Oliver's comments about SSRI's gives rise to a different sort of thought in my mind, more along the lines of medical explanations.

(I think though that for some people allowing serotonin to surge uninhibited would be to stimulate them, depending on the relative balance per individual of course.)

What's a good example. .. How about Moses .. a great leader of humanity perhaps, if nothing else. So how does the story go?

There Moses is, saddled with a pack of ungrateful wingers who are bemoaning their homeless plight in the desert, all looking to him to make all their dreams come true.

And ol Moses, being sick of their b.s. decides to do a bit of solitude thinking and goes up the mountain. Well, with all the huffing and puffing, the higher he goes, the more wacked he gets on the fumes from the volcano (was it still active then?) and finally, he arrives on the summit, exhausted from the climb, exhausted from the stress of leading and not knowing the immediate solution to keep the people sufficiently together not to disintergrate and fall upon one another, when by co-incidence if nothing else, a spark ignites one of those "petrol" bushes, and at the same time, being a pious God fearing individual, his sub-conscious unfolds into his conscious mind a potential solution - offer the people a canon of law bound in the Being of a God concept.

Now perhaps being already endowed with a dopamine rich, pictorial consciousness (plus stress, exertion and fumes) he has a very cool hallucination, thus .. Ludwig's thread.

And I would add for good mirth, mayhaps the wonder of some of these "Prophet" like characters lies in the fact that they cared so much that, at that moment when their consciousness cracked so to speak, they gave birth to more than just consideration of Self.

;-)

in my studies i have learned that words are slippery
add to that the fact this isnt gods realm
[nor jesus's realm;he was 'offered ' it but refused it]

clearly this realm is hell[for there is but two realm
[those who love and those who love to hate]

here clearly we have lovers of words
[next page we have lovers of pictures]

the thing is why are these words and images so beloved?

perhaps because they fire our imaginings
perhaps that words become swords by making the 'words'sacred

[sacred/words = s/words]

imagination is how you created us and your creation,
but your messengers followers fail to see the joke this creation forces upon us
a [the] lie of self; and sepperation

[when we are all a part of the oneness ,your imagination lord alone could create ,i chose to live in imagry of the word

[for i too hold it sacred
]i will use my s/words to unlock the inherant imagination into realising the living god sustains us all to live ,via your imagry

[and via our imaginings reveal more than we could have imagined alone] anyhow god

it might be said it is my imagining [but i know it is thyne]

thank you for letting me see more than others could imagine
what is it about thyne imagry that makes men so afraid?
their own imaginings

Ludwig for me you have hit on the very heart of the issue.
Even I can point to so much real damage done in the name of God.
My childhood saw those in a very small country town subjecting non members of their church to isolation.
We all know about stolen generations and forgotten generations, Church's sometimes played a part there too.
In our beds religion tells us how to lead our lives.
But most important of all, show me one religion of the three men follow most, that has not called for the death of others.
That is what turns me from religions, the devision it imposes on man.
Yes some good people are Christians.
Just maybe men should [for those that need it] invent a new God.
One that finds no difference between races color or sex.
Imposable?
We live with invented religions every day.
One growing wealthy is far less than 100 years old.
OUG you grow further from reality stubbornly not addressing questions, is it not true other religions believe in their God just as much as you?

I think this is probably the most interesting question, Ludwig.

>>...with our vastly increased knowledge of the world around us, including a good understanding of many things that were completely incomprehensible to people when the major religions came into being, let alone fifty years ago, how can religions still hold so much sway over peoples’ lives, especially in countries like Australia….or the US, where it is huge and apparently increasing ahead of population growth?<<

My theory stems from my conviction that the concept of a deity, and the religions that flow from it, are purely individual mental constructs.

At one level, our knowledge of the physics of the universe continues to expand. The "how" of our existence is slowly becoming increasingly apparent, although I suspect that it still has a long way to go yet.

However, the "why" of our existence does not become any clearer with the increased awareness that science brings.

As the gap between the two gets wider, it brings major discomfort to people not entirely satisfied with the way their lives are progressing.

The population of the United States have had it pretty good over the past century. So why, asks the general population in their quiet moments, do I not feel any better about myself?

And this is exactly where religion comes in.

Unable to find mental comfort in plasma TVs or bigger and better RVs in the driveway, the citizen will look for that spiritual "something" that doesn't need money, or explanation, or a 4.0 GPA, to fill the gap.

In effect, it is the other end of the bell curve that starts with primitive man asking "how", and modern, so-called civilized man, knowing more of the "how", now asking more of the "why"?

Neither has an answer.

So their personal insecurities are let loose to fill in the details with an imagined external force that cannot be defined.

To the primitive, it explains the physical - why the sun rises and sets, etc.

To the modern, it explains the spiritual - why am I not happy with my lot in life.

Ludwig,

I'm surprised at you. Your initial post sounds like an unusually nasty, arrogant and patronising comment for you. It belittles the beliefs of most of the world's population. That doesn't seem consistent with a vast number of your posts that I have read. What is going on? I know this isn't a very responsive post but that is what I'm curious about.

A curious post indeed mj.

I’ve asked straightforward questions. Where does your perception of nastiness or arrogance come from?

Are you suggesting that the questions I pose or the expression of the atheistic views that I hold should be out of bounds on a forum like this?

I’m battling to understand where you are coming from. It is a topic most worthy of discussion I would have thought.

“It belittles the beliefs of most of the world's population.”

Well, I’m certainly questioning these beliefs….and at a very fundamental level. Is there anything wrong with that?