Interesting words, made me think. I’m an atheist. It really goes beyond “god”, I don’t believe in much of anything. But I didn’t get here without quite a bit of exposure to religion. I grew up in a pretty observant religious home and was exposed to (and at times very willingly participated in)a rigorous religious education. But there was very little spirituality involved, at least from my perspective. So despite this background, I never “turn to god”. I can’t remember any situation where it even occurred to me to do so.
I’m not claiming that any broad conclusions based on my experience. I’m not calling belief stupid, or blaming very human problems on god. Belief is a choice. I just found your words very interesting shit to think about. Thanks for sharing.[/quote]
No, you are right, belief is not stupid, belief in a higher power helps the human psyche tramendously. Religion was our psychotherapy prior to the arrival of modern psychiatry. Having a belief system, even though it may not be real, is a very helpful cornerstone to anchor to. Having that anchor allows for the rituals and prayers that are essentially disguised meditation practices. And we all know how productive meditation is for calming of the mind.
It is like the elderly woman that was chanting her Catholic prayers when she got her first knee injection. The chanting didn’t conjur up God to come and make the doctor perform better. The chanting, as a form of meditation, calmed her and made the pain from the injection less painful and more tolerable. She walks away painfree from the injection, but thinking because of her prayer, God has performed a miracle. This re-affirms her faith, which in turn make her even better at her meditative practice the next time around.
