The purpose of most religions is not mindfulness but supplanting it with addiction to emotional self indulgence.
The purpose of buddha’s teaching was, originally, submissive mindfulness.
The purpose of stoicism’s teaching was dominant mindfulness – action.
The purpose of Epicureanism was evidentiary mindfulness: supplying the human with real demands instead of status competition.
And while the stoic METHOD – today’s cognitive behavioral therapy (training) – is superior to all others, the Epicurean objective is superior to all others. And this is in part why the anatolian, syrian, middle eastern fought so hard to destroy western heroism and it’s status competition by demonstrated action, sacrifice to earn the franchise, truth and duty to preserve the franchise: because all of these demands force us to obtain status through contribution to the commons (farmers and men ), rather than hyperconsumption of any available commons (shepherds and women), and emotional self indulgence.
Why? Because while the division of labor provides
discounts on production, status provides a discount on opportunity. So if can construct high status (sexual, social, economic, political, or military market value) we obtain more and better opportunities with more and better people.
The innovation in abrahamic religion was to provide competition against aristocratic stoicism, truth, duty, and contribution to the commons, with self indulgence, justification of cowardice, and elimination of contribution to the commons – which is what we see in communism, neo-liberalism, and libertarianism: how to consume the commons rather than contribute to them.
The structure of this religion is dependent upon your learning to lie in the face of reality in exchange for denial of that reality, denial of truth, duty, commons. It is a narrative structure that recreates the nepotism and insularity of the wandering shepherds who have no land, but live off common lands, and preserve insularity and non-defection in a condition of permanent competition against others of the same ilk, rather than the forces of nature.
Our gradual domestication of this religion the purpose of which was to undermine the aristocracy, by converting it’s women and underclasses, who could not obtain status in the meritocratic order in that era where industrialization and gunpowder had not yet produced multiples of force, and all was still dependent upon military participation and fighting.
The demand for mindfulness is largely a demand for means of training our demand for status. As the division of labor increases, the classes diverge in ability, productivity, and interest, and as power distance between bottom and top increases, we find those with the least agency seeking status by alternative means, and a caste of ‘talkers’ providing status (success) by alternative means – where are alternative does not refer to production contribution to the commons, or defense of the private and common.
Gods provide a means of obtaining approval without competing in the sexual, social, political, economic, and military markets for status and therefore opportunity.
Mythical Archetypes, heroes (masculine pagan markets), gods and saints (feminine abrahamic monopoly), provide a diversity of heroies and interests as suits those with agency in a division of knowledge and labor.
The monotheistic archetype creates an anti-hero, in which the victim who suffers for his lack of ability and agency is somehow heroic. But the purpose of this anti-hero is the undermining of those who demonstrate innovation, excellence, competitiveness, production, and contribution to the commons, that increases the division of knowledge and labor, increases competitiveness, increases power distance, and decreases opportunity for status in those lacking ability, training, and agency.
The jesus hero is a contribution to the heathen (ancestors, nature) pagan (heroes, archetypes) when one of many. But a disaster, like mohammed, and the jews when a monopoly – for we are only equal in ignorance, lack of agency and poverty. We are always unequal in knowledge agency, and wealth.
It is not that we didn’t need the jesus hero, since there is no equivalent of the feminine archetype in the european pantheon. and the teaching of forgiveness and love in christianity is commercially optimum for all peoples. Unless it is applied (as do christians) beyond our kith and kin.
There is no better method of training our emotions and intuitions other than the stoic method. There is nothing better to seek in life than the epicurean. And just as we domesticated christianity into a germanic folk religion, and just as we manufactured chivalry to direct aryan men to christian ends. These are the needs of the many ordinary men, while nietzsche, aristotle, alexander, jefferson, and frederick are examples for those of us who are not ordinary men. And it is only aristotelianism, heathenism, paganism , and christianity together that produce a religion for all the classes.
We have always been an aristotelian (natural law), heathen (nature and ancestor) and pagan (heroes and tribes) people. With competition between the martial, magical,literary, and rational in competition.
(Note: I have made a mistake by not putting time, opportunity, and status, at the top of the demonstrated property hierarchy. life is just time. time opportunity. opportunity experience.)