I think I took the contribution of Condi and Colin too lightly last time.
You mean, their role in elevating the status of African-Americans?
They may not have made much visible change, but I'm sure they managed to raise hope among Americans of African heritage. And, hope is what we most rely on to keep on living.
We are willing to live, because we believe that a better future awaits us.
If we knew that things are going to worsen, we'd rather not face that future and terminate our lives right at this moment.
Or live carelessly and recklessly, since whatever we possess is going to be lost anyway.
Such behavior would create utter chaos, and that is where religions come to the rescue for some of us.
There is a wonderful place called heaven or paradise, and we are allowed to get there only if we live ethically and constructively.
I'm always amazed how clever religions are. It is very tempting to think that there is something behind all this, which some people call God, the Divine One, the Holy One, etc.
Various cultures have invented what could collectively be called religion, and the similarity in their functions suggests that its origin can be traced to the elements which are common to us all.
Bravo, it's biology, again!
I'm afraid it is.
Look at young children, for example. Most of them are not aware of religious doctrines, but full of energy to live. I suppose we have a built-in mechanism which greatly encourages us to weather the difficulties until we are capable of reproduction, and hence, aiding in the continued existence of homo sapiens.
If that is true, is there any meaning in life without reproduction?
We can still make contribution to the survival of the species in way of worker ants or bees, so to speak.
Or that aunt or uncle, who seems to have no intention of marrying and takes care of nieces and nephews...
Worker ants and bees are sterile, but colonies would collapse without them. Lacking reproductive capacity and opportunity, or past the reproduction period, we need something that would give us hope, and thus, rein us in. Not surprisingly, we tend to become more religious as we age.
Also, when we are young, we can be hopeful that we would succeed in a big way or go down in history. But as we grow older, such hopes become less and less convincing. For starters, most of us have discovered that we were not exactly child prodigies.
Not only because the time left gets incredibly shorter, but also because we accumulate increasingly many pieces of evidence to the contrary of such hopes. Even with a good dose of me-me-me spirit, believing in it yourself becomes rather absurd. We need other types of things to bring us hope, and religions are good at filling such gaps.
Why do we want to believe, in the first place, that the situation at hand is to improve?
Because the world is never perfect for any of us and the imperfection is tolerable only if we think it is on the track to be what we wish it to be.
It also makes us think that changes are possible and urges us to be innovative.
Not always, because some of us think that the changes are going to happen without any effort on our part. Anyway, in the slim chance that we acquire or attain all we ever wished for in life, you may get a destructive urge.
Why do we want to destroy the perfect state that we desired so much?
For fear of losing it when you least expect it.
Are you sure that we are as perverse as that?
Long ago, I wasn't so sure, but I was convinced when I saw "The Hairdresser's Husband" by Patrice Leconte. We may also feel disoriented or bored from not knowing what more to want.
Ah, "Le Mari de la coiffeuse." So, the morale is...
People live on or kill themselves for reasons that make little sense to others.
Hurray, you managed to be optimistic and pessimistic at the same time!
You mean, their role in elevating the status of African-Americans?
They may not have made much visible change, but I'm sure they managed to raise hope among Americans of African heritage. And, hope is what we most rely on to keep on living.
We are willing to live, because we believe that a better future awaits us.
If we knew that things are going to worsen, we'd rather not face that future and terminate our lives right at this moment.
Or live carelessly and recklessly, since whatever we possess is going to be lost anyway.
Such behavior would create utter chaos, and that is where religions come to the rescue for some of us.
There is a wonderful place called heaven or paradise, and we are allowed to get there only if we live ethically and constructively.
I'm always amazed how clever religions are. It is very tempting to think that there is something behind all this, which some people call God, the Divine One, the Holy One, etc.
Various cultures have invented what could collectively be called religion, and the similarity in their functions suggests that its origin can be traced to the elements which are common to us all.
Bravo, it's biology, again!
I'm afraid it is.
Look at young children, for example. Most of them are not aware of religious doctrines, but full of energy to live. I suppose we have a built-in mechanism which greatly encourages us to weather the difficulties until we are capable of reproduction, and hence, aiding in the continued existence of homo sapiens.
If that is true, is there any meaning in life without reproduction?
We can still make contribution to the survival of the species in way of worker ants or bees, so to speak.
Or that aunt or uncle, who seems to have no intention of marrying and takes care of nieces and nephews...
Worker ants and bees are sterile, but colonies would collapse without them. Lacking reproductive capacity and opportunity, or past the reproduction period, we need something that would give us hope, and thus, rein us in. Not surprisingly, we tend to become more religious as we age.
Also, when we are young, we can be hopeful that we would succeed in a big way or go down in history. But as we grow older, such hopes become less and less convincing. For starters, most of us have discovered that we were not exactly child prodigies.
Not only because the time left gets incredibly shorter, but also because we accumulate increasingly many pieces of evidence to the contrary of such hopes. Even with a good dose of me-me-me spirit, believing in it yourself becomes rather absurd. We need other types of things to bring us hope, and religions are good at filling such gaps.
Why do we want to believe, in the first place, that the situation at hand is to improve?
Because the world is never perfect for any of us and the imperfection is tolerable only if we think it is on the track to be what we wish it to be.
It also makes us think that changes are possible and urges us to be innovative.
Not always, because some of us think that the changes are going to happen without any effort on our part. Anyway, in the slim chance that we acquire or attain all we ever wished for in life, you may get a destructive urge.
Why do we want to destroy the perfect state that we desired so much?
For fear of losing it when you least expect it.
Are you sure that we are as perverse as that?
Long ago, I wasn't so sure, but I was convinced when I saw "The Hairdresser's Husband" by Patrice Leconte. We may also feel disoriented or bored from not knowing what more to want.
Ah, "Le Mari de la coiffeuse." So, the morale is...
People live on or kill themselves for reasons that make little sense to others.
Hurray, you managed to be optimistic and pessimistic at the same time!
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