Philosophy

[Aenivae_Ikeda]

I've been writing some stuff on the next big "enlightenment" and what will inspire it, and I was wondering what you guys thought of these articles. I'm not sure if I posted this before the site got setback...

 

They're long reads I guess, not too long but long. Please give me some feedback, I think I might have something really good here.

 

http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=36847485&blogID=160948778&MyToken=aa028d40-e243-4ca2-a280-abcc903f40da

 

http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=36847485&blogID=179327200&MyToken=aa028d40-e243-4ca2-a280-abcc903f40da

[Darth_Rob]

I only had time to read the first one. And I definetly agree that if people coiuld overcome their fear of death it would lead to the end of religions and a more important emphasis would be put on the arts and sciences. However, I don't think that humans in general will ever overcome that fear. It is human nature to fear death People want to live and survive and see their children have children and then see their children. Also, people don't want to think of leaving the physical world behind. That's why religion is so important to many people: it comforts them to believe that there is someplace to go after they die, that there is a life after death. But I really don't think that the fear of death can ever be overcome. Survival is just too strongly pressed into our human nature.

[JediHunter]

I as well haven't had a chance to read the second one yet AI but the first one was quite impressive. I think you jump to a couple conclusions without explaining how though. And when you started talking in seconds it was a nice touch but confusing at first. However, I am not trying to criticize.

To provide a counter-point, if death were no longer an issue to this society I don't think God would cease to exist but rather his support would dwindle. Most people fear God due to the possible damnation to hell and therefore act accordingly to get into heaven. If God, Hell, Heaven and the whole concept of an afterlife were for the most part left behind I think our society would turn to Chaos instead of Enlightenment. Even during The Enlightenment period God was present in day to day life, if not more so. I am not religious so this is not an argument for God, rather an argument for faith. If people were to not believe in a system of cosmic retribution whether through God or some other device that is yet unknown, I feel man would become more self-centered and destructive. This does not apply to all but one thing that is true in my mind is that man only acts good due to God's wrath. Take that away, and you will have a society of evil deeds. At least until those people are taken care of. But that could be the majority of society and that would take a while. Drive around today and see how many people are "nice" solely because they want to be. I think you will find that most people are "just nice enough" to feel like they aren't evil. Take away death, take away God, and you can take away that.

[malarkie]

I agree with JH.

 

The earliest religions were created precisely so that the members would behave in ways that would not get them sent to hell.

 

The removal of religion would definately cause most to slide into a self-rule kind of thing if there is no reason to fear retribution.

[PHSYCOBOB]

that's some pretty good stuff.

[DarthTofu]

I'm just reading the comments, here- so far as I know, there really is no way to do away with religion without some concrete proof of everything. No matter how devoted to their religion anyone is, they will always have a little voice in the back of their head that wonders...

 

I don't think a removal of religion would necessarily be a bad thing, nowdays, though- if people are atheists (I'm assuming that's what "no religion" means, here) they will likely believe that this life is all you get. Some people will choose to make it as positive as possible for everyone, others will not. The world would be similar to today's.

[Defender_16]

I think Tofu makes a good point.

 

( Should we be afraid now? )

[Aenivae_Ikeda]

I'm just reading the comments, here- so far as I know, there really is no way to do away with religion without some concrete proof of everything. No matter how devoted to their religion anyone is, they will always have a little voice in the back of their head that wonders...

 

I don't think a removal of religion would necessarily be a bad thing, nowdays, though- if people are atheists (I'm assuming that's what "no religion" means, here) they will likely believe that this life is all you get. Some people will choose to make it as positive as possible for everyone, others will not. The world would be similar to today's.

 

That's not what it's about...

 

Anyways, JH I disagree. You're making the assumption that the people who would be chaotic would be able to lose their fear of death to begin with. There's no point in losing that fear if you aren't going to put it to good use, and while the whole idea could be corrupted for anarchist-based ideals I would think that anyone attempting to market off the corrupted ideas would seem fairly absurd and be ignored.

[JediHunter]

I can see what you're saying there AI. I guess I'm just cynical when it comes to mankind really. Enlightenment and knowledge are two conecepts that I consider very important in life, but it just seems to me that people today are happy in their willful ignorance and naïveté. Because of this happiness, I find it hard that they will lose their fear of death by any means, especially through the abandonment of religion. Moreso I think that we have made the advances we have made through the fear of death. If we didnt fear death we would accept our fate and we wouldnt have made innoculations in order to fight it off. So are you saying that Death, being a part of life shouldn't be feared but accepted? And through this acceptance we should no longer focus on avoiding it but instead focus our energies on other things such as advancement in science and art?

[Aenivae_Ikeda]

Yeah, like you said people use religion as a way to ease their mind and they focus their energy into doing things according to religion in an attempt to get into Heaven. If you redirected that energy into better things such as human advancement then a lot of good would come about.

 

Likewise, if people who are normally satisfied with being ignorant suddenly weren't satisfied with ignorance then their refocused energy would do a world of good for the world.

 

So basically my "fear of death" theory is simply a way of trying to rechannel human effort into something constructive, although I'm still trying to develop the theory fully, and encorporate other ideas that also help my goal.