Die and Let Live

Human consciousness is a tragic misstep in evolution. We became too self-aware; nature created an aspect of nature separate from itself.  We are creatures that should not even exist by any aspect of natural law. We are things that labor under the illusion that having the "self" is a secretion of experience and sensory illusion, with total assurance that we’re each SOMEBODY. When, in fact, everybody is nobody. The honorable thing for our species to do is deny our programming and stop reproducing! Walk hand-in-hand into extinction -- one last act as brothers and sisters opting out of a raw deal and saving a planet that would thrive in our absence.

Using basic observation and deductive reasoning, in every supernatural belief I see a propensity for obesity, poverty, and a yen for fairy tales. People put the few $$ they do have into a little wicker basket being passed around; and it's safe to say that nobody in these circumstances is going to be splitting the atom anytime soon. If the common good needs to make up fairy tales and interpret them as they see fit, it's not good for anybody.
If the major premise that keeps people "decent" is divine reward, then I'd like to encounter those same people in a virtual vacuum and watch their heads explode. Science says more about life than any religion or "God", and it can be confined to notebooks and stored data for the purpose of testing via the scientific method; added to and compared -- unlike a stone tablet. There are those who have a need to get together and tell each other stories that defy known laws of nature, the universe, as well as scientific fact; just so they're able to get through the day. What does that have to say about YOUR reality; YOUR worldview?

It's all just wrong and has been since one smart monkey looked at the sun, then convinced the others to give him much of their rightful share promising that he'd make sure there would be another sunrise. In much the same way, people have become so frail and "God-dependant" that they'd rather put a coin in a wishing well or their hard-earned cash in a basket rather than buy themselves a much needed meal. Mankind assigns fear and self-loathing to an authoritarian vessel -- it's catharsis, an illusion of unburdening. Preachers, Pastors, Swamis and snake handlers all absorb your dread with "His" narrative. Because of this, the leader of any religious ceremony is effective in proportion to the amount of fear and certainty he can project.

Some linguistic anthropologists view religion as a language virus that actually re-writes neural pathways in the brain and dulls critical thinking! The ontological fallacy of expecting a light at the end of the tunnel, well that's what the preacher sells, same as the shrink. He encourages your capacity for illusion and he tells you that he'll convert you -- there's more than just a buck to be had from that -- from such a desperate sense of entitlement. "Surely this is all for me...ME!...ME, ME, ME -- I, I, I, I'm so IMPORTANT"! You're not, we're not.

-- J. Zuppardo, Ph.D.