[user104658]

Originally Posted by Nedusa

No I don't buy that, fear of death I agree could be used as a reason people believe in an afterlife, but I believe it is more than that.

Religious people see the world around them as just a small part of the whole, they suspect there is more and although science can't prove it, it is almost an intangible feeling, a quality , a faith that there is more but we cannot comprehend it in our mortal state.

Even with all our science what do we tiny mortals with our small brains really know about anything, this is where the arrogance comes from, the assumption that we have all the answers, we know everything we are enlightened beings.

Well I've got news for you all.... We are not that clever and in the realm of the cosmos across all spiritual planes we are very unenlightened.

Yes! Exactly! There is more to existence than we can possibly comprehend or even begin to imagine. We know nothing in relative terms. Our understanding is infantile, we understand a tiny fleck of a boulder on an entire mountain of existence.

Which is WHY organised religion - pretending that the answers are in one book, or another, or that the truth lies in one defined God, or another, is completely ridiculous. THAT is arrogance. THAT is saying, "We have the answers, they are written here, they are the truth and the whole truth".

You are 100% correct. We are intelligent enough to know that there is more to existence than what we see but we are too limited to ever know the extent of it. So we have spent thousands of years constructing deities and writing stories because we as a species are too scared to admit that the truth is UNKNOWN. And by unknown I don't mean that one faith might be right. I mean that the sheer complexity of the truth ensures that none of them are. We have created Gods to explain the unexplainable, to attempt to understand the unfathomable, BECAUSE we are arrogant.

And it's something that I will never understand, because the sheer limitless possibilities - the absolute wonder, majesty and beautiful chaos of the universe - is incredibly exciting.

But people are desperate to explain it and organise it on a human level. To say "this is how it is, don't worry, feel safe". It's limited and depressing in ways that I can't even describe. I don't care if that's arrogant. I'm excited for anyone who shares the way I see it.

[Nedusa]

Originally Posted by Toy Soldier

Yes! Exactly! There is more to existence than we can possibly comprehend or even begin to imagine. We know nothing in relative terms. Our understanding is infantile, we understand a tiny fleck of a boulder on an entire mountain of existence.

Which is WHY organised religion - pretending that the answers are in one book, or another, or that the truth lies in one defined God, or another, is completely ridiculous. THAT is arrogance. THAT is saying, "We have the answers, they are written here, they are the truth and the whole truth".

You are 100% correct. We are intelligent enough to know that there is more to existence than what we see but we are too limited to ever know the extent of it. So we have spent thousands of years constructing deities and writing stories because we as a species are too scared to admit that the truth is UNKNOWN. And by unknown I don't mean that one faith might be right. I mean that the sheer complexity of the truth ensures that none of them are. We have created Gods to explain the unexplainable, to attempt to understand the unfathomable, BECAUSE we are arrogant.

And it's something that I will never understand, because the sheer limitless possibilities - the absolute wonder, majesty and beautiful chaos of the universe - is incredibly exciting.

But people are desperate to explain it and organise it on a human level. To say "this is how it is, don't worry, feel safe". It's limited and depressing in ways that I can't even describe. I don't care if that's arrogant. I'm excited for anyone who shares the way I see it.

Agree with every word of that T.S , yes we do try and couch it in human terms but ultimately we don't really understand much. But I still feel people who close themselves off to all possibilities religious or otherwise are slightly arrogant in their presumption they have all the answers when in fact we have merely scratched the surface.

[user104658]

Originally Posted by Nedusa

Agree with every word of that T.S , yes we do try and couch it in human terms but ultimately we don't really understand much. But I still feel people who close themselves off to all possibilities religious or otherwise are slightly arrogant in their presumption they have all the answers when in we have merely scratched the surface.

I agree, the only difference being that I think those who choose one religion, that one religion has the answers or IS the answer, close themselves off to all other possibilities just as surely.