PearlSeeker
Well-Known Member
... what is the real medicine?
What do you think?
What do you think?
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If religion is a placebo...
- Thread starter PearlSeeker
- Start date
PearlSeeker
Well-Known Member
Sorry, you're right. My OP was sparse.Cheese?
First, I'd have to know what religion cures.
I meant that religion can fill the existential void, heal the existential crisis...
Sgt. Pepper
All you need is love.
The true medicine, in my opinion, is learning to stand on your own and care for yourself without overly relying on religious beliefs or a deity to heal you physically or emotionally or to protect and save you from harm. In my opinion, the sooner you learn this, the better your mental health and emotional well-being will be, as will your life once you learn to take care of yourself. It proved true for me, so I believe that it can be possible for others once they free themselves from the indoctrination they have been subjected to in their lives.
It's like being born addicts. Many believers are born with anxiety and a need, and the prevalence of religion will hepl form religious habits. They will need a constant supply of a religious fix to soothe the natural anxiety that our evolution allowed. It doesn't matter that they can stand next to an atheist who suffers from no such anxiety and need, the religious have a non-rational problem and a non-rational solution. Only if they have a serious negative experience with religion will they lose interest.
It's like trying to get a feral cat to trust you, no amount of work will earn it. Meanwhile you have several cats that won't leave you alone because they they love to cuddle with their humans. Reason will not work on either.
That sounds like an awfully big ailment to cure...
Perhaps religion can help. Or, maybe a good book. Delicious soup. Walking a dog. Feeding the birds.
I don't think there's a one sized fits all answer here. Perhaps religion helps some; it doesn't help others. Perhaps an ambitious career helps some; bogs down others.
Humans are vastly diverse. I imagine their remedies are, too.
PearlSeeker
Well-Known Member
This reminds me of the famous Bible verse:
"So I commended the enjoyment of life, because there is nothing better for a man under the sun than to eat and drink and be merry. For this joy will accompany him in his labor during the days of his life that God gives him under the sun." (Ecc 8:15)
PearlSeeker
Well-Known Member
As I know it sure can help. As long as you believe it to be true. After you have no reason to believe (you realize it was a placebo) it doesn't work anymore.
Placebos can help not because of their own nature but because of what happens when one takes it with belief. I'd be a bit more generous and say that religion can help or hinder some people at some times. If the religion inspires people to be more loving, that's wonderful.
Kabir:
IF GOD BE within the mosque, then to whom does this world belong?
If Ram be within the image which you find upon your pilgrimage, then who is there to know what happens without?
Hari is in the East: Allah is in the West.
Look within your heart, for there you will find both Karim and Ram;
All the men and women of the world are His living forms.
Kabir is the child of Allah and of Ram: He is my Guru, He is my Pir.
Kabir:
IF GOD BE within the mosque, then to whom does this world belong?
If Ram be within the image which you find upon your pilgrimage, then who is there to know what happens without?
Hari is in the East: Allah is in the West.
Look within your heart, for there you will find both Karim and Ram;
All the men and women of the world are His living forms.
Kabir is the child of Allah and of Ram: He is my Guru, He is my Pir.
That's an interesting thought. If the placebo effect is real, which it is, and if it works, which it does, then perhaps we can harness that without having to drink the bathwater of religion that the baby of faith (the placebo effect) finds itself in? Maybe we can redeem God from religion?
Then I would say belief is the placebo, then, not religion.
A person's religion can be free of beliefs, or place little emphasis on them. But a person can have nonreligious beliefs, and be crippled when they realize they're not true.
"People are generally good."
"Working hard will always bring reward."
"My parents will always look out for me."
These are some non religious beliefs a person can hold, perhaps as a placebo, to help them get through life, all which have the potential to shatter a person should they find them untrue.
Since religion is real medicine but we're calling it not real medicine, I guess that means all the not real medicine would be the real medicine?
paarsurrey
Veteran Member
If religion is a placebo...
Isn't "none"ism aka Atheism and all its shades also a placebo, please? Right?
Regards
Isn't "none"ism aka Atheism and all its shades also a placebo, please? Right?
Regards
“Aren’t all religions equally true? No, all religions are equally false. The relationship of religion to truth is like that of a menu to a meal. The menu describes the meal as best it can. It points to something beyond itself. As long as we use the menu as a guide we do it honor. When we mistake the menu for the meal, we do it and ourselves a grave injustice.”
Rabbi Rami Shapiro
Exaltist Ethan
Bridging the Gap Between Believers and Skeptics
God. A total and complete understanding of the divine world that is Earth and our role in the Universe.
Letting go of the need to seek, know, possess the Truth.
Yes, that is redeeming or 'saving' God from religion. God beyond God, as Meister Eckhart called it. "I pray God make me free of God that I may know God."