For some reason that is entirely unknown to me, I cannot seem to find the motivation and/or inspiration to finish anything that I start, lately. It doesn't matter what it is, be it a book, video game, blog, parts to the book that I'm writing, or even dialog for the comic that I'm helping to create... I get about two-thirds done, and bam. Brick wall. I've started about four or five different projects, and haven't seen a single one to completion. The popularity - or lack thereof - of my opinions, ideals, theories, conundrums, statistics, and what not when it comes to life, religion, and the like seem based less on what I write, but instead on which side people come into the discussion with. My musings are less to convince anybody - which may be the one thing in this universe which is truly impossible - but just to say some stuff that's been flying around my head, driving me crazy. As such, nobody has been convinced.
This has led to me thinking about a lot of stuff. This rarely leads to good things, but it's what leads to things such as this blog. One thing that's been on my head lately has been something that I've been struggling with off and on my entire life, and it was brought up again on my cousin's Facebook earlier this evening. I can't, for the life of me, understand why, even after being hit in the face with practically irrefutable evidence, still maintain - sometimes even to the point of violence - that a book written in a time when alchemists attempted to turn lead into gold has any kind of merit to modern day life at all.
Full Disclosure: I'm speaking of Leviticus with that statement
Do people want to believe in something so much that they would prefer ignorance to true enlightenment?
Thinking about that, I noticed several other areas where such blinding belief is present. Politics, penis enlargement pills, money-making schemes, ghosts, Atkins, diet pills, and a whole other host of items and agendas. The problem, I think, isn't really these things in particular. I firmly believe that the problem is on the peoples end. These things all focus on fundamental desires and self-esteem issues that people want to believe work - they need to feel it works. They are all placebos for self-esteem.
Say you are a moderately overweight person, and this aspect of your life has caused much harm to your day-to-day living. You cant' get dates. Other people are constantly making fun of your weight. You are insecure to the nth degree. You see a commercial for an electric belt that shocks your muscles into exercising, all without ever having to leave the comfort of the recliner that got you into this position in the first place. The infomercial shows hot, bronzed, muscular bodies of people half your age. Forget for a second that they've got muscles in places that the belt doesn't affect. You want to believe that dream because the alternative is so distasteful.
So, you order the belt.
The first time you plug it in, your body sweats, causing the belt to short-circuit and electrocute you. If you think I'm kidding, I'm not. This kind of thing really happens.
Weight is something that requires knowledge and work to maintain. The fact that exercise is difficult and boring, and your day-to-day life is too busy to take the time, it is really easy to want to buy into a something-for-nothing plan. Even if exercise is beyond you, that weight problem still controls you.
The problem, my friends, isn't that you believe penis-enlargement pills actually work. It's that you want to believe. Your self-esteem is controlling you from behind the scenes to make you feel better about yourself. Even faced with evidence to the alternative, that need to feel okay is more important. Nothing is more important.
Right?
Anyways, when it comes to literal interpretations of the Bible, it isn't really about whether the Bible is true or not. According to science, it's not by any objective measure in existence. That's not really what the debate is about, though. It's really what the arguments are about. It's because for some people, to deny the Bible is to deny God. God is such a large part of their very being that not only would living without God leave a hole in their self, it would mean that those many years spent believing were a lie. The same could be said about scientists on the day that God decides to show Himself.
But see, that's all okay. You don't have to deny God to interpret the Bible in a different way. You just have to deny the way that you've been choosing to honor Him. That's difficult, and not something just anybody will jump in to. It is a problem at the very core of self-esteem, and self-esteem has a defense mechanism that could floor King Kong if it wanted. People die because of self-esteem. The only way to overcome it is to recognize what you are doing and make that choice. We can't make it for you.
I imagine that it must be a scary prospect to be alone in this universe; to go into nothingness when you die... to not have those pearly white gates waiting for you, or to have a giant friendly figure who has reason for even the most senseless events. when your friend dies, it's comforting to think that he or she is okay - somewhere out there. It's a fundamental fear that everyone shares, kind of like contracting cancer or being inadequate in the eyes of those you care most about.
What I'm getting at with all of this, folks, is that religion is a placebo effect. It exists to make you feel better, as well as to control you. No real purposes beyond that, as far as I'm concerned. But, just like the things I listed above, people can take advantage of that need to feel purpose. They can offer sugar pills for $50 and claim that they will make you more attractive and confident, and people will buy them. They are taking advantage of a tiny hairline fracture in our self-esteem, and some people aren't strong enough to fight it.
I am anti-religion, but by no means am I anti-God. There are a lot of good things that have come from it, sure, but only on a small scale. These are things like communities, good deeds, and a direction toward friendship. There are also a lot of bad things that have sprung up from religion, and they're quite famous. The Inquisition, the Crusades, people murdering doctors that perform abortions (which I find hilariously ironic), trying to discredit science to gain support for creationism rather than using science to prove it. Some people take advantage of this placebo to control you.
To blindly follow is built into our very genes. It is a natural consequence of living. The callow follow the strong-willed. You have to be careful of who you follow. A good leader is one who can follow his own agenda while making his followers think it's theirs, too. All I'm saying is beware. Quacks and charlatans are out there in force, and it would be a mistake to think that whatever you believe with all your heart doesn't have plenty of both.
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