Religion

[mshao24]

I have thousands of thoughts flowing through my head at any given moment. It may sound crazy, but it’s the truth. My mind is literally one that is constantly racing at its fullest capacity. Sleeping has always been difficult for me. I can’t help it. I don’t know why I’m wired this way, but there’s honestly nothing I can do to change it. I’ve tried everything. So the only thing left is to express myself via a thought journal, such as this. Something where I can catalog what goes through my head, because up until now it’s driven me insane trying to keep things in and operate in a society that I see flaws with day after day. There are just so many things that honestly don’t make sense. For example, my thoughts on religion. I have to get this out. I can empathize with the human need to want to believe in something. I get that. It’s our nature to want to believe we will continue. But the belief in a magical being that is omniscient and has control over EVERYTHING just doesn't make any sense to me. Specifically, one that says unless you accept my son as the son of God, you go to Hell. There are millions of people who have been exposed to other religions and beliefs. And in the midst of those people, there are good people. People who don’t deserve a horrific outcome such as the one described by Christianity. People who do good, simply out of the sake of doing good. GOOD people. We simply have to treat our fellow human beings with the respect, concern, and care that we desire for ourselves. This is NOT a new concept. It is the golden rule, and has been spoken since most likely the dawn of time. For some reason, human beings are so afraid of the end of consciousness. The notion that when we die…the lights go out. We are so afraid of this concept that we make up these elaborate stories and tall tales of how there is continuity of consciousness after death. THAT is what we want. We crave, so badly, continuity of our own consciousness. We are utterly terrified that death is the end. Ask yourself…what if it is? How much more would you appreciate the life you get? How much sweeter would the apple taste? How much more epic would the inspirational impact you can have seem? We get ONE shot at existence. There will NEVER be an explanation for how consciousness manifests itself. It simply happens. It works like this: one day….when you were born – you woke up. You woke up after HAVING NEVER BEEN ASLEEP. Wrap your head around that. Poof! You became. And now….you’re given this limited amount of time to exist in this reality. What will you do? How will you affect the consciousness of those around you? What SIGNIFICANCE will you leave? This is your life. You will live it. And then it will end. And you will go to sleep….and never wake up. The inverse of your beginning. THIS is our reality. Perhaps you will re-manifest as another consciousness someday. Reincarnation, if you will. Who knows. And some day, I hope our civilization will transcend these worldly squabbles. We will understand that there IS NO magical ending. That we should treat each other as our own. Until then, we will be nothing but puppets, living for empty ideologies made up by our own inability to comprehend our existence because that’s what we are told to do.

[Cahoot]

Christianity is a victimless pastime and a Christian is defined by his intent, which is internal so only he knows if it is appropriate to his knowledge of Christian ideology and situation, and he is defined by the actions of his intent. A good Christian mirrors Christ in daily living. They will believe what they must and you will judge them as you must. Live and let live.

Some other religions … not so much.

[mshao24]

One of the beauties of existing in the first place is our ability to have independent thoughts and perceptions. What I wrote is simply my opinion on existence in general. I truly believe that our consciousness is a result of biochemical processes and brain functioning, and that is what gives us the ability to perceive things. Light, sound, touch, etc. And once we cease to exist - so does our consciousness.

Don't get me wrong. I honestly respect the moral and ethical values that spirituality can provide (except in some radical cases as per today's current events). If people can't find purpose in their own lives, then religion is often what they turn to. I think that's a good thing - that they can have SOMETHING to believe in and provide guidance on how to treat their fellow human beings. But truthfully, I wish we as a species could simply accept our limited existences and then work to maximize whatever positive impact we can have during our time in the game.

Think of it this way. To exist is to have a conscious. If God, heaven, insert-whatever-religion-here was all true, then why would we have all of these random manifestations of consciousness occurring throughout history? If we are all some spirit that perseveres through eternity one way or the other, don't you think he would've included you in the original creation? He wouldn't just keep randomly introducing more and more content (and by content I mean consciousnesses) in this little reality of ours as time goes on.

You don't remember anything before you were born. That's because you didn't exist. You won't remember anything after you die. Again, because you won't exist. If humanity could accept this philosophy...this REALITY, imagine how much more productive and appreciative we would be.

[Bobo]

While you don't remember anything before you were born, there are things that you don't remember after you were born. Maybe religion is a way to talk about these not so counsciouss sometimes subtle processes. And because it is something subtle that is overblown it can appear to be far-fetched.

[Cahoot]

While you don't remember anything before you were born, there are things that you don't remember after you were born.

That is a brilliant sentence.

Some people say they do remember before they were born, but those claims are often dismissed as imaginings.

“If humanity could accept this philosophy...this REALITY, imagine how much more productive and appreciative we would be.”

I'm trying, but I’m not seeing a scenario where nihilism results in greater productivity and appreciation. Little help?

Without the superego cop St. Peter to tame the animal id of all those Christians, there might be less productivity and appreciation in the world.

Many consciousnesses? Many drops from one ocean.

“You are not a drop in the ocean. You are the entire ocean in a drop.”
- Rumi