Monthly Archives: June 2014

Essay no. 2 Religion Madness

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The seeds of superstition

A child enduring sadness or fear will hope that if no cracks in the paving are trodden on, everything will be well.  The child does not believe or expect that all will be well, but, being helpless, invents this controlled action to fill a small void.

A child will count every tile on a wall, in the hope that if the sum is an even number, all will be well.  It knows, as a sentient creature, that there is no logic in this penance, yet it has a calming effect, and is soon set aside.

Inculcation of superstition

Later in life, the older child may be indoctrinated with the ambient superstitions of family life, which, deriving from adults, it not only does not question, but believes.

The gradual development of independent thought

As puberty sets in, with its multiple distractions and derangements, a peculiar fervour may take place in the child which leads it to search out manifestations of its indoctrination.

With the consolidation of puberty, as rational thought sometimes returns, in a few cases, the young adult experiences  a  lifting of the cloud of superstition and the clearing of the claustrophobia of religious conditioning.  In the light of knowledge-gathering from from new reading of the world outside the family and customs of the local community, there is a sudden realisation that perhaps none of the hitherto held beliefs are valid.

Within days of this thought, and with deep consideration of it and a pervading sense of relief, the new rational mind becomes unencumbered of religion and superstition.  Freedom of thought, and hence action, open up to an exhilaration of spirit; the world is a place where the mind can direct the body with a freedom that can only be restricted physically.

Enlightenment from conditioning for a minority

This revelation, coming with the end of puberty in both sexes, as the mind becomes aware, is not general; although it is a definite phenomenon, it affects a minority.

Revelation of the irrelevance  and falsity of instilled superstitious beliefs can occur at any age, however.  A friend who in our youth I discovered with surprise to be a devoted catholic, never missing mass, at the age of thirty-five suddenly perceived how bizarre was his long-held conditioning.  Within a week his ‘faith’ turned to revulsion of the industry of catholicism, its pederast priests, global wealth, and indoctrinating schools and colleges: teaching institutions diluting true knowledge with superstition.

Strongly-held irrational beliefs can be suddenly abandoned at any time; it is as if a window opens in the brain, allowing its natural analytical processes to examine an internal hindrance hitherto ignored or accepted as given.  When I tentatively queried my friend on his change  of outlook, what had led to its occurrence, and how he felt regarding his previous life, he had no explanation.  A new dawning, a realisation, simply happened, as a scientist may have a serendipitous enlightenment regarding her research.

It seems that no child can avoid absorbing superstitions prevalent in home and family life.  If the child is brought up in an environment free from religion or superstition, it will likewise be free, perhaps taking up some random belief in young adulthood.

Superstition an aberration of the large human brain. and deliberate indoctrination

Religious belief is not, as one would expect, a phenomenon of poor education and low IQ. It is a mind-set occurring in all societies world-wide, though the ‘belief’ is usually instilled from the local community.   I was once shocked on meeting two friends in the street at night  with their young daughter, seven or eight years old.   The parents wealthy, well-educated, intelligent, good company and the opposite of wowserish.  They had come from some esoteric ceremony and their little daughter was dressed as a ‘bride of christ’ or some such terminology.  The meeting was bewildering for me, as if meeting my friends naked in the street, or covered in paint, without them giving any explanation of their condition. Though loving them dearly, I felt that they had inflicted on their child an action which she had no opportunity to question, an action deeply and darkly symbolic, with meaning that would be abstruse or impossible for even an adult to understand.  Would you give a child a tattoo that it may hate, and hate you for, in later life?

The two encounters I have mentioned happen to involve the catholic sect, being the most common in my environment, but there are hundreds of religions extant, all, of course, invented by humans, usually men, and adopted by other humans without derision or question.  Why?  We could all invent a religion and form a sect.  But why would anyone join?  Have no doubt, some would join, and be fervent.  And some would die professing and protecting their belief.  It is a madness, a madness affecting men specifically.

Most women are less concerned with the ‘faith’ industry, having, perhaps more wisdom and experience of the real world of work and family.  The ranting crowds of rabid ‘believers’ are nearly all men, and although the remnant congregations of derelict churches are women, they are old and few, and have outlived their husbands

Wisdom through wide experience

The percentage of the population who hold no irrational beliefs is small in most countries and negligible in others.  A thorough, broad education tends dissipate residual superstitions, but not necessarily.  A specific education directed to one aim can leave a student quite ignorant throughout life, though equipped for and successful in a narrow field.  This is the function of modern universities. The reading of books other than novels is declining throughout humanity, with a corresponding reduction in knowledge on a wide scale.  Cleverness has little to do with wisdom.

Ineradicable mind-set

I do not write in the hope of rescuing folk from their belief in the non-existent supernatural.  It can’t be done.  Indoctrination, however, is easy, which is why the evangelists and missionaries rake in so much cash for themselves or their institutions.  The dirty slate is impossible to clean.  There is an overweening pride in a belief held with conviction; nothing so delicate as logic could possibly budge it, not even a brisk branding of the buttocks.  It is also very demeaning to admit to being indoctrinated.  Non-religious belief in the form of knowledge, however, as with Galileo, can be shrugged off…..’.I would prefer not to be tortured, so I’ll shut up (but it’s true anyway)’.

The over-large human brain, its consequent malfunctions, and the genetic source of optimism

This fallibility in humans is no doubt one of the drawbacks of a brain which has tripled in volume over the millennia.  Our mind is too big for our boots, with the consequent and not unexpected set of derangements.  This relatively huge  brain inevitably reached the position of considering its own workings, and that of its attached body: a disastrous situation.  Under the circumstances it is truly amazing that in general we get along so well, though, sometimes, waking in the night, the terror of existence shakes us in fear; this is the human burden.  We must live our entire, considered and worrysome lives with the looming knowledge that we will one day grind to a permanent stop, and then put that very nasty big fact out of our thoughts and swept under the carpet.  It’s not surprising that so many of us have mad ideas and actions.  Eat, drink, and be merry; too right.

As a child, I read of the robot which was built with a wonderful brain.  All was well until the robot discovered that it was not human, that it was a machine.  The discovery was so distressing that the robot ‘killed’ itself.  I was at first made tearfully sad at the robot’s condition, poor thing, it thought it was a man. Then in later years my feelings were reversed, for we are the machines who have endings, who die, whereas the robot can continue, and renew, and replace.  We are all made aware of this.  How we cope is a mystery.  How we remain, for the most part good-humoured and optimistic, I really don’t know, except that without that certainly genetic origin to our optimism, our huge brain would be the death of us.

‘Atheism’: a non-descriptive abstract

This little essay has deliberately avoided the word ‘atheism’ until now, because the term defines normal sentience as a corollary of ‘theism’ or perhaps ‘deism’, both terms referring to something other.  There is no such phenomenon as ‘atheism’, which is a description defining ‘no circumstance’ in terms of ‘not-something’, and is even less meaningful than describing ‘water’ as ‘not-rock’. I had fun writing that.

Of the many design-faults our big brains have revealed, the tendency to harbour irrational ideas, the holding of religion as certainty is the most devastating for humanity. (closely followed by overpopulation and the power of global investment organisations, but not in this brief)

There are so many other brain-problems which come to light that were we cars, we would have been recalled dozens of times to the manufacturers for rectification.  Religious belief is just one manifestation.  For example, all animals crave food, we crave food.  Animals eat what they can find, no problem, they stay healthy, in due course they die.  We turn the craving for food into an obsessive drug-desire, consuming ever more delicious concoctions to excess, with inevitable and manifold horrendous results.  Billions of dollars are made feeding this craving.  Billions of dollars are made selling religions.  The malfunctions of a super-hyped brain is the source of drug-similar cravings exploited by entrepeneurs in many fields, and the subject of further discussion.

So, think for yourself 

Think for yourself.  Consider that which you believe, and doubt.  Certainties may become obsolete with new discoveries.  Examine that which you are told; is it genuine?  Is this page worthy of serious thought, or is it rubbish?  Belief is the result of conditioning, an open mind can test belief; it can be depressing and hard work but you’ll feel so much better afterwards.

Go ahead, believe what you like.  But don’t blame me.

 

Essay No. 1: You want to live in the city?

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  You want to live in, or near the city? You think there will be work, amenities, access to central entertainments? You may be right, but do you realise what a huge chunk of your income will be spent on suburban living?

Whether you are renting or own your accommodation, 90% of your mail will be bills; hardly a week goes by without some bills, which will be for far more than you would consider spending on yourself.  The drain on your resources is enormous, we are all being milked by organisations that have us by the short-and-curlies.

The concentration of us in high-density living is equivalent to battery-farming, and it’s not just the suburbs of the world that are being leached of funds, whole countries are in the grip of global business which cannot be controlled or restricted by governments.

If you feel overpowered by the constant and seemingly unavoidable outlay undermining your income, it is worth considering for a moment the cause of this woe. Bear in mind that this is a planet-wide syndrome, working-folk in all city-suburban communities are suffering.

An article in The Guardian Weekly, 6-6-14, by Gary Younge gives great insight into this condition, and I can only see one escape from its clutches: an escape that is probably impractical, impossible, or merely fanciful for most of us.

Governments around the world have privatised and sold-off most or all of their country’s assets, the assets we use on a daily basis: gas, coal, oil, petrol, diesel, ores of iron, aluminium, all the rare metals, the list is endless. The giant companies that process this raw material into the products we must buy are out of reach of governments, for the most part, and though a trickle of royalty drips into insatiable local coffers, the bulk of enormous profits, which we pay for, disappears into the ether of shareholders and company executives.

Most of the main transactions we make, week by week, are to to businesses sending profits to international shareholders. Banks, transport, even universities are not necessarily owned by, or in, the countries in which they operate.

Read Gary Younge’s piece; a government which attempts to extricate itself from this octopus of outside monopolies will have it’s economy ruined and its people destitute. The unseen landlord will debase the currency, cut off the power, finish trade and collapse all infrastructure.  What he doesn’t venture so far as to surmise is the possibility of a government rising from the ashes of a totally wrecked economy, whilst retaining all its assets, becoming the holy grail of society: not just by the people, but for the people, the profits of a country’s labour and resources staying within the country and available for trade.  A highly unlikely outcome, but worth dreaming about.

So, escape, in the mean time, because extrication from beneath our profiteering global landlords is never going to happen, because, as a country, we’d all have to agree, and when has that ever happened?  Escape means not living in the city.  It means being as self-sufficient as possible.  It does not mean growing veggies and keeping chooks, though that would help, and be a cathartic link with reality and the great outdoors, away from the screen.

One advantage of the technologies of the recent decade is the achievement of two of the most important factors in self-sufficiency: the generating of electricity and access to world-wide communications.  Anywhere.  Isolation from high-density living is no longer isolation.  This takes money, of course, and is consequently unavailable to most of us, but, if you’re thinking of buying a house…….make sure it’s in the bush, with no sewage-disposal, power, water, or land-line phone available, or garbage collection, or postal delivery; all these ‘services’ imply either direct cost to the householder, or costs encroaching in the future.  Any supply other than that self-generated is equivalent to taxation.  Once outside services are allowed in, the rateable value rises and the bills multiply.

The nitty-gritty of self-sufficiency is another essay, but eminently doable.  The advantage is a tremendous saving of hard-earned cash, the disadvantage is a possible lack of work for some trades.  Many on-line and computer-based jobs can operate anywhere.  The essence of the proposal is the avoidance of the grip of global monopoly in every-day living, as far as possible.  You would be amazed at what can be done.

My own fantasy, never achieved of course, but still a lovely idea, takes place in the country I call home: Australia.  There are many neglected and almost deserted outback settlements in Australia, the populace drifted away due to mine closures and other events. The real-estate is almost free, or at least very cheap. I picture a group of like-minded folk choosing their particular places in the settlement and starting a mass re-building and restoration project, including the pub, of course.  Could it be done?

These are the criteria: Low rates, tank water, satellite communication, solar power and hot water, bulk fuel purchase, quality building insulation, waterless separating toilets, etc.. No communal living; each dwelling a separate entity as in the city.  Once established, the renovated settlement would have to fend off rate rises and ‘services’.  Ha ha, great fun. Establish a library, shops, restaurants, sports facilities, anything needed or volunteered, and none with connected services: no infrastructure to build or maintain.  Each property- owner fills in the potholes in the road adjacent.  No communal responsibility other than to be normally reasonable. Among the communal benefits, if agreed, would be bulk purchases of essential items, in other words, a co-operative; fuel, solar equipment, building materials et cetera bought by the community at bulk prices.

‘Taking over’ a deserted settlement eliminates a mass of expensive bureaucratic work; the grid of roads and subdivisions already exists, but, importantly, all services are disconnected.  Titles can be researched and amazed owners contacted for unexpected sale. In order to eliminate future profiteering by outsiders, the entire settlement must be purchased in one action by the new community.

If the original settlement is completely derelict or razed, it matters not. A survey will quickly re-establish boundaries.  Each separate subdivision will be issued to the new owners by lottery initially, and the titles re-assigned accordingly; any later combination taking place by swap, sale, or agreement, as in any suburb.  This initial process will be critical; the first of the occasions when a joint pooling of a bank will further the new community.

A little exploring of the concept will uncover a bristling of problematic spines.  For example; what of the founding-members who put in the initial stake, but take no further part, never becoming settlers?  By default, they become investors, diluting the energy of the committed.  At this point in my proposal I draw the line at further imaginings, for were a group to actually set out along this path, a massive covenant would have to be drawn up to cover every possible outcome, a normal, and not a frightening process, but a necessary one, one which could take place over many exciting meetings both practical and sociable.

The success of such a venture depends, at its very base, on the irrevocable title of the individual members, to the land they will own in the settlement, for better or worse.  All the rest is simply decision-making for the benefit of all.