God, why do I alway start big, philosophical, introspective essays in the middle of the night? I never give these things the attention they deserve. Oh well. Hopefully I get everything I want to out before I become tired and/or bored.
So, here we go:
A few nights ago, I rented "Yes Man" starring Jim Carrey. I have to say, it was a pretty good movie. But there was a line at the end that really stuck with me.
The basic premise of the film is that Carrey is a man who never says "yes" to anything, and never commits to anything. He's stuck in a dead-end job because he won't ask for a raise, and the only thing he's ever seemed to say "yes" to, his marriage, ended in divorce.
One day, a friend convinces Carrey to go to a "Yes!" seminar, where they learn that the key to happiness is saying "yes" to every opportunity that approaches them.
SPOILER ALERT!!!
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Carrey embraces this philosophy full-heartedly, being told that he has made a covenant with himself, and that bad things will happen if he says no to anything, and good things will happen if he says yes to everything.
Eventually, Carrey takes this too far and gets hurt emotionally because of it. The next time he is asked to say yes (to getting back together with his wife) he says no, and almost instantly starts having terrible luck.
Thinking the covenant is trying to kill him for saying no, he finds the "Yes!" seminar's leader and waits for him, hiding in the back of his car.
When Carrey suddenly pops up from the back seat, while the man is driving, the two get into a potentially serious accident.
While in the hospital, the man asks, enraged, what the hell Carrey was doing hiding in his car. Carrey says that he needs the man to remove the covenant from him, because it's killing him (literally).
This is the good part: The man says, (more or less): "There was never really a 'covenant' or curse, or anything like that. You're only supposed to say yes to everything at the start, to free yourself from the idea of saying no to everything. Then, eventually, you won't say yes because you have to, or even because you want to, but because you know it's what you really want, and really need.
Basically: If you don't feel comfortable doing something, you shouldn't do it. But keep yourself open to new experiences.
How does this relate to religion? Frighteningly well.
Granted, religion was likely invented more as a means of explaining things we didn't at the time, such as death, lightning, and poor luck, like droughts. But I'm talking more about the later applications of religion: as social and societal control.
Religion is a great thing, and was entirely necessary at the dawn of man, as well as the dawn of civilization. Not only did it claim to explain things, it also was a quick and effective means of bestowing a lot of rules upon a peoples without much hubbub (think Exodus).
It would have been one thing if Moses had just stood up and said "Everyone listen to me and do what I say and follow me blindly though the desert for years on end!" What reason would people have had for listening to him? But the Hebrews, they were promised a messiah, someone to lead them out of Egypt, and out of slavery.
So, Moses tapped into that. He said, "I'm sent from God, and he likes you guys the best, and wants you all to be free!" Suddenly, he had what was likely the majority of the Egyptian population on his side (because the slaves always outnumber their masters).
Once they were out of Egypt, Moses was free to start saying all the "Do what I say" stuff, knowing that he now had the peoples complete respect and control. So, he started putting out rules. Rules like, "don't kill each other" "don't steal shit" and "don't question your religion/my law". Fairly simple stuff, which any society needs to survive. Minus the last one. (Well, really, it's the first commandment, but you know what I mean)
So, rules. Just like in the movie. And those are good. However, once a few centuries pass, and the laws slowly evolve from just laws, to common sense and, eventually, true human nature, the laws should be unnecessary, right? Like reminding a person to breath.
And similar to telling a person to breath, thinking about too much can make it start to look like a task.
It's like giving a horny teen a couple of purity rings. All it does is constantly remind them that the one thing they're definitely not doing is having sex. Even if you're not doing something, if it's all you think about, you'll eventually just fucking do it all ready and get rid of all that tension.
So, if you tell a person, "Don't have sex before, or outside of, marriage" they're eventually just going to think: why not?
Well, the smart answer would be: Because, having unprotected sex with everyone you see will quickly spread disease, and when we're living in a tent in the middle of the fucking desert, that's not a smart thing to do.
However, not being capable of conveying, or even understanding that statement, tribal leaders had to settle for: Because we say so, and if you disagree, you're heretic scum and will be promptly put to death or banished, which it just as good.
*sarcasm* Yeah, because the best way to keep your constantly dwindling, and increasingly inbred (40 years!) numbers up is to kill people. *end sarcasm*
Eventually, as said, people start to adopt these rules as common place, and they become practically instinctual.
So, why keep the rule book, if everyone's already so familiar with the game? The game of not killing or raping each other?
Partially, because some people are born idiots.
But also partially, and this is where it gets interesting, because people can become idiots.
Now, I'm not saying everyone who believes in religion is an idiot. Far from it. What I'm saying, is the early Tribal leaders, after setting down the ground rules, saw the awesome power invoked in being able to wield religion with an iron first.
Of course, some people probably had good intentions in mind when creating certain religions. But when virtually anyone can become a member of the clergy or high-ups, things can get out of hand and become corrupted very quickly, assuming they aren't already.
Now, people are indoctrinated from birth, being told to always follow the Bible, and always do what a priest, rabbi or minister tells them to, and that you can never, ever break the rules, or they'll spend all eternity, a scientific improbability, in Hell. Then these kids grow up, and tell their kids the same thing, and so on.
Why can't we ever just tell kids straight up what the rules are, and if they ask why, tell them why? Why does everything always have to be wrapped in either sugar or brimstone? Either we're bribing kids to obey, or threatening them. Why not just talking to them like the rational human beings they are, and the mature adults we hope them to be? If we don't start respecting them now, why will we ever?
I often find it amazing how similar the secular (or non-religious) Christmas and the religious Easter are.
During Christmas, we tell kids, "If you're good all month, Santa will bring you a gift! And don't just do it while I'm around, because he's always watching you!"
During Easter, it's the same story, except we're telling it to kids and supposedly sensible adults. We tell them, "If you're good for the next 40 days and nights, you won't burn for all of eternity!" Of course, kids aren't as stupid. If they're going to forgo something for over a month, they expect to be compensated in an immediate, tangible manner. So, we tack on, "And a giant bunny in a pastel waistcoat will bring you colored eggs." Kids just hear, "CANDY!!!" If you told an adult that part, they might nod thoughtfully for a moment about the Jesus part, then, hearing about the rabbit, will go, "Wait, what the fuck?"
Of course, as with Christmas, all of the fun, pagan aspects of the two holidays have been bogarted/taken back by the secular world, leaving behind all of the unnecessary religious aspects, thus improving it. You can wrap a guilt-trip in paganism all you want; it's still going to be depressing. And no, Bill, it's not a "War on Christmas"(TM). We're simply taking back what is rightfully ours.
So, many may ask, "If we, as a species, don't really need religion anymore, why stay in it?" To tell you the truth, there really isn't any reason I can think of, save one: the community. Now, for some people, leaving a certain church may be all too welcomed. But for others, if a church is all you've known, then it's parishioners are probably all you know, too.
However, there are now several up-and-coming community groups who act as a sort of "half-way-parish" for those slowly weening off of the teat of religion. They perform non-denominational weddings, help out with things such as counseling for things like dying family members, and help out member of the "parish" such as new or expecting parents. Essentially, they perform all of the duties of a church, minus the church. They're still there for people who prefer to say that they're "more spiritual than religious" with things like meditation training and such, and can really help a person while they're transitioning.
Unfortunately, these half-way-churches (they aren't really called that; at least not to my knowledge) are generally few and far between right now, and can be a little hard to locate. Although, I'm sure that's nothing a couple of hours on the internets can't remedy.
I guess I should start wrapping this up. I'm not bored or tired, which is amazing (or, I'm not letting myself realize I'm tired) but I really can't think of anything else to say about this. I'm sure there's a lot more that could be said, but, to be honest, I'm not very knowledgeable on this subject. Especially the half-way-churches, hence the made up, comedic name.
Oh, and for those of you who couldn't tell from this post: I'm probably an atheist. For now, we'll just say agnostic atheist, meaning there might be a God, but there's no reliable way of proving that I can see. I'm still, however, fascinated with religion, all religions, and think that it plays a major role in human development as a whole. Also, I'm still going to church, if only for the community and friends, and twice yearly good music (see above holidays). And the only reason I'm always comparing everything to Catholicism, or Christianity in general, is because I was born into it, and it's basically all I know.
Oh, and check out the book in my "Reading" box. It's really interesting, funny and, best of all, free for download on iTunes as a Podcast.