any deeper connections
But they should, because it's not just about...
the pleasures that await in heaven or the importance of keeping free of sin.
It's also a philosophical statement about life itself.
