Why would anyone push a second thumb tack into their forehead? (and other questions)

Apparently, people do. Why would otherwise intelligent people be willing to be blind-faith adherents to a religion or new age practice? And, when on the subject of religious belief, why do people relax standards of reasonableness and evidence that they rely on in every other area of their lives?

The citizens of the United States do not live in a christian country. At least that’s not the way it began. The founders of the United States of America did not set out to recreate what they left behind in England. The word god does not appear (even once) in the Constitution of the United States. However, religionists have waged war on the separation of church and state for quite a long time now. This shows how pervasive religious fervor goes. Religion doesn’t have anything to do with government and the government keeps out of the religious fray, but religion attempts to assert itself into government and blur the lines of the practical with the unknowable.

Religion seems to be necessary to a great many people. A majority of people believe in some form of god and most of them associate with some form of organized religion.  Some people evoke anthropomorphism to make themselves feel less lonely (or alone in the scheme of things). Indulgence in the irrelevant and oppressive circumstance of organized religion is the acceptable cultural norm.

Unfortunately, religion is the single worst human invention and preoccupation ever conceived and practiced. But religion is not the only concept to be discussed here, there is also the question of the need for outside validation and social consensus. Why aren’t we whole/complete and without the need for social validation?

New age practices. Are they religion? Perhaps not in the usual sense but there are many similarities. Both religion and new age practice have defined rituals, customs and artifacts to display. And both suggest that coincidences have spiritual meaning. Both involve a specific group dynamic that includes conversion tactics of some type and an all important soul nurturing component.

Group-think

People seem to have a need to be part of and insulated by a large group of other people. They like to be linked to others with sensibilities similar to their own and be supported by a group of comrades. To that end they will join social organizations and affiliate with ethnic, age-related, religious and other similar interest groups. People appear to be highly motivated to attach themselves to something that provides an outside source of validation. Truth in numbers? Misery loves company?

Do people run into problems seeking out appropriate group identification? What happens if they become misaligned? What about strong-minded free-thinking individuals? One might think they’d be independent and not need to be part of any kind of group but don’t they also, oddly enough, sometimes coalesce into organizations?

Why do we need to be one of many? Why does being one of many validate and bolster the mystical mindset of religion and those fuzzy new age practices?

There may be practical reasons for people to school together like fish and it’s probably harder for the lion to find its mark among the flashing camouflage created by a herd of running zebras, but unless a lion is stalking you or you are so isolated as to be incapacitated, what is the compelling force that urges one into a group? Do people band together because it’s hard-wired into our brains? Discounting religious reasons and the safety in numbers behavior of our prehistoric ancestors, is banding together another leftover reaction to stimuli that no longer serves a necessary physiological purpose? If the ancient ingrained fight or flight reflex now only offers stress, what is the modern day consequence of aggregation or pursuing a social identity?

The biggest round-up of all

Any concept or practice that limits individual freedom and/or assuages personal responsibility is dangerous. Persons or organizations that self-proclaim authority and use their influence to imprison people’s minds through fear and reprisal are not acting in the best interests of an individual or society as a whole. Religion’s organizers and leaders are megalomaniacs and the epitome of human hubris gone awry. These self-indulgent authorities have self-serving interests, which usually involves the desire for power, fueled by greed. Fairy tales and magical thinking can be fun, but they aren’t going to produce anything substantial, let alone the promise of eternity, salvation or enlightenment.

Although a religious organization is capable of doing good things, the harmful consequences of religion always win out. There is no limit to the harm religion is willing to propagate. No limit at all. If one wants to do unthinkable evil, all one has to do is to do it in the name of god. No-one can disagree with god, and since he works in mysterious ways, unthinkable evil may very well be part of god’s plan. It is easy to look back in history for glaring examples of religion’s greatest (worst) hits: the inquisition, crusades, jihads, genocides, the burning of the Salem witches and innumerable heretics throughout history, intensely destructive wars between entire nations or ethnic groups, the creation of wasteful and divisive cultural gulfs that denounce diversity, the subjugation of people by religious leaders who artificially endow themselves with special powers or knowledge and claim to have direct connections to an unseen, all-powerful ethereal magical entity.

Far less intense is the new age contribution to harmful group-think. Yet, significant harm can be done by anything or anyone that promotes outward validation and steers the individual away from personal autonomy. There’s little difference between religion and new age practice in regard to the premise that the individual is not a complete being and requires help to reach heaven, nirvana or some form of  enlightenment or salvation.

Individuals who claim to have special powers or nebulous inside information that is not available to the masses can be literally hazardous to your health. The actions of such individuals can be fatal to you. Does it not make sense that all things being equal, if one person can accomplish something then another person can also accomplish the exact same feat? Generally speaking, human capabilities are pretty much the same.

Moreover, if buddha became enlightened, and enlightenment was the goal of every soul, why would enlightenment not be commonplace? After all, we’ve had many thousands of years to practice. Christians claim you can be instantly saved (enlightened) by simply believing that jesus is your personal savior. And, if jesus walked on water, and was (as christians proclaim) human, then shouldn’t at least some other humans be able to do the same?  A person, who claims to be able to sense and disclose future events or sense things not available to the five senses if no different from anyone else. A person may believe themselves to be superior, gifted or empowered by the flying spaghetti monster, but again, they’re really the same as all other human beings. If they were truly endowed with magical gifts, wouldn’t their abilities be visible, obvious and observable?

There are not many religious leaders or masters of new age practices that are willing to agree with this concept of equality. If they did, they would lose their elite status and ability to control others. They would also lose their income.

But back to the thumb tacks

Doesn’t it seem that there would be significant pain in pushing a thumbtack into your forehead? Yet, people do it all the time and they do it over and over again. It’s like voting republican when you need social services and yet you support the group that has the greatest aversion to government interference (social services) into your life.

People who practice religion will blindly obey their leaders and follow them into the most horrendous of situations. If the pope tells someone it’s actually OK to kill another person, they will do it. If a new age guru tells someone that their problems began in a past life, well, their solution is out of reach until time travel itself becomes possible. So in the meantime, following the guru’s advice is the best possible alternative.

Many people acquiesce to peer pressure and the fear of reprisal, no matter how ludicrous or unfounded, rather than take an independent path. Are they simply gullible or is it just easier not to make waves?  Why are free-thinkers, skeptics and self-sufficient people often seen as immoral social deviants? What makes them scary to society? A strong minded, free-thinking individual who chooses their own path and affiliations is a force with which to be reckoned. Generally, strength is usually associated with positive attributes.

Humans are terrified by the concept of finite existence. If it’s unacceptable to accept finality, then maybe fairy tales will stave off the inevitable. Perhaps for some, the connection to a school of fish or herd of zebra is the only thing standing between infinity and oblivion.