When one wades into a discussion about religion, one should be prepared to experience a Rod Serling-ish exposure to an environment whose very boundaries are defined by nonsense. Case in point - Why do American politicians, almost to a person, end all of their speeches with "God bless you and God bless America?" C'mon, this is God we're talking about!! Let Him/Her/It bless the whole damned planet!! Why not the whole universe?
Having been around the best part of six decades, I've long been perplexed at how you can get total nonsense out of the mouths of otherwise intelligent individuals when the subject turns to religious beliefs. As one social scientist opined, we as a species have advanced in every area of human endeavor except the need to "Believe something or someone watches over us."
We've traversed history's path from knuckle-dragging hominids (most of us anyway) to space exploration. But we still have this propensity to believe things that don't pass the first round of critical review. One observant individual noted that the letters in the word faith could quite credibly stand for Forget All Intelligent Thought Henceforth.
As a child and young adult I will admit to being quite confused. But I was paying attention. At some point, thanks to my innate love of reading, I became aware of the countless number of really smart people who have lived throughout history. Thomas Paine comes to mind. And through reading and studying philosophy under a gifted professor my mind began to develop more properly.
One thing I deduced on my own is this. Regardless as to how naturally "smart" a person may be, there are many things they will never figure out on their own without someone else pointing them out. In the case of religious beliefs, and mysticism in general, the situation is all too often that a person's mind has been "programmed"/"brainwashed" to hold certain "truths" as finite and unassailable. This done by those whom they trust the most, the parents. I always muse at this point over the great question as to whether parents have the right to teach a belief as fact or should the mark of good parenting be teaching the child to use its own mind.
One renown psychologist likened the human brain to a neuro-logical computer. I think that's an accurate assessment. Like its silicon-based counterpart, the neuro-logical computer is designed to solve problems. Hah!! He said "designed", that means their must be a "Designer." Hey, I don't doubt there's a designer or designers, and I don't claim to have any real answers. I just find it rather fascinating that the self-professed possessors of the "truth" experience conniption when someone tells them that neither do they have the answers.
My intellectual honesty forces me to say "I don't know and neither do you" in answering the three main questions that have haunted our species since the days we were convinced that thunder was the voice of "God" and lightning a sign of his displeasure.
To wit: Where did we come from? Why are we here? Where do we go when we die?
It has been alleged that all the manmade religious beliefs ever created were attempts to answer these three nagging questions.
Having been around the best part of six decades, I've long been perplexed at how you can get total nonsense out of the mouths of otherwise intelligent individuals when the subject turns to religious beliefs. As one social scientist opined, we as a species have advanced in every area of human endeavor except the need to "Believe something or someone watches over us."
We've traversed history's path from knuckle-dragging hominids (most of us anyway) to space exploration. But we still have this propensity to believe things that don't pass the first round of critical review. One observant individual noted that the letters in the word faith could quite credibly stand for Forget All Intelligent Thought Henceforth.
As a child and young adult I will admit to being quite confused. But I was paying attention. At some point, thanks to my innate love of reading, I became aware of the countless number of really smart people who have lived throughout history. Thomas Paine comes to mind. And through reading and studying philosophy under a gifted professor my mind began to develop more properly.
One thing I deduced on my own is this. Regardless as to how naturally "smart" a person may be, there are many things they will never figure out on their own without someone else pointing them out. In the case of religious beliefs, and mysticism in general, the situation is all too often that a person's mind has been "programmed"/"brainwashed" to hold certain "truths" as finite and unassailable. This done by those whom they trust the most, the parents. I always muse at this point over the great question as to whether parents have the right to teach a belief as fact or should the mark of good parenting be teaching the child to use its own mind.
One renown psychologist likened the human brain to a neuro-logical computer. I think that's an accurate assessment. Like its silicon-based counterpart, the neuro-logical computer is designed to solve problems. Hah!! He said "designed", that means their must be a "Designer." Hey, I don't doubt there's a designer or designers, and I don't claim to have any real answers. I just find it rather fascinating that the self-professed possessors of the "truth" experience conniption when someone tells them that neither do they have the answers.
My intellectual honesty forces me to say "I don't know and neither do you" in answering the three main questions that have haunted our species since the days we were convinced that thunder was the voice of "God" and lightning a sign of his displeasure.
To wit: Where did we come from? Why are we here? Where do we go when we die?
It has been alleged that all the manmade religious beliefs ever created were attempts to answer these three nagging questions.
