What is the true purpose of religion?
I don't think the deepest, original, authentic essence of religion is simply a lie we tell ourselves to to distract our attention from our suffering.
It appears to me, rather, a discipline, or practice, we can employ to, eventually, learn how to disconnect a psychological suffering response from the chaos and tragedy inherent in reality. This is to say that real suffering is optional even though physical misfortune is not. But avoiding this suffering is not an innate talent. It is a skill that must be learned by practice, and religion's purpose is to teach that practice. Science is a natural ally to this enterprise; not an enemy.
This purpose may be more readily recognized in non-theistic traditions like Buddhism than in a deity-centered religion like Christianity, but it is there as well if you are willing to see it.
Regardless of what they call themselves, worldviews whose primary focus is on pacifying the neonatal parent-worship instinct into adulthood are not true religions; they are just that; pacifiers.
The central act of religion is to train the individual to release ego-identity, and thereby release psychological suffering regardless of material circumstances. Metaphorical imagery of this act is found in every major world religion. Those who take these metaphors to be intended as historical fact have missed the entire point, whether they be believers or non-believers.
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I sincerely think that, IF one were to search back into the deepest recesses of the 'evolution' of religions one would find that it all stemmed from a tribal member/s realising that instead of putting him/her/themselves in the way of constant and ever present danger/s whilst assisting his/her fellows to hunt for game as food, they formulated an idea of possessing the ability/s to converse with the ' Spirit World' thus being ' able' to ' receive' messages from the 'other side' as to where and which game animals, etc, would be and the easiest to kill, etc.
Thus assuring them of the devotion and reverence of their fellow tribe members, the tastiest piece of the catch as by way of being an OFFERING to both the spirits and them for their intervention, a status among their fellows that assured that they would live a safe and well fed, contented life, etc, etc., and this idea has continued on through the millenia to be what see around us to this day, i.e. nothing more than the earliest form of a SCAM perpetrated by some, or a few, indolent, unscrupulous, self-serving prehistoric Hunter-Gather/s who saw the opportunity and grabbed it with both hands.
Triphid
Level 9
Oct 26, 2018
1
I don’t doubt there was always some of that going on.
@skado And it still is today only they've improved upon it a thousand fold to make it the best Sinecure of them all, i.e. No manual labour, No real Overheads, No Taxes, the shortest of ' working hours,' accommodation supplied in almost all cases, etc, etc., a ' boss' that never checks your timesheets, etc, etc, Jeez Louise, IF I didn't have ethics and scruples I might have been sorely tempted to become one of those Priests, etc.
Neo-natal parent worship instinct?
OrangeJuice
Level 6
Oct 26, 2018
1
Yes, as per John Wathey in "The Illusion of God's Presence: The Biological Origins of Spiritual Longing"
[amazon.com]
@skado you know, you recommended that book to me once before, and I never managed to get my hands on it, I will have to now, sounds like an interesting hypothesis
@OrangeJuice
It really does explain a lot if it turns out to be well-founded. Wathey is careful to refer to the idea as “hypothesis”, but he cites a lot of relevant studies to back it up.
“Neo-natal parent worship instinct“ are my words, not Wathey’s precisely, but a fair summary, I think, of his idea.
Wathey presents studies that suggest evolution engineered an instinct in infants that gives them an artificial sense of their mother’s presence even when she is not actually present. This is considered to contribute toward the continued survivability of the infant, and is noted to be, unlike some infantile instincts that fade after infancy, one of a type that is indelible throughout adulthood. This is what he believes people are experiencing as the “presence of god”. Wathey makes a very convincing presentation of this hypothesis.
If you wish to make up your own gobbildygook and even use it as a method to live by, by all means do so. For others who are wise to the usage of religion your chances of convincing them will be minimal ?
SimonCyrene
Level 7
Oct 26, 2018
1
What you describe is called philosophy.
Religion is merely supernatural philosophy.
Charlie_tM
Level 4
Nov 23, 2018
0
I think religions are primarily the expression of the fight or flight instinct. At some point our ancestors' brains got big enough to grasp the concept of the future and that we will all eventually die. The instinct would have none of that so people came up with various ways to convince themselves that they will not die after they die. Obviously, that is not the only reason for religions but I think it is the main one. I read somewhere that out of the several thousand of religious beliefs only a few don't promise surviving death in one way or another. Other readons are the daddy in the sky that watches over you, the need for being to know what is right and what is wrong, the explanation of the unknown, ect.
Gregory2
Level 4
Oct 29, 2018
0
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