in my personal edgy opinion, religions are a cope & a great tool of control.
They give you hope against the biggest fear ingrained in us - death, and even worse - death being equal for everyone, good person, bad person, both will die. It’s a nice thought to believe that there is fairness to it all, that good actions should be done despite bad actions being easier. It’s a nice thought to believe there is something else after you die, and none of your good (or bad) deeds go unnoticed, that you, a good person, will live in paradise, and your enemies will finally suffer the consequences of what they’ve done.
it also helps bring people together, creates a unified peoppe and a culture of those who believe in the same thing & allows a potential leader to have an easier time rallying everyone towards the same goal.
religion is a wonderful tool for both coping with existential dread, and unifying people. but as a tool it has the capacity for explaining away both good and bad things quite equally (helping poor, crusades, personal growth, bigotry).
what relgion is based on is close to irrelevant, it just has to be something, preferably a good overall story with many smaller stories that teach the common folk how to be a good [insert religious identity]. Try reading ancient Egyptian mythology, i suspect most of that shit was written on heavy doses of psychedelics, and despite how completely insane all of it is - it unified people and was an integral part of the biggest empire of the ancient times.
honestly i don’t want to “debunk” people’s religions, if it’s something that keeps them going then why take it away, i personally tried but failed multiple times at believing in any god, but i can’t lie the existential dread of “one day i will die, no matter how much i managed to achieve, no matter how good of a person i was, i will die the same as every murderer or war criminal, and there will be no justice in that, and then, one day my name will be spoken for the last time, and i will be forgotten” is a heavy thought to bear, no wonder that as a species we’ve always tried to find some reason, any reason, for that not being the case
They give you hope against the biggest fear ingrained in us - death, and even worse - death being equal for everyone, good person, bad person, both will die.
Or they teach us to fear death. Nothing to worry about death unless you will live afterwards forever and take your memories with you. Now you have to make good memories soon.
The receptors for psychedelics aren’t there for no reason, heavy prayer and meditation can trigger similar effects. Substances are just a shortcut, that’s why religion don’t tend to like them. Personally I think that as long as it isn’t used as a crutch it’s totally fine to buy a day pass.
the receptors for psychedelics are the same as normal happiness receptors, just constantly stimulated by the drugs binding to them (similar to SSRI). prayer and meditation can have partially similar effect, fractals, feelings happiness, and even ego death yes, but there is more to psychedelics than those, they can completely alter your perception of reality and thoughts
in my personal edgy opinion, religions are a cope & a great tool of control.
They give you hope against the biggest fear ingrained in us - death, and even worse - death being equal for everyone, good person, bad person, both will die. It’s a nice thought to believe that there is fairness to it all, that good actions should be done despite bad actions being easier. It’s a nice thought to believe there is something else after you die, and none of your good (or bad) deeds go unnoticed, that you, a good person, will live in paradise, and your enemies will finally suffer the consequences of what they’ve done.
it also helps bring people together, creates a unified peoppe and a culture of those who believe in the same thing & allows a potential leader to have an easier time rallying everyone towards the same goal.
religion is a wonderful tool for both coping with existential dread, and unifying people. but as a tool it has the capacity for explaining away both good and bad things quite equally (helping poor, crusades, personal growth, bigotry).
what relgion is based on is close to irrelevant, it just has to be something, preferably a good overall story with many smaller stories that teach the common folk how to be a good [insert religious identity]. Try reading ancient Egyptian mythology, i suspect most of that shit was written on heavy doses of psychedelics, and despite how completely insane all of it is - it unified people and was an integral part of the biggest empire of the ancient times.
honestly i don’t want to “debunk” people’s religions, if it’s something that keeps them going then why take it away, i personally tried but failed multiple times at believing in any god, but i can’t lie the existential dread of “one day i will die, no matter how much i managed to achieve, no matter how good of a person i was, i will die the same as every murderer or war criminal, and there will be no justice in that, and then, one day my name will be spoken for the last time, and i will be forgotten” is a heavy thought to bear, no wonder that as a species we’ve always tried to find some reason, any reason, for that not being the case
Or they teach us to fear death. Nothing to worry about death unless you will live afterwards forever and take your memories with you. Now you have to make good memories soon.
nah i’m pretty sure evolution taught us to fear death, no species looks like it feels neutral about dying
The receptors for psychedelics aren’t there for no reason, heavy prayer and meditation can trigger similar effects. Substances are just a shortcut, that’s why religion don’t tend to like them. Personally I think that as long as it isn’t used as a crutch it’s totally fine to buy a day pass.
the receptors for psychedelics are the same as normal happiness receptors, just constantly stimulated by the drugs binding to them (similar to SSRI). prayer and meditation can have partially similar effect, fractals, feelings happiness, and even ego death yes, but there is more to psychedelics than those, they can completely alter your perception of reality and thoughts
So can meditation, if you are good enough and go deep enough. I’ve heard stories of Buddhist monks that think LSD is weak stuff.