We humans just can't seem to avoid creating and dredging up ideas which promise eternal existence of us as individuals and a species. Humans created the ideas of religion and life after death, because they are afraid to admit the inevitability of death.
Similarly we have created the ideas of deep space travel and colonization of other planets to avoid the idea that the human species will inevitably become extinct due to the planet becoming uninhabitable, to asteroid strikes, or to the dying of our sun. The life that we have now is all that we have, and we need to make the best of it by acting well today and by acting now on behalf of our progeny.
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Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.No not really. In early cultures religion was often devoted to more everyday things and fears, like illness, lions, and hunger. Fear of death perhaps always existed to a degree, but a lot of exaggerated fear of death was created by religion. Since as they are always using the god of the gaps, anywhere they can find mystery they can create fear and pretend to have answers. So since they are selling fake gap filler, it pays to exaggerate the size and importance of the gaps. A huge amount of religious propaganda has being devoted over the years to promoting a fear of death, and building that exaggerated fear into our cultures.
Fernapple
Level 9
Oct 9, 2019
0
Humans did not create the ideas of religion and life after death out of fear of death, they created it for the use of those in power to retain power.
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"Therefore it is unnecessary for a prince to have all the good qualities I have enumerated, but it is very necessary to appear to have them. And I shall dare to say this also, that to have them and always to observe them is injurious, and that to appear to have them is useful; to appear merciful, faithful, humane, religious, upright, and to be so, but with a mind so framed that should you require not to be so, you may be able and know how to change to the opposite." - Niccolo Machiavelli
Archeus_Lore
Level 7
Oct 9, 2019
2
I disagree. They created religion because they could not tolerate the sense of being ignorant and powerless. After they created it, the priestly caste arose and began the dogmatic domination.
A lot of modern religious practice does seem centered on the goal of getting yourself into heaven, but with ancient religions only the gods and goddesses were immortal. The root of religion does not seem to be fear of death. I think the root of religion is the same as the root of art, science and philosophy. It is the exciting spark of awareness, which engenders curiosity, awe, appreciation and reverence.
We might as well quit bothering ourselves about any concept involving time, such a birth, death, creation, causation, etc. Time is a delusion. From a cosmic perspective there is only immortality. We are not what we think we are.
WilliamFleming
Level 8
Oct 9, 2019
1
I am what I think I am. I am not with the we majority who fear death. I don't fear death so I can be living it. The cosmos are 99% unknowns, yet beautiful and fun for the very curious..
The morons, I mean the Mormon women don't even get to go to heaven. According to the two mormon women knocking on my door. They gave no answers, to my why question. Some Mormon men get a whole planet to rule and 33 babes. What a raw rotten deal that is.
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