Religion is based upon faith.
Faith is belief without knowing.
Not knowing is ignorance.
Therefore, religion is based upon ignorance.
Samuel D. Robinson sent me a wise biblical scripture from the book of Matthew 7:7 that said, “Seek and you will find.”
It reminded me of another scripture I found in John 8:32:
“You will know the truth and the truth will set you free.”
Does this mean that by searching we will find all the answers to all of our questions? It doesn’t say that? And, that is definitely not true. What it does say is that if one seeks, he or she will find something. That something may be the awareness that the question itself is unanswerable. Notice how this is stated in the following scriptures from Ecclesiastes 8:1 & 16-17:
How wonderful to be wise,
to analyze and interpret things.
Wisdom lights up a person’s face, softening its harshness.
In my search for wisdom
and in my observation of people’s burdens in life,
I discovered that there is ceaseless activity,
day and night.
I realized that
no one can discover everything,
no matter what the say.
Religion can be defined as the human notions regarding the sacred, supernatural, spiritual and divine.
A fundamental belief of Joseph Campbell’s was that all spirituality is a search for [nature] the same basic, unknown force from which everything came, within which everything currently exists, and into which everything will return [which is precisely why people become less religious or superstitious as they learn to think more scientifically and acquire more scientific knowledge].
Somehow, people want to transcend nature, which is impossible because nature is all that really exists. Nonetheless, even though no one can transcend nature, many find ways to transcend reality—for example, with drugs, dreams, alcohol, myths, illusions, delusions, and religions of all kinds.
The ultimate truth is that nature can be experienced in so many ways but it can never be all-known.
For example, no person can possibly know anything at all about himself or herself before his or her birth and after his or her death. But, instead of simply accepting this as unknowable (or simply accept his or her nonexistence), a person’s desire to know—coupled with his or her fear of death—may motivate him or her to think that there is someone who thinks like humans but is more than human—someone that is supernatural or divine—that can help him or her navigate safely through the things in their life and death that are to them unknown and some of which are unknowable.
Although they won’t admit it, some people are frightened by the unknown—so much so that they use faith like a child who is scared of being alone so she invents an imaginary friend to always be with her and protect her from the “boogieman.” This is similar to what some adults do. They are so scared of the unknown and have so little self-confidence and self-determination that they faithfully believe in a supernatural friend who is all-knowing, all-powerful, and always with them wherever they go—thinking for them and protecting them.
Well, I think it’s time for adults to grow up, wake up, and be adults.
We don’t need fantasies and delusions to live and enjoy a good life.
What we need to learn is facts, not fairy tales.
And, we don’t need to live our lives like irresponsible, frightened, little children.
We can be self-reliant, self-confident, and self-determined without having others think for us—whether they be here and now or have lived thousands of years ago.
We also don’t need mythical characters from religious stories to protect us, forgive us, and tell us what to do and not to do.
In other words, we can learn to confidently think for ourselves and live self-reliant, dignified lives without being constantly told what to do and what not to do as if we were little kids.
