Human Nature
I am not a religious man. For years I had religion crammed down my throat and then finally, when I was 29 years old, I opened my eyes to the absurdity of it all and have never looked back. But I don’t have a problem with religious people. I don’t have a problem with the 10 commandments being at the court house or having “in god we trust” on our money or any of that jazz. I just don’t personally believe in any of it.
That being said, I do like to sit and ponder human nature and the instinctual tendencies we all have a human animals. Religion is interesting to me in that it seeks to deny the natural self. The majority of the major religions out there encourage us to believe that we are inherently evil. That our carnal lusts and desires are to be fought and suppressed, and indulgence in them is a sin punishable by eternal damnation.
I have witnessed several interesting things in my lifetime concerning crooked people in positions of religious authority. I have known ministers who were alcoholics, adulterers, liars, dishonest bigots, and just pure dishonest. It was hard for me to understand how I was supposed to trust these people to help me when they were not any better than I was. Who were they to judge me?
But then I realized that they are just human like me. When it comes down to it we are all animals by nature. Men will always have a tendency to have sex with as many different women as they can in their lifetimes. They will always find it in their nature to lie, cheat and steal if that is what they perceive is needed to survive. It is survival of the fittest, after all.
Women will always be the protectors of their young ones. They will always have an instinctual desire to protect their children. They will always be attracted to the male that they feel can best suit their needs, and then they will always want to hang on to that male for as long as they can. But if that male ever stops being what they need they will go out in search of another.
I am not advocating that we all need to go out and become animals, screwing whoever we want whenever we want. We do have intelligence, and we need to be able to control our desires somewhat for the betterment of society. But I have found that by just embracing them and understanding that they are not evil, but normal and natural, I am much more at peace with myself than I ever was with religion. I know now that if there is some higher power and I have to face him/her when I die than I will at least be at peace with myself.
But religion seeks to deny these truths and replace them with their own. But history shows us the truth of the animal kingdom, while there is no real evidence of religious truth. One has only to read the news to see the tragedies facing religion these days to see the failure of religion. Whether it be priests who molest children, ministers who are drug addicts, or so-called prophets who use religion as an excuse to control and rape little girls, the world is rife with travesties. And it is tragic to me that people will use religion as an excuse to commit some of the worst tragedies in human history, whether we are talking about the inquisition period of Catholic history or the latest story about the polygamous prophet of southern Utah forcing 14 year old girls to marry their cousins and be totally submissive to them, the idea is the same.
So at what point do we as a people move on and get modern with our views of human nature? Why do so many people work so hard to be something that goes totally against their natural selves? All for some expected reward that nobody has ever truly seen and of which there is exactly zero evidence for its existence? I find this stuff fascinating to think about sometimes.
I can’t help but feel that sometimes religion is holding back the human race’s progress by clinging to ancient beliefs and ideals that were designed for another age.
That being said, I do like to sit and ponder human nature and the instinctual tendencies we all have a human animals. Religion is interesting to me in that it seeks to deny the natural self. The majority of the major religions out there encourage us to believe that we are inherently evil. That our carnal lusts and desires are to be fought and suppressed, and indulgence in them is a sin punishable by eternal damnation.
I have witnessed several interesting things in my lifetime concerning crooked people in positions of religious authority. I have known ministers who were alcoholics, adulterers, liars, dishonest bigots, and just pure dishonest. It was hard for me to understand how I was supposed to trust these people to help me when they were not any better than I was. Who were they to judge me?
But then I realized that they are just human like me. When it comes down to it we are all animals by nature. Men will always have a tendency to have sex with as many different women as they can in their lifetimes. They will always find it in their nature to lie, cheat and steal if that is what they perceive is needed to survive. It is survival of the fittest, after all.
Women will always be the protectors of their young ones. They will always have an instinctual desire to protect their children. They will always be attracted to the male that they feel can best suit their needs, and then they will always want to hang on to that male for as long as they can. But if that male ever stops being what they need they will go out in search of another.
I am not advocating that we all need to go out and become animals, screwing whoever we want whenever we want. We do have intelligence, and we need to be able to control our desires somewhat for the betterment of society. But I have found that by just embracing them and understanding that they are not evil, but normal and natural, I am much more at peace with myself than I ever was with religion. I know now that if there is some higher power and I have to face him/her when I die than I will at least be at peace with myself.
But religion seeks to deny these truths and replace them with their own. But history shows us the truth of the animal kingdom, while there is no real evidence of religious truth. One has only to read the news to see the tragedies facing religion these days to see the failure of religion. Whether it be priests who molest children, ministers who are drug addicts, or so-called prophets who use religion as an excuse to control and rape little girls, the world is rife with travesties. And it is tragic to me that people will use religion as an excuse to commit some of the worst tragedies in human history, whether we are talking about the inquisition period of Catholic history or the latest story about the polygamous prophet of southern Utah forcing 14 year old girls to marry their cousins and be totally submissive to them, the idea is the same.
So at what point do we as a people move on and get modern with our views of human nature? Why do so many people work so hard to be something that goes totally against their natural selves? All for some expected reward that nobody has ever truly seen and of which there is exactly zero evidence for its existence? I find this stuff fascinating to think about sometimes.
I can’t help but feel that sometimes religion is holding back the human race’s progress by clinging to ancient beliefs and ideals that were designed for another age.
posted by The Idahoan at 3:10 PM
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