Psychotic Views Part Three:
You don’t know this, but there was a break in my writing. I blacked out for a little while. I remember sitting in my recliner, jotting away with pen and paper and the next thing I remember is waking up in bed an hour and a half later. The in between is gone, a hard blank wall with nothing etched on each side of its surface.
My mind is still in a bad place. The fear, chill and isolation are still here with me. I am not rid of them, but their weight is a little less heavy now, their presence a little less threatening. The worst of their being here seems to have been done, this time, and I am still here, for now. For how much longer though? How many more times can I survive these attacks. They are more frequent and more intense than ever before and then tell tale effects on my entire being linger on afterward for longer and longer periods of time. I am going to let this go now, it’s time I got off the subject of my own personal psychosis and address a subject of another type of psychosis, religion.
To me, all religions are false. I have never understood why people of all race, ethnicity and continents belong to organized religions. Organized religions are just more people telling you what to think and what to believe. None of them like loose, minutely detailed scrutiny of internal doctrines and belief systems. None of them like to be questions. Where is the freedom of thought in religion? There is none, you’re told what to think.
I have a two word motto that I have always applied to my life: Question everything. I do not accept anything and any information at face value. Blind acceptance of information makes you an easy target for manipulation, brain washing, gullibility and cons. I give all information I take in, a thorough examination before I accept it. In my opinion, no religion can hold up to a thorough examination. A thorough examination is the last thing religions want you to do. They all use the word faith when describing a belief in a particular religion or a particular religious idea, but what does the word faith connotate. Just believe what we’re telling you is true, don’t question it, don’t examine it, don’t look into in. Just believe it’s true because we’re telling you it’s true.
Let’s take this idea of one god, on all-knowing creator, god, monotheism. Monotheism has only been in existence for a short period of time. People who are monotheists, believers in the one creator, god, believe this as undeniable, unquestionable truth. They believe, as if it is so obviously true now, but it has always been obviously true, but why do they have this monotheistic belief and why do they believe so strongly. Why is it such a psycho-emotional belief that they are willing to hate, oppress, disdain, abuse, torture and even kill other human beings who don’t share their monotheistic beliefs or don’t share their particular brand of monotheism? What is their monotheism belief based on? Why do they believe in monotheism, because their parents raised them to be monotheists, because the culture of their homeland is monotheistic. Whatever the reason is, why do people just accept what they’re told concerning this idea of a monotheistic creator, God. Why do people accept his idea without question and without thought?
In my particular culture, small children believe in Santa Claus, the Easter bunny and the tooth fairy. Now, these are all just stories, myths, fables and when children reach a certain age, they stop believing in these things and they no longer believe there is a Santa Claus, an Easter bunny or a tooth fairy. They now believe these were just stories, fables or myths. They let go of the old beliefs and now have new beliefs. People will not let go of old beliefs and have new beliefs when it comes to religion. This, of course, is a general rule. There are always exceptions to the rule. There are those who change from one religious belief system to another, or change from a religious belief to no religious belief system. Such people are a small percentage of any specified population. Most people hold to the belief system they were raised in, the belief system of the culture of their environment. People who don’t even consider themselves religious people who don’t attend any religious services, will say they believe in some type of a single creator, God.
Monotheism basically has been around form 2,000 years and 2,000 years might seem to be a very long period to most people, but when you put 2,000 in perspective of the total time human beings have existed on Earth, 2,000 isn’t much time at all. In fact, it is a very small percentage of human existence. So, from the beginning of human existence to about 2,000 years ago, no one on earth believed in an all knowing single god creator. No one was monotheistic. For most of human existence, the entire world was polytheistic(the belief in many gods).
What is now called mythology used to be called religion. Greek mythology, Norse mythology, Roman mythology, Egyptian mythology are all used to be accepted religions in their day. People don’t hold to these beliefs anymore, so they are called mythology, but people thousands and thousands of years ago were believers in a polytheistic explanation for the creation of Earth and the existence of humanity. They held their beliefs just as fervently and ardently as people do now.
To my mind, this raises a lot of serious and difficult questions. If there is a single god, creator, why did he wait so long to make himself known? Why did he sit around for 90% of humanity’s existence and say nothing? Why was he so silent for so long? If this single god, creator was responsible for all living things on Earth, Earth itself, the stars and all the rest, wouldn’t have proclaimed it so from the very beginning of human existence? Humans believe they are the most important living thing ever created by this one god creator, why were humans such late arrivers on the existence front?
Earth is what, 6.4 billion years old? Something like that anyway, and humans, in some form or another, have been around for what, a couple hundred thousand years? So, the Earth existed for about six billion years befoe humans ever showed up. When you put in direct terms such as this, humans don’t sound so fucking important anymore, do they? If you add in the fact that Earth is nothing more than a tiny pimple on a gigantic, universal butt, then humans become even less significant. Yet, human ego touts the idea we humans are the most beloved and most important living thing ever brought into existence. This creator god loves and cherishes us more than any other of his creations. We are the pinnacle of his work. If humans were so goddamn important, why were we so late on the scene, and why is Earth, instead of being the center of a vast universe, only an inconsequential, microscopic dot evolving around the sun just like everything else?
Exactly what is our importance anyway? Earth doesn’t need us. The planet existed long before we did and it would still exist if all of us died tomorrow. The planet would continue on, other living things on the planet don’t need us. Hell, our existence on the planet has done much more harm than good to the other living things. Sea life, animal life, planet life and all other life on this planet would be much better off if we had never existed at all. How many species of life have passed into extinction due to human existence? How many more are in danger of joining them in the near future?
Human ego has inflated its own importance and one of the results of this is theism. First it was polytheism across the board, now it’s a mixture of different types of theism. Accounting for his great importantance was one of the reasons humans invented theism, another reason is fear. Humans fear that their physical life on Earth is all there is and they fear that once their physical body dies there is nothing else. They fear the rest of eternity is a cold, lifeless emptiness. They fear a definite, finite mortality. So, they invent an after life and call it by any name you choose, but it is what it is, a human invention. Can I say for certainty there is nothing after the physical body dies? Can I say we don’t exist in any form? No! I can’t for certain, but no one can be certain about anything after our physical bodies die, not 100% certain. What evidence is there that an afterlife, any kind of afterlife, exists? Has anyone in history, famous or infamous or completely anonymous ever contacted the living and told them what a great state of being they were going through. My mother and father are dead. Why wouldn’t they contact me somehow and tell me about their new existence to soften my fears about death.
All types of after lives have been concocted by humans in the course of human history. They have been infused with many different forms, but they are not fact. They have no basis in fact at all. They are wish fulfillments of a particular culture, a particular group of people, or individuals within a group who imagine slight variants from the core belief.
Personally, I don’t believe in an after life. Saying so brings me no great joy or satisfaction. I wish there was some magnificent continuation of being after the death of the physical body. I really wish it were true, but wishing does not make something so, it never has and it never will.
I have often wondered if anyone really believes in gods and afterlives deep down at the inner core of their being. People say they do, but is it all talk. After all, if humans really believed than an all powerful, all seeing creator god was watching and judging them, would they really behave the way they do? If people really believed there was a possibility of torturous, eternal damnation, would they continue acting like such dick-faced assholes all the time?
I am not a religious person, but if I thought religion and belief in supreme beings improved the quality of human behavior and made the world a better place, then I would be all for it. Anyone, though, all of this seems to be forgotten by the staunch Christian supports of Israel. It’s just another grandiose example of convenient amnesia. You know hat convenient amnesia is, don’t you? Convenient amnesia is the type of amnesia that allows human beings to remember all of the wrong done by other people, but forget all of the wrong done by them. History is filled with an endlessly supply of cases of convenient amnesia, so too, are history books themselves. Now you have the government of Israel, the U.S. government, and other allies hiding behind a sacred wall of historical persecution in order to shield themselves against accusations of wrong doing by the Israeli government. How convenient is it to level a charge of anti-Semitism against anyone who dares to question their actions, by their reasoning, because the Jewish people have a long recorded history of people anti-Semitism, this means all criticism of Israeli government policy is just more anti-Semitism rearing its ugly head. So, the Israeli government has set up the perfect government scenario of operation. They can do no wrong. Everything is under the guise of self-defense. They are certainly not alone in this way of thinking, there are countless examples of governments of all types adhering to this very same belief that they can do no wrong.
European, Asian, North American, South American, African, Middle Eastern, there isn’ta an area of the world that hasn’t been touched by this mania at one time or another, especially the empire seekers. The current reigning master of this theory put into practice, of course, is the United States government and at the back of all those who have been practitioners of this theory is often the religious belief that their supreme being deity or deities has given their blessings to all of it. With regard to the attempted genocide against Jewish people in Europe, the question can be asked: Where were the religious leaders of all the Christian faiths in Europe while this was occurring in the 1930’s and 40’s? Where, for example, was the Pope and the Vatican during this time? Why were they so outrageously silent and indifferent to what was gong on? Where was their voice? Where were the continuous uninterrupted attempts to give aid and sanctuary, this can be said of other religious leaders as well.
The same can be said for religious leaders during the 350+ years of the legal African slave trade. Where were they? Where was their voice? The whippings, the rapes, the degradation, humiliation, the murder and all the rest. On the whole, they were not only silent on the institution of slavery, but gave their moral approval of the practice. There were exceptions, of course, there usually are, but the African slave trade could not have started and continued on for so long if all Christian religious leaders had stood united in their vehement opposition to it.
The same can be said for the treatment of Native peoples of North, South & Central Americas. Religious leaders could’ve used their moral authority on behalf of the Native people. They could’ve used their voice to speak against the lying, the cheating, the land grabbing, the genocide, but few did. Most approved of the sanctioned actions of the U.S. government. The Natives after all, had their own religions, they were heathen savages.
Citing numerous historical examples of religious leaders condoning brutal acts of inhumanity by one group of humans against another isn’t difficult. I have named some already. You could also cite European colonialist activities in Africa and Asia that spanned hundreds of years. You could mention the Crusade wars fought between Christians and Muslims from the 11th century to the end of the 13th century. Wars were fought because Christians believed the Holy Land belonged to them and Muslims believed the Holy Land belonged to them and now here in the year 2012, bloodshed, brutality, misery and dying are still occurring over who the Holy Land rightfully belongs to. Humans have come a long way baby.
If religious beliefs had an across the board positive effect on the human condition, then life on Earth would have progressed ages ago into a world much different than the one history has recorded until now. Earth would’ve become Edenesque, but our world is hardly Edenesque, is it? Money, greed, hate war, indifference, abuse, egotism, self-centeredness, etc., have remained quite fertile in the human soul.
I believe that every individual who has ever occupied space and time on this planet is what kind of a person they are regardless of religious beliefs. A decent human being is not decent because of the religion he or she belongs to, an indecent human being is not indecent because of the religion he or she belongs to. We are what we are. Religion plays no part in what kind of a person we are. If John is a decent man, a religious man, he is not a decent man because he is religious. If John stopped being religious, he would still be a decent man with or without religion. He is a decent man. If Joe is a complete fucking asshole and is a religious man, he is not a complete fucking asshole because he is religious. With or without religion, Joe is a complete fucking asshole.
People will say, “He’s a good Christian”. He’s a good Christian, so what? He can be a good Christian and still be a lousy goddamn human being. He can to church, put money in the plate, participate in the sacrements, pray and believe everything his religion requires him to believe. Yet, he can be a drunken, racist, anti-Semetic, selfish, self-serving, arrogant, mean, wife beating son of a bitch. This is true of all religions. Whether it’s Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, or any other religion big or small. You can be a good religious person and a lousy human being at the same time. The world doesn’t need more good Christians, more good Jews, more good Muslims, more good Hindus, etc. The world needs more good human beings. The world is not lacking good religious people, the world is lacking good religious people. The world is lacking in good human beings. There aren’t enough of them, not nearly enough.