Or some other supernatural power or whatever that genuinely makes you think existence isn’t just this nonsense for a bit, then (most likely) p1ssing yourself in pain and confusion for a bit, then dust. And that frankly that being a good run.
Do you reckon it is possible when you weren’t brought up with a faith and have been trained largely to think rationally?
Where I am is full of a lot of people of genuine faith (of all sorts) and you can really see why as a species we came up with the concepts. They aren’t necessarily happier but they are definitely (for the most part) less bewildered by the meaninglessness.
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It’s a crutch, obvs. People often ‘find god’ when they’ve run out of faith in man or are just acutely aware of their own mortality. Rationality is all very well but it doesn’t explain faith ;)
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It's an act of desperation.
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Kyrie eleison.
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I think believing in God itself doesn't really matter. If you can fully integrate yourself into a community and fully do the rituals then the belief bit is almost by the by. You'd probably still be happier than the Average Joe.
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It is an essential survival tool for most humans in times of hardship (which describes most times in history). You might prove religious if your life were harder.
Probably not worth checking, though.
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Catty, I would recommend a more holistic approach. A mixture of stoicism and Taoism is worth investigating.
The Tau of Physics by Fritjof Capra and Marcus Aurelius’ meditations,
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I think the easier and wealthier the system in which you live the less relevance religion has. In poverty it gives hope.
My mother who has been about to die for 35 years has recently rediscovered her faith and now just holds a bible all day. Fk knows what it does for her apart from be a talisman and absolve her of any guilt from all the pain she caused / causes because Jesus loves her regardless
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You could say it is harder than being agnostic, if you work hard at it. Probably the hardest life you could choose. Very few do.
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At least grapple with it rather than write it off. Read some CS Lewis?
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That is probably true OB. A huge amount of it is clearly about coping with the horror of infant mortality (although the catholic church were really quite khunty on that in some regards historically) and parents dying when children were still very young. Explaining death to a 6 year old without heaven takes nerves of steel even when it isn’t someone super close to them.
Thanks wango will take a look at the Tau of Physics.
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