Proportions of Religion and Weakness

·FOREWORD·

As mortal, highly influential and complex beings, we all have weaknesses. No one that has been born in the traditionally biological sense is exempt from this fact. And by direct result of these weaknesses, we often look to find tools, ideas and beliefs, people, places, or methods by which these concepts can affect us in such a way that these weaknesses are either suppressed or lessened for some duration of time.

Religion happens to be the most widest spread of the intangible ideas that our intellect has created.

·MYSTICISM·

"If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent Him."
~ Voltaire

In the primary sense, Religion exists to compensate for a number of commonly shared weaknesses our "higher intellect" is subject to. The most influential of these is the Life and Death weakness; how should we cope with death? Most religions provide an image that covers this weakness - the image of an afterlife. Further, it also helps mask the dilemma of purpose, or the meaning of our existence. By supposing a greater entity that has a plan for us, or that our life is a cycle towards enlightenment, or any of the other life-death-purpose paradigms the multitude of religions provide, it is no wonder why a vast majority of people have adopted one religion or another to help deal with what we can feel is a truth we would rather not handle.

This is an intriguing concept because it fosters intense differences between people. It is of wide knowledge that the greatest man-influenced casualties of the planet have been in the name of religion. (Dare I begin listing the seemingly infinite set of crusades, jihads, massacres, witch hunts, etc.) Fundamentally, this is a problem, a problem which we as a species have not learned from History. Religion can be a gentle peaceful ideology, but when construed the wrong way, it can run chaos and discord through and between societies. It can separate families, friends, cultures and if we're not careful, our entire species.


·RELIGION OR NO RELIGION?·

"To die for one's belief is honorable, but to murder for one's belief is immoral."

It is not the intent of this writing to suggest an abolishment of Religion, for the nature of theology is a very controversial matter. However, it is the intent to try and foster a better tolerance to its existence and to try and lessen the severity by which so many cling to the teachings of religion. To die for one's belief is honorable, but to murder for one's belief is immoral. No religion, by authority of civilization and reason, should be allowed to impose itself onto any other person. A freedom of life should be the freedom to believe. (Unfortunately, many religions have inherent constructs which allow them to pursue murder in "just" circumstances.)

If there is still skepticism towards religion being a creation of man to cope with the human condition, why not let us consider a few points. Firstly, the religion that one believes in now, is most probably an evolution of a long series of religions that have been created and dismantled throughout history. Secondly, every religion can be traced back to a "founding." Many people rationalize that the founding of their religion does not discredit it, but merely marks the enlightenment of the founding messiah. ("God spoke to...", "Buddha revealed the truth...", etc.) Take that how you will, but in religions that offer a solution to the Life-and-Death problem, does that mean everyone who came before the founding of one religion went to a respective "hell" or failed to reach "enlightenment?"

Another point worth mentioning is the religions of the past, how their followers believed in their religion as reverently as anyone today, and how those religions, along with their followers, no longer exist. Let's take the Mayan religion for example - followers of the Mayan religion believed in human sacrifice to their Gods to appease them. That seems like an impossible demand to adhere to, at least to us, but the Mayan's saw it as a way of their core beliefs. Those who were chosen to be sacrificed, while probably dismayed about it, went through with the process with relative honor. (This is not a source for Mayan tradition, and perhaps it should be noted that most Mayan religious sacrifices were typically performed on prisoners of war.) The Mayan's believed in their religion so much, that they were willing to die (or kill another human being in this particular way), not in defense of their beliefs, but in practice of their beliefs. The point of this short look into history is that the Mayan religion is no more, and that while people believed in it so intensely, it was merely a manifestation of the culture and social beliefs of their time.

"Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it."
~ The Buddha

One final word to say on all of this. We all exist, we all feel, and we all believe. It is up to each individual on what to believe in, but most importantly, everyone should adhere to the simple truth that is in almost all religions, and that is, your actions and beliefs should not hurt or hinder anyone else in their own prospects of life. Whether your religion says "thou shall not hurt thy neighbor" (as in the Ten Commandments) or "take right action" (as in the Eightfold Path) or "Live you must and let to live, fairly take and fairly give" (as in the Wiccan Rede) or even if you're agnostic/atheist, we should all respect each others choices as long as those choices don't impede on our own.


·LOG·
10/06/2009 - Revised entry to Draft 2.
02/07/2006 - Finished Draft 1 of entry.