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Have Humans Evolved to Believe in God?

Comments

  • CloudCloud Veteran
    What would be nice is an excerpt or something about the article that you link to before providing the link, just for future reference. :) Like a paragraph or something, or a personal summary from you.
  • VincenziVincenzi Veteran
    god is a projection of what selfish humans want to become.
  • DaltheJigsawDaltheJigsaw Mountain View Veteran
    What would be nice is an excerpt or something about the article that you link to before providing the link, just for future reference. :) Like a paragraph or something, or a personal summary from you.
    Sorry.
    I will start doing that.
  • DaltheJigsawDaltheJigsaw Mountain View Veteran
    edited February 2011
    Is God a singular, independent being? Or just an evolved projection of human's theory of what God should be? Slate's Jesse Bering finds himself asking these heady questions after an analysis of how humans, as a species, have developed to analyze and rationalize the mental states of others--human or not.

    Understanding the Theory of Mind: How Humans Attempt to Make Sense of the Unexpected
    If you've ever seen an unfortunate woman at the grocery store wearing a midriff-revealing top and packed into a pair of lavender tights like meat in a sausage wrapper, or a follicularly challenged man with a hairpiece two shades off and three centimeters adrift, and asked yourself what on Earth those people were thinking when they looked in the mirror before leaving the house, this is a good sign that your theory of mind (not to mention your fashion sense) is in working order. When others violate our expectations for normalcy or stump us with surprising behaviors, our tendency to mind-read goes into overdrive. We literally "theorize" about the minds that are causing ostensible behavior.

    http://www.theatlanticwire.com/opinions/view/opinion/Spotlight-Have-Humans-Evolved-to-Believe-in-God-6864
  • CloudCloud Veteran
    Perfect!
  • CamCam
    edited February 2011
    I've often thought exactly this myself. By our very [problem solving, analytical] nature, we're driven to try and justify and rationalize every facet of our existence. When science or societal belief falls short, I think theism comes into its own.

    However, that's completely my belief - and there needs to be a distinction made between relative and ultimate truth. Ultimate truths being .. ultimate, and relative truths being relative to the person. I think the existence of a god is a relative truth, one that is internal to the person, and not one that can be dis-proven by another person's relative beliefs. In my view different religions are great, because they cater for different philosophies and cultures - and we shouldn't try to stifle that.

    A very thought provoking article. Keep posting them, this is great :)
  • DaltheJigsawDaltheJigsaw Mountain View Veteran
    I've often thought exactly this myself. By our very [problem solving, analytical] nature, we're driven to try and justify and rationalize every facet of our existence. When science or societal belief falls short, I think theism comes into its own.

    However, that's completely my belief - and there needs to be a distinction made between relative and ultimate truth. Ultimate truths being .. ultimate, and relative truths being relative to the person. I think the existence of a god is a relative truth, one that is internal to the person, and not one that can be dis-proven by another person's relative beliefs. In my view different religions are great, because they cater for different philosophies and cultures - and we shouldn't try to stifle that.

    A very thought provoking article. Keep posting them, this is great :)
    You are welcome!:)
    I will!
  • CloudCloud Veteran
    @LeonBasin, It wasn't all that long and it just raises the questions more than trying to prove anything, however... I find the part about us yelling at and kicking our cars far more interesting. We're so into subject/object, me vs. them, that me vs. it even factors into it. If we can lose ourselves to the point of placing blame on a car, getting mad at it, how easy is it to think that we and others are also acting independently?
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    If God did not exist it would be necessary to invent him" Voltaire
  • MellowViperMellowViper
    god is a projection of what selfish humans want to become.
    Though in some traditions, God is restricted to the form of a human with human like traits, in others, like in Native American religion, God is representative of the totality of consciousness. They see all things branching from that totality and inheriting its creative and god like abilities. That's actually what much of animism is about. They say gods exist in everything because all things descend from the godhead.

  • MellowViperMellowViper
    edited February 2011
    I think humans have evolved to become more aware of God. Where lower orders of consciousness, like bacteria and possibly molecules, perceive reality in very limited dimensions, we, as highly organized bodies of matter perceive reality in even more dimmensions. The activity of an electron around an atom may base its behavior around a number of very limited, conscious states. I have no reason to not believe this since our minds are constructed of those same electrons and possess a conscious, and not completely material, property. A bacteria's view of reality may be based off of very basic chemical detection. On the other hand, we as higher evolved mammals, perceive the world in terms of very complex linguistic concepts and through self reflection. Since matter is probably just an extension of perception and that they exist on two sides of the same coin, I think our brains have been shaped to see the world in more detail and accuracy. I think more complex perception is a general driving force of evolution (biological and maybe cosmic) since consciousness might be as much of a dimension of reality as space and time. I think the ego is some sort of warping of that dimension like how a gravitational field is a warping of space and time and that it gives us the illusion we have that there's a subjective self and an everything and everyone else.
  • formermonkJohnformermonkJohn
    if god did not originally exist, by now humans would have created him/her.
  • CloudCloud Veteran
    ...and that may be exactly what happened
    who knows?
  • MellowViperMellowViper
    edited February 2011
    I see God as the phenomenon of consciousness and that it exists within all empty space and all people. Its shared by sentient life, as well as the rest of the universe. When people realize the common essence they share with one another, then all morality actually makes sense. You wouldn't want to hurt another living being if you truly know they're just as aware of pain as you. You also have a general respect for your surroundings when you realize that your self awareness and self is constructed from the elemental building blocks of matter, as well as spirit, intrinsic within the fabric of the whole universe.
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    If God did not exist it would be necessary to invent him" Voltaire
    if god did not originally exist, by now humans would have created him/her.
    I think I just said that. As did Voltaire, before me.....
    In my opinion?
    Humans had to invent something big to praise AND blame. The responsibility was just too much to take....


  • KarmaDondrupTashiKarmaDondrupTashi
    If God is a human projection why make Him wrathful? Wouldn't it have been easier to make Him a bit nicer?
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    edited February 2011
    No, less control.
    originally, God was portrayed as a jealous wrathful God in order to control the general population.
    remember that at the time, most people could not read or write, the Church was an equivalent authority to the Crown or Government, and Religion played a huge role in keeping people in their place.

    We're far more educated now, far more questioning, far more discerning. we are far more prone to wanting answers: But at it's highest and most powerful point, Religion - and God - wielded ultimate authority, power judgement and retribution.
  • Floating_AbuFloating_Abu Veteran
    edited February 2011
    Is God a singular, independent being? Or just an evolved projection of human's theory of what God should be? Slate's Jesse Bering finds himself asking these heady questions after an analysis of how humans, as a species, have developed to analyze and rationalize the mental states of others--human or not.
    Buddha taught that the path to Awakening is through the Deathless (Ref: Ajahn Sumedho, now retired)
    Mahayana texts oft talk of the unconditioned, uncreated etc

    That which is the creator, creates, and through the formless there is form.
    I would say that humans have the capacity for much - think, you can think anything you want at the moment, be any being - but a belief in God is no different to a belief in donkeys or a belief in Kingdom Come. It is still your creation right there, a belief.

    Some spiritual persuasions will try to point students to that which is not bound by belief, but nor is it apart from that. IMO.
  • RogerRoger
    edited February 2011
    At some point in the archaeological record stone age tools became far more elaborate, more finely fashioned than they needed to be. It's at that point where embellishments gained spiritual significance art and religion is supposed to have been created.

    The basic structure of spiritual belief is "superstitiously" connecting causes and effects. The human mind seeks patterns. It will be HAPPY to make those patterns up if it has to.

    An underlying sense of chaos is very frightening to humans.

    Soooo, for example, when somebody perceives-imagines human sacrifice is necessary to get rain from "God," then the blood flows.

    Nothing has changed! LOL.
  • formermonkJohnformermonkJohn
    edited February 2011
    the difference between our statements, federica is you refering to an imaginary invented god, im refering to a real tangible god over eons created by peoples praying for justice, and on death giving themselves to the greater good, two entirely different things, yours much easier to explain. my god is the emptiness or oneness of the buddha or the tao, im kinda speculating on how it came into being.
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    You didn't make that at all clear. On the face of it, your statement is exactly the same as mine. (incidentally, I'm quoting Voltaire).
    What you intended to convey, is immaterial. we cannot discern what you are in fact referring to, if in fact you don't refer to it.

    By the way: your definition of the god you're referring to?

    Sounds even more mind-wrought than mine.


    :crazy:
  • MindGateMindGate United States Veteran
    I'm with Federica on this one. John, you lost me on your last post.
  • formermonkJohnformermonkJohn
    a definition of god? what do you think i am voltaire! a definition of the emptiness would be close, perhaps you have one......
  • TheDoctorDonnaTheDoctorDonna
    The human on the African grasslands who heard a russle behind him and thought it was the leaves and did not turn to see often was eaten by a Preditor.

    Because of massive sense input overload, the human brain is forced to convert real time data into simple patterns. This is good when faced with a binary fight or flight choice, but has become a very large problem in the 21st century. Because of the tendancy to see simple patterns, often when none are presesnt, we tend to extrapilate based on false data and premises. A belief in god is one of these pattern reognition errors.

    So yes, I think that belief in god is a mal adaptive part of our evolutionary lineage.
  • MindGateMindGate United States Veteran
    a definition of god? what do you think i am voltaire! a definition of the emptiness would be close, perhaps you have one......
    God is emptiness? ... I always thought that God was sort of fullness.
  • DakiniDakini Veteran
    Well, apart from the article, I'd say that given that the right temporal lobe of the brain has been proven to be the source of OBE's and other "paranormal" phenomena, and given the existence of the Kundalini energy, I'd say physiologically, human seem to be hard-wired to experience the Divine, or what they perceive to be spiritual experiences.
  • DakiniDakini Veteran
    a definition of god? what do you think i am voltaire! a definition of the emptiness would be close, perhaps you have one......
    God is emptiness? ... I always thought that God was sort of fullness.
    I thought that for BUddhists, God didn't exist.

    (Thanks for these good threads, Leon.)
  • formermonkJohnformermonkJohn
    so i guess emptiness doesnt exist and buddha has no source for his wisdom but his own mind?????????????
  • VincenziVincenzi Veteran
    a definition of god? what do you think i am voltaire! a definition of the emptiness would be close, perhaps you have one......
    God is emptiness? ... I always thought that God was sort of fullness.
    I thought that for BUddhists, God didn't exist.

    (Thanks for these good threads, Leon.)
    there are some brahmas and devas in buddhism, they just aren't adored and are mortal.
  • formermonkJohnformermonkJohn
    youre stuck in the definition of god as a being or person
  • MindGateMindGate United States Veteran
    Many of the first gods were beings and person. Considering we are talking about evolution and start, I'm assuming we are talking about the start the mankind where they believed in many gods who were beings, right?
  • formermonkJohnformermonkJohn
    many christian theologians wouldnt define their god as a being or person in the physical sense at least, obviously a lot of gods were pictured in human form im just saying they dont all have to.
  • DaltheJigsawDaltheJigsaw Mountain View Veteran
    a definition of god? what do you think i am voltaire! a definition of the emptiness would be close, perhaps you have one......
    God is emptiness? ... I always thought that God was sort of fullness.
    I thought that for BUddhists, God didn't exist.

    (Thanks for these good threads, Leon.)
    You are quite welcome!
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    so i guess emptiness doesnt exist and buddha has no source for his wisdom but his own mind?????????????
    Bang on John. Absolutely right.
    If the Buddha refused to speculate, I think it a good idea to take his lead, and be a lantern unto ourselves.
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