|
this is my 666th post. have been saving this for a special occasion. no, it is not about the devil. chose the 666th post because of the taboo nature of the number. this upheaval of thoughts is about religion and humanity.
this is an insight into the vision I have for humanity. to understand what i perceive to be humanity’s destiny we must first venture into the past to analyze how we arrived here. these are my perceptions of religion.
my take on religion and humanity has always been that of regret. i’ll explain. the regret i feel is that humanity was not able to progress into a race of conscious beings without religion. ironically enough it has also turned out to be humanity’s biggest crutch. religion was once a means to explain that which was unexplainable. humanity is inquisitive by nature. our unwavering quest to explain the events in our lives and our surroundings is the motor that drives our consciousness. to think and to feel. to remember in such a manner that we can replicate it with written language, visual displays such as art, and stories. these are the things at the core of our existence and what it means to be human. religion was a bit of an accident. it was our imagination running full steam combined with the seemingly supernatural phenomenon of the universe (and immediate world around us).
what is the sun? it must be a supernatural creature that provides the light of day. we must thank it for we owe our lives to it. what is the water? where does it come from? it gives us life so that we may quench our thirst. the force which drives it must be mystical. let us pray for it. the game we hunt, what drives them? who provides them? we must thank the mother earth, for without her we would truly perish.
my explanation for why religion, on even the most primitive and early stages, ever came about:
the primitive minds of conscious beings, running on overdrive from a mass stimulation of environment and realization of internal thought capacity; after achieving a level of awareness never before seen by any other species on the planet.
the direct result of this would be religion. i don’t hate our ancestors for developing the concept. i regret that it ever happened. an almost necessary evil, because our imaginations grew, and allowed our consciousness to grow with it. it helped settle the minds of the primitive bands of humans. it allowed them to rest a little easier, and to cope with a world they were just beginning to realize existed on a greater scale than they had ever known before.
this is a bad example, but most people (I’m assuming) have seen this movie:
in interview with a vampire, louis is being interviewed by a writer. he is explaining to the writer about the night he was turned into a vampire. louis says that night he looked with his vampire eyes and saw what he saw. the writer asked him to describe it. louis replies there is no way to explain to a mortal. statues moved but didn’t, everything was the same but completely changed. to primitive humans there is no way for them to explain to their ancestors what they saw. it was the same world, but in a new light. a new scope. it was unprecedented.
fast forward a few millennia. humanity begins to emerge as the dominant species on the planet. at the same time humanity also begins to show it’s true colors. there are still those who would just assume to live and let live. at the same time there would be those who would seek to hold sway over others. power, greed, these things would become more prevalent as time passed. religion become a source of control. how do you control another person? ask yourself that very seriously. think hard. there are not very many ways.
Fear.
Manipulation.
Force.
Trust.
i have thought long and hard about this. i can’t think of any scenario that doesn’t fall into these four categories. religion captured all of them. it was the perfect solution. it fostered civilization. the Egyptians built their pyramids and cities for the pharaohs – the living gods. the romans and greeks had their temples and amphitheaters. even Hammurabi invokes the divine revelation of Marduk as the source of the laws. these were brilliant laws for it’s time that are even used to some extent in this modern day in terms of taxing laws, inheritance, the concept of interest rates, etc.
the insane thing about this is that not one person would have subscribed to his code of laws, had it not been handed down to him by a god. never mind the fact that it revolutionized civilization in it’s time, and it proved to be a foundation for millennia to come. it simply would not have been acceptable. no human could have exerted that kind of control without wielding religion. caesar earned the loyalty of his troops through his success as his leader, and the self-titlement of divinity.
fast forward again.
we live in an age where we know that the sun is not a god. it is a giant gaseous ball of elements burning in space. it is not sacred, it is not unique. it’s actually an average star in the prime of it’s existence. we live in an age now where we can actually replicate other species using cells. we live in an age where we know what cells are, how they work, what they do, what they’re made of, and so on.
we no longer need religion. our minds have expanded. a growing majority no longer fear the unknown. we have either become complacent about it, or genuinely would like to know more about our world, and the universe our world exists in. religion is the crutch of humanity. it assisted us through our scary and confusing beginnings. it allowed us to establish order through control and fear. the same way a herd of cattle is paraded across the prairie. when do we set the crutch down? we’ve limped along semi-successfully this long with it. imagine what we can do once our legs have caught up with our mind, and we set the crutch of religion aside. instead of limping through history and occasionally stumbling and falling (which I consider the periodic dark ages experienced throughout history) we will run.
to extend the metaphor a little, even walking would be better than the limping we’ve been doing. humanity has not embraced its full potential because it has not been able to let go of the fear. people fear what will happen to them after life. those who are in control of religion do not wish to relinquish their control. those who trust religion can’t let go because trust can be an Achilles heel for a lot of people. it’s difficult to turn away from an upbringing of unforeseen manipulation. like lemmings they leap into the abyss, so sure of their choice, so trusting. fundies are a perfect example.
my vision for the future of humanity:
no religion. sentient beings on an unending quest for knowledge. our consciousness making the next leap into the infinite. swarming neurons, firing synapses, complete use of cerebral capacity.
why are we here?
who cares. be. and make something of the minuscule speck of an existence you have and learn as much as you can. help others. help humanity so that others can achieve cerebral capacity potential. move beyond that which is comfortable, and “known” – or what religion tells you. be more.
the martialis heureka ant has been around for 120 million years. not much change. a few evolutionary survival changes maybe. humans on the other hand have been around for around 200,000 years. look what we’ve done in the last 100 years.
abandon the crutch. let humanity achieve what it is capable of achieving.
|
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
