Religion, easy as pie ~ The Workshop

Humanism
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I ran out of available time a couple weeks back and had to set aside this writing project, now I’m back. During my last edits back then, rather than trimming and refining, I wound up adding additional paragraphs and it’s over 2k words and back at that ugly discombobulated wtf stage. Soz, I’m back to breaking it down to its component specifics, and then it’s trimming all I can, edit and get my ducks in a row.

I thought the intro might be a good place to start.

Religion, easy as …

Introduction

I’ll wager that if you took some time to think about it, you’d acknowledge that on a fundamental level the Abrahamic religions are all about self-centeredness - ours as well as God’s .

These religions were founded on the basis of self-interest, they were focused on selected kernels of knowledge, born of an aggressive insecurity, supported by a passionate sense of certitude. Usually with empire building in mind while reeking with hostility towards outsiders, other teachers and learning.

All the while pretty much ignoring the sovereignty of our Earth’s biosphere, her other inhabitants and the reality of our Evolutionary origins.

Think about it, within the Abrahamic tradition our planet’s life support system and her inhabitants never rise above something for us to exploit until we suck it dry, then we move on to the next bonanza.

Whereas to me, Earth, her creatures and biosphere, her Evolution, these are my touchstones with physical reality. I feel time flowing through me as I travel through my days. I live within a mindscape that’s filled with an awareness of time in its entire spectrum, from microseconds, to my heart beat, on to the eons Evolution.

So, naturally I have this apparently somewhat unique perspective of my human condition.

Where does “God” come from?

It seems to me most people think, “God” and “Truth” come down to us from on high, out there in the heavens, beyond our Earth and daily realities? For many, demanding incessant worship, like a petty tyrant.

Western philosophy was born out of that intellectual ego-centric mindset, given what I read and hear from contemporary philosophers, most still haven’t broken free of it, let alone fully acknowledged it. Contemporary searches for the ultimate answer within the quantum realm, seem little different from counting angels dancing on the head of a pin.

I myself have learned that “God” originates from deep within our selves. A consequence of many converging influences, with roots in deep time and our mammalian heritage. Think about it, we come from the breast feeders, some 175 million years worth of live births and instinctive nurturing, family units along with communities consisting of many families as a survival strategy.

Then we developed a brain that could look at the world, and back on itself, in thoughtful introspection. We learned to observe, finding patterns and learning from those patterns ( learning from observing nature ) and remember our experiences, plus be able to tell the stories that conveyed our experiences to other, who could record and share that moment/lesson countless times, in countless different contexts.

That was big.
…

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[quote=“citizenschallengev4, post:1, topic:8255”]

Whereas to me, Earth, her creatures and biosphere, her Evolution, these are my touchstones with physical reality. I feel time flowing through me as I travel through my days. I live within a mindscape that’s filled with an awareness of time in its entire spectrum, from microseconds, to my heart beat, on to the eons Evolution.

I fully agree. All living biochemical patterns, including humans, are the most current expressions of billions of years of genetic evolution and cellular memories.

A truly self-aware person is aware of this awesome process and the good great fortune to be one of the relatively few products of this evolutionary chronology and realizes how precious this status is as compared to say a bacterium, of which there are trillions.

1 Like
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Lausten and Mriana, you might want to check this link, I’ve given CFI.Forum a plug.

I have a thread started over at CFI’s CenterForInquiryForum and invite you to share any comments or general thoughts over there.

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Introduction

I’ll wager that if you took some time to think about it, you’d acknowledge that on a fundamental level the Abrahamic religions are all about self-centeredness - ours as well as God’s .

These religions were founded on the basis of self-interest, they were focused on selected kernels of knowledge, born of an aggressive insecurity, supported by a passionate sense of certitude. Usually with empire building in mind while reeking with hostility towards outsiders, other teachers and learning. They did achieve results.

All the while pretty much ignoring the sovereignty of our Earth’s biosphere, her other inhabitants and the reality of our Evolutionary origins.

Consider, within the Abrahamic tradition our planet’s life support system and her inhabitants never rise above something to exploit until we suck it dry, then we move on to the next bonanza.

Whereas for me, Earth, her creatures and biosphere, her Evolution, these are my touchstones with physical reality. I feel time flowing through me as I travel through my days. I live within a mindscape that’s filled with an awareness of time in its entire spectrum, from microseconds, to my heart beat, to the days, seasons, years and decades, on to the eons of Evolution.

So, naturally I have this apparently somewhat unique perspective concerning our human condition, that I believe is worth sharing.

Where does “God” come from?

It seems to me most people think, “God” and “Truth” come down to us from on high. From out there in the heavens, beyond our Earth and daily realities? For many, “God” demands incessant worship, like a petty tyrant.

Western philosophy was born out of that intellectual ego-centric mindset, and given what I read and hear from contemporary philosophers, most still haven’t broken free of it, let alone acknowledging it.

In the same vein, contemporary searches for the ultimate answers within the quantum realm and mathematical philosophy are little different from counting angels dancing on the head of a pin.

I’ve learned that “God” originates from deep within our selves . A consequence of many converging influences, some with roots deep into our mammalian heritage.

Think about it, we come from the breast sucklers.

That means, some 175 million years worth of live births and instinctive nurturing, family units along with communities consisting of many families as a survival strategy.

Then we developed a brain that could look at the world, and back on itself, in thoughtful introspection. We learned to observe, finding patterns and learning from those patterns ( learning from observing nature ) and we remembered our experiences, plus we were able to tell the stories that conveyed our experiences/lessons to others, who could record and share those moments/lessons countless times, in countless different contexts.

That was big.

… (to be continued)

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For the fun of it. :raising_hand_man:t3: Kansas ‘flat’ lands and a chance to contemplate Earth’s immense horizon, with sun’s rays offering an interesting gauge and perspective, considering they are actually running parallel.
I found that mentally trying to straighten them in my imagination, suddenly made the awareness of being on the edge of a globe, like in my face, man. And all I was on was caffein. Still, definitely one of those cosmic giggle moments.

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This was the beginning of my journey. I kept hearing vague critiques of “The Enlightenment”. Figuring out what led to the era will inevitably lead back to Socrates. Then you can just get lost around Wittgenstein somewhere. The indigenous languages might hold some secrets, but physics is physics, pretty sure. You can marvel at it, but you find insights into human minds.