It would seem to me that humans have a need to make sense out of something that appears senseless, and have to impose a pattern on randomness. That's why there are legends of giants wrestling and causing earthquakes, or some old dude in the clouds throwing lightening bolts. Over time it get elaborated and evolves to eventually become a religious belief. On the way it becomes justification for food taboos (don't eat shellfish its a sin - in reality because they decay and produce neurotoxins etc) and other sorts of religious proscriptions.Then rules for individuals are tagged on and it becomes morality etc. It serves to comfort and inspire. Religion is a pro social force and I suspect that initially it helps the social group grow and survive.
On Tue, Oct 27, 2009 at 5:38 PM, denstar <[email protected]> wrote: > > On Tue, Oct 27, 2009 at 12:37 PM, Mary Jo Sminkey wrote: > >> >> >Thanks for being up for the discussion. Cool how everyone's been decent >> and >> >whatnot. Think there's hope for politics? ;-) >> >> Probably not. I can't even seem to have a civil discussion with family >> members on politics let alone strangers. It seems to be even more dogmatic >> these days than religion is! >> > > Seems built in, which is probably part of where religion comes into the > picture (trying to handle these inbuilt traits). =) > > >> >It's the getting saved bit that gets me. Like, what if my idea of Heaven >> >was being happy together with someone who would have to occupy Hell? I >> >don't want to be saved unless all my peeps can come wit me! =) >> >> >> Wow, you hit on one of the hardest things for me to "get" as well. >> Predicting the exact nature of what the afterlife will be is certainly >> something there is much debate about. Most people would say that our >> relatively superficial human relationships will fall away as we commune >> fully with God and nature after the second coming. Others take a certain >> passage in the Bible to mean memories of loved ones that are not with us any >> more will be wiped away. I personally don't think about it much, as it >> certainly is not possible for me to make sense of things that are outside >> the realm of my experience and/or knowledge. >> >> > Heaven on earth... hrm. I was going somewhere with that, but now draw a > blank. > > I like the idea of understanding what we didn't understand at the "physical" > level, with a whole new level of un-understandable opening, I think. > Reincarnation might be interesting. I dunno, I truly love being an > individual, lonely as it can be. I like being part of a team too tho, so... > maybe there's something to the little lights cycling in and out of the big > light... I'm not sure I'd ever want it all to "end", even if it's a happy > ending. Eh. > > >> >/me thinks of a cartoon of god adding jerks to his mix >> >> Sounds like something that would be in the Far Side. Boy, I miss that comic >> strip! >> > > Yup! Me too! I guess never-ending Far Side cartoonage wouldn't be so > bad... =) > > -- > Philosophy: Impersonal anxiety; refuge among anemic ideas. > Emile M. Cioran > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Want to reach the ColdFusion community with something they want? Let them know on the House of Fusion mailing lists Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:306603 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
