Category: Religion, Myth, and Theology

  • Is Religion Necessary For The Individual?

    Mindfulness is necessary. Religion provides us with mindfulness in the personal, interpersonal, social, and political realms by the use of ritual, feast, festival, and myth. There are biological and circumstantial reasons why we need mindfulness in a world no longer consisting of hunter gatherer bands.

    The problem, religion is the ABSOLUTE WORST POSSIBLE way of achieving mindfulness. And of the worst possible kinds, Abrahamic Monotheism is the ABSOLUTE WORST POSSIBLE religion.

    https://www.quora.com/Is-religion-necessary-for-the-individual

  • It’s Not Just Intelligence That Drives Demand For Religion And Myth…

    (important post) —“Q: Why are low IQs and low education so strongly correlated with being religious?”— (Decidability> MIndfulness > Social Confirmation > Emotional Feedback > Precision) Um… The reasons are 1) that the spectrum of means of ‘measurement’ available to the human mind, and 2) the spectrum available means of mindfulness available to the human mind, and 3) the spectrum of need for emotional feedback, from much to none, and 4) the spectrum of social confirmation, from much to none, are all satisfied by very broad, very imprecise, but entirely actionable formulae provided by narrative analogy. Yet as Agency (ability, knowledge, resources, opportunity) increase, we need increasingly precise methods of measurement and increasingly sophisticated means of mindfulness. So as our abilities increase we ‘leave behind’ analogy, then leave behind rule, and then arrive at calculation, just as we leave behind virtue ethics, leave behind rule ethics, and arrive at outcome ethics. But the spectrum of religious parable, normative and rule, rational estimation, and scientific calculation, all gracefully fail, back upon the broader method of choice, allowing us to make decisions with the the maximum and minimum of knowledge we have on any given topic. So some of us gain our mindfulness from very great precision because of our agency, and others of us gain our mindfulness from very low precision because of our lack of agency. Some of us seek narratives because we want independence of emotion and social confirmation. some of us seek narratives because we need emotional reward, and social confirmation. That’s actually the answer. Because people need to act, and to act they need to decide, and they can only decide with the information available to them, and the information available to them is only possible, given the information processing they have available to them. The lower one’s ability the more one needs very simple, very fixed, rules, so that one is not in a constant state of indecision, and because of it, a constant state of failure, and because of it, a constant state of anger and frustration. The greater one’s ability the more one needs very precise and dynamic means of calculation, so that one can identify and seize increasingly valuable opportunities. But interestingly, regardless of ability, we need either social confirmation or don’t, or we need emotional returns or don’t. And so we have a much more complex set of related needs than is obvious by just a test of intelligence. Because some very bight people need both emotional feedback and social confirmation, and some very bright people need no emotional feedback and no social confirmation. and some of us need only either emotional feedback or social confirmation, but not the other. BUT TRUE OR FALSE MYTHS? So Mythologies, Parables, Stories, and the lessons of history, are not so much a bad thing, as are FALSE MYTHOLOGIES, parables, stories, and lessons of history. Selecting virtuous characters from history. Adapting them into archetypal characters, adapting their stories to archetypal narrative structures, so that they answer archetypal problems, by means that are pre-cognitive to us, is not difficult. The principle problem is getting enough people to use the same narratives so that people with low ability make decisions by the same criteria, so that they can cooperate successfully, so that in turn they obtain decidability and mindfulness. That is the answer. THE FIRST ABRAHAMIC DARK AGE The problem is that we have been taught three false (abrahamic) narratives in place of our ancient narratives (the seasons, the family, and the trials of Achilles), with hideous narratives (we are born evil, we must atone to an evil god, we can seek false immortality by obedience, the classes are at war rather than cooperating, the races, tribes, and clans are at war rather than cooperating through competition, and the trials of the underclass Moses, Jesus and Mohammed. So judaism, christianity, and islam in the ancient world as a revolt against aristocracy, meritocracy, productivity, and technology. And Roussuea-Kant, Marx-Boaz-Freud-Cantor-Mises, and the Frankfurt and Postmodern schools in the modern world. THE SECOND ABRAHAMIC DARK AGE There is no difference between the frankfurt school and the council of nicea. There is no difference between academic postmodernism, and the forcible closure of the stoic schools. THere is no difference between the systematic islamic and christian destruction of greek and roman thought, and the active suppression of western history, conservative thought, and scientific research into genetic and cultural differences. ORGANIZED RELIGION TO DEFEAT ARISTOCRACY (MERIT) The purpose of christianity was the destruction of western scientific aristocracy, and the purpose of rousseuian-kantian philosophy, marxim-socialism, frankfurt-postmodernism, and jewish and islamic fundamentalism, is the destruction of western scientific aristocracy in the modern world. TRIPARTISM Classes can cooperate in the natural hierarchy of western Tripartism -as we have for millennia. Or we can conflict in the unnatural pursuit of false equality that the underclasses will wishfully promote and destroy the world, and bring about another dark age, if we let them. Curt Doolittle, The Propertarian Institute Kiev, Ukraine
  • IT’S NOT JUST INTELLIGENCE THAT DRIVES DEMAND FOR RELIGION AND MYTH… (importan

    IT’S NOT JUST INTELLIGENCE THAT DRIVES DEMAND FOR RELIGION AND MYTH…

    (important post)

    —“Q: Why are low IQs and low education so strongly correlated with being religious?”—

    (Decidability> MIndfulness > Social Confirmation > Emotional Feedback > Precision)

    Um… The reasons are 1) that the spectrum of means of ‘measurement’ available to the human mind, and 2) the spectrum available means of mindfulness available to the human mind, and 3) the spectrum of need for emotional feedback, from much to none, and 4) the spectrum of social confirmation, from much to none, are all satisfied by very broad, very imprecise, but entirely actionable formulae provided by narrative analogy.

    Yet as Agency (ability, knowledge, resources, opportunity) increase, we need increasingly precise methods of measurement and increasingly sophisticated means of mindfulness. So as our abilities increase we ‘leave behind’ analogy, then leave behind rule, and then arrive at calculation, just as we leave behind virtue ethics, leave behind rule ethics, and arrive at outcome ethics.

    But the spectrum of religious parable, normative and rule, rational estimation, and scientific calculation, all gracefully fail, back upon the broader method of choice, allowing us to make decisions with the the maximum and minimum of knowledge we have on any given topic.

    So some of us gain our mindfulness from very great precision because of our agency, and others of us gain our mindfulness from very low precision because of our lack of agency. Some of us seek narratives because we want independence of emotion and social confirmation. some of us seek narratives because we need emotional reward, and social confirmation.

    That’s actually the answer.

    Because people need to act, and to act they need to decide, and they can only decide with the information available to them, and the information available to them is only possible, given the information processing they have available to them.

    The lower one’s ability the more one needs very simple, very fixed, rules, so that one is not in a constant state of indecision, and because of it, a constant state of failure, and because of it, a constant state of anger and frustration.

    The greater one’s ability the more one needs very precise and dynamic means of calculation, so that one can identify and seize increasingly valuable opportunities.

    But interestingly, regardless of ability, we need either social confirmation or don’t, or we need emotional returns or don’t. And so we have a much more complex set of related needs than is obvious by just a test of intelligence. Because some very bight people need both emotional feedback and social confirmation, and some very bright people need no emotional feedback and no social confirmation. and some of us need only either emotional feedback or social confirmation, but not the other.

    BUT TRUE OR FALSE MYTHS?

    So Mythologies, Parables, Stories, and the lessons of history, are not so much a bad thing, as are FALSE MYTHOLOGIES, parables, stories, and lessons of history.

    Selecting virtuous characters from history. Adapting them into archetypal characters, adapting their stories to archetypal narrative structures, so that they answer archetypal problems, by means that are pre-cognitive to us, is not difficult.

    The principle problem is getting enough people to use the same narratives so that people with low ability make decisions by the same criteria, so that they can cooperate successfully, so that in turn they obtain decidability and mindfulness.

    That is the answer.

    THE FIRST ABRAHAMIC DARK AGE

    The problem is that we have been taught three false (abrahamic) narratives in place of our ancient narratives (the seasons, the family, and the trials of Achilles), with hideous narratives (we are born evil, we must atone to an evil god, we can seek false immortality by obedience, the classes are at war rather than cooperating, the races, tribes, and clans are at war rather than cooperating through competition, and the trials of the underclass Moses, Jesus and Mohammed. So judaism, christianity, and islam in the ancient world as a revolt against aristocracy, meritocracy, productivity, and technology. And Roussuea-Kant, Marx-Boaz-Freud-Cantor-Mises, and the Frankfurt and Postmodern schools in the modern world.

    THE SECOND ABRAHAMIC DARK AGE

    There is no difference between the frankfurt school and the council of nicea. There is no difference between academic postmodernism, and the forcible closure of the stoic schools. THere is no difference between the systematic islamic and christian destruction of greek and roman thought, and the active suppression of western history, conservative thought, and scientific research into genetic and cultural differences.

    ORGANIZED RELIGION TO DEFEAT ARISTOCRACY (MERIT)

    The purpose of christianity was the destruction of western scientific aristocracy, and the purpose of rousseuian-kantian philosophy, marxim-socialism, frankfurt-postmodernism, and jewish and islamic fundamentalism, is the destruction of western scientific aristocracy in the modern world.

    TRIPARTISM

    Classes can cooperate in the natural hierarchy of western Tripartism -as we have for millennia. Or we can conflict in the unnatural pursuit of false equality that the underclasses will wishfully promote and destroy the world, and bring about another dark age, if we let them.

    Curt Doolittle,

    The Propertarian Institute

    Kiev, Ukraine


    Source date (UTC): 2017-12-30 12:38:00 UTC

  • It’s Not Just Intelligence That Drives Demand For Religion And Myth…

    (important post) —“Q: Why are low IQs and low education so strongly correlated with being religious?”— (Decidability> MIndfulness > Social Confirmation > Emotional Feedback > Precision) Um… The reasons are 1) that the spectrum of means of ‘measurement’ available to the human mind, and 2) the spectrum available means of mindfulness available to the human mind, and 3) the spectrum of need for emotional feedback, from much to none, and 4) the spectrum of social confirmation, from much to none, are all satisfied by very broad, very imprecise, but entirely actionable formulae provided by narrative analogy. Yet as Agency (ability, knowledge, resources, opportunity) increase, we need increasingly precise methods of measurement and increasingly sophisticated means of mindfulness. So as our abilities increase we ‘leave behind’ analogy, then leave behind rule, and then arrive at calculation, just as we leave behind virtue ethics, leave behind rule ethics, and arrive at outcome ethics. But the spectrum of religious parable, normative and rule, rational estimation, and scientific calculation, all gracefully fail, back upon the broader method of choice, allowing us to make decisions with the the maximum and minimum of knowledge we have on any given topic. So some of us gain our mindfulness from very great precision because of our agency, and others of us gain our mindfulness from very low precision because of our lack of agency. Some of us seek narratives because we want independence of emotion and social confirmation. some of us seek narratives because we need emotional reward, and social confirmation. That’s actually the answer. Because people need to act, and to act they need to decide, and they can only decide with the information available to them, and the information available to them is only possible, given the information processing they have available to them. The lower one’s ability the more one needs very simple, very fixed, rules, so that one is not in a constant state of indecision, and because of it, a constant state of failure, and because of it, a constant state of anger and frustration. The greater one’s ability the more one needs very precise and dynamic means of calculation, so that one can identify and seize increasingly valuable opportunities. But interestingly, regardless of ability, we need either social confirmation or don’t, or we need emotional returns or don’t. And so we have a much more complex set of related needs than is obvious by just a test of intelligence. Because some very bight people need both emotional feedback and social confirmation, and some very bright people need no emotional feedback and no social confirmation. and some of us need only either emotional feedback or social confirmation, but not the other. BUT TRUE OR FALSE MYTHS? So Mythologies, Parables, Stories, and the lessons of history, are not so much a bad thing, as are FALSE MYTHOLOGIES, parables, stories, and lessons of history. Selecting virtuous characters from history. Adapting them into archetypal characters, adapting their stories to archetypal narrative structures, so that they answer archetypal problems, by means that are pre-cognitive to us, is not difficult. The principle problem is getting enough people to use the same narratives so that people with low ability make decisions by the same criteria, so that they can cooperate successfully, so that in turn they obtain decidability and mindfulness. That is the answer. THE FIRST ABRAHAMIC DARK AGE The problem is that we have been taught three false (abrahamic) narratives in place of our ancient narratives (the seasons, the family, and the trials of Achilles), with hideous narratives (we are born evil, we must atone to an evil god, we can seek false immortality by obedience, the classes are at war rather than cooperating, the races, tribes, and clans are at war rather than cooperating through competition, and the trials of the underclass Moses, Jesus and Mohammed. So judaism, christianity, and islam in the ancient world as a revolt against aristocracy, meritocracy, productivity, and technology. And Roussuea-Kant, Marx-Boaz-Freud-Cantor-Mises, and the Frankfurt and Postmodern schools in the modern world. THE SECOND ABRAHAMIC DARK AGE There is no difference between the frankfurt school and the council of nicea. There is no difference between academic postmodernism, and the forcible closure of the stoic schools. THere is no difference between the systematic islamic and christian destruction of greek and roman thought, and the active suppression of western history, conservative thought, and scientific research into genetic and cultural differences. ORGANIZED RELIGION TO DEFEAT ARISTOCRACY (MERIT) The purpose of christianity was the destruction of western scientific aristocracy, and the purpose of rousseuian-kantian philosophy, marxim-socialism, frankfurt-postmodernism, and jewish and islamic fundamentalism, is the destruction of western scientific aristocracy in the modern world. TRIPARTISM Classes can cooperate in the natural hierarchy of western Tripartism -as we have for millennia. Or we can conflict in the unnatural pursuit of false equality that the underclasses will wishfully promote and destroy the world, and bring about another dark age, if we let them. Curt Doolittle, The Propertarian Institute Kiev, Ukraine
  • My answer to What are your thoughts on politics and religion?

    My answer to What are your thoughts on politics and religion? https://www.quora.com/What-are-your-thoughts-on-politics-and-religion/answer/Curt-Doolittle?srid=u4Qv


    Source date (UTC): 2017-12-29 02:13:09 UTC

    Original post: https://twitter.com/i/web/status/946564718038339584

  • My answer to What are your thoughts on politics and religion?

    My answer to What are your thoughts on politics and religion? https://www.quora.com/What-are-your-thoughts-on-politics-and-religion/answer/Curt-Doolittle?share=424fe06b


    Source date (UTC): 2017-12-29 02:12:26 UTC

    Original post: https://twitter.com/i/web/status/946564534684340224

  • The Complete Answer

    —“What are your thoughts on Politics and Religion”— I have come to understand that the abrahamic religions are the cause of the dark age, the cause of more deaths than the plagues, and the continuing cause of human suffering, and the greatest threat to human transcendence (evolution). We all require **mindfulness** outside of hunter gatherer lifestyles where we know our ‘place’ with everyone around us. We need Personal mindfulness. Interpersonal Mindfulness. And socio-political mindfulness. We evolved as pack animals. A strange mixture of chimp and wolf. We all long for the security of some aspect of the elation, power, comfort, and security of pack. Yet the more advanced our civilizations the more isolated we are as individuals. This was the problem religions solved, and religions solved them by evolving all at about the same time, in response to the needs of living in greater numbers with less certainty in our relations. We fail to grasp that religions are vast lies that provide mindfulness. We can achieve mindfulness through intentional discipline, a variety of rituals, participations in feasts, dances, parades, sports, celebrations, and especially in oration, ‘theater’, and Myth. But we can obtain that mindfulness by truthful, half truthful, or entirely untruthful means. And there are profound consequences for any people given the means of mindfulness they choose. As far as I can tell, government is necessary for the production of increasingly complex commons. And mindfulness is necessary for cooperation in those increasingly complex commons. But that said, both politics under democracy and religion regardless of political structure are constituted of very little other than utter falsehoods, because both seek power over us and profits from us, by lying. If we lived under rule of natural (common) law (of tort), where we extended warranty of due diligence from goods, and services, to political speech, and houses of government were but a market for cooperation between the classes (as in the old english monarchic model) except that we used direct democracy or direct economic democracy, without representatives, and each voted on each issue individually, it is very hard to imagine we would have much use for politics. If we were all taught mindfulness like we are taught table manners, reading-writing, arithmetic – even if we had to teach it by half a dozen different means in order to satisfy the needs of peoples with different brain structures, then we would have little need for religion. The problem is…. we all love our little lies. And in my world, it is the lies that cause all the world’s problems, and justify all the world’s crimes, and encourage all the world’s evil.
  • COMPLETE ANSWER —“What are your thoughts on Politics and Religion”— I have c

    https://www.quora.com/What-are-your-thoughts-on-politics-and-religion/answer/Curt-Doolittle?share=424fe06b&srid=u4QvTHE COMPLETE ANSWER

    —“What are your thoughts on Politics and Religion”—

    I have come to understand that the abrahamic religions are the cause of the dark age, the cause of more deaths than the plagues, and the continuing cause of human suffering, and the greatest threat to human transcendence (evolution).

    We all require **mindfulness** outside of hunter gatherer lifestyles where we know our ‘place’ with everyone around us. We need Personal mindfulness. Interpersonal Mindfulness. And socio-political mindfulness. We evolved as pack animals. A strange mixture of chimp and wolf. We all long for the security of some aspect of the elation, power, comfort, and security of pack.

    Yet the more advanced our civilizations the more isolated we are as individuals. This was the problem religions solved, and religions solved them by evolving all at about the same time, in response to the needs of living in greater numbers with less certainty in our relations.

    We fail to grasp that religions are vast lies that provide mindfulness. We can achieve mindfulness through intentional discipline, a variety of rituals, participations in feasts, dances, parades, sports, celebrations, and especially in oration, ‘theater’, and Myth.

    But we can obtain that mindfulness by truthful, half truthful, or entirely untruthful means. And there are profound consequences for any people given the means of mindfulness they choose.

    As far as I can tell, government is necessary for the production of increasingly complex commons. And mindfulness is necessary for cooperation in those increasingly complex commons.

    But that said, both politics under democracy and religion regardless of political structure are constituted of very little other than utter falsehoods, because both seek power over us and profits from us, by lying.

    If we lived under rule of natural (common) law (of tort), where we extended warranty of due diligence from goods, and services, to political speech, and houses of government were but a market for cooperation between the classes (as in the old english monarchic model) except that we used direct democracy or direct economic democracy, without representatives, and each voted on each issue individually, it is very hard to imagine we would have much use for politics.

    If we were all taught mindfulness like we are taught table manners, reading-writing, arithmetic – even if we had to teach it by half a dozen different means in order to satisfy the needs of peoples with different brain structures, then we would have little need for religion.

    The problem is…. we all love our little lies.

    And in my world, it is the lies that cause all the world’s problems, and justify all the world’s crimes, and encourage all the world’s evil.Updated Dec 28, 2017, 9:13 PM


    Source date (UTC): 2017-12-28 21:13:00 UTC

  • The Complete Answer

    —“What are your thoughts on Politics and Religion”— I have come to understand that the abrahamic religions are the cause of the dark age, the cause of more deaths than the plagues, and the continuing cause of human suffering, and the greatest threat to human transcendence (evolution). We all require **mindfulness** outside of hunter gatherer lifestyles where we know our ‘place’ with everyone around us. We need Personal mindfulness. Interpersonal Mindfulness. And socio-political mindfulness. We evolved as pack animals. A strange mixture of chimp and wolf. We all long for the security of some aspect of the elation, power, comfort, and security of pack. Yet the more advanced our civilizations the more isolated we are as individuals. This was the problem religions solved, and religions solved them by evolving all at about the same time, in response to the needs of living in greater numbers with less certainty in our relations. We fail to grasp that religions are vast lies that provide mindfulness. We can achieve mindfulness through intentional discipline, a variety of rituals, participations in feasts, dances, parades, sports, celebrations, and especially in oration, ‘theater’, and Myth. But we can obtain that mindfulness by truthful, half truthful, or entirely untruthful means. And there are profound consequences for any people given the means of mindfulness they choose. As far as I can tell, government is necessary for the production of increasingly complex commons. And mindfulness is necessary for cooperation in those increasingly complex commons. But that said, both politics under democracy and religion regardless of political structure are constituted of very little other than utter falsehoods, because both seek power over us and profits from us, by lying. If we lived under rule of natural (common) law (of tort), where we extended warranty of due diligence from goods, and services, to political speech, and houses of government were but a market for cooperation between the classes (as in the old english monarchic model) except that we used direct democracy or direct economic democracy, without representatives, and each voted on each issue individually, it is very hard to imagine we would have much use for politics. If we were all taught mindfulness like we are taught table manners, reading-writing, arithmetic – even if we had to teach it by half a dozen different means in order to satisfy the needs of peoples with different brain structures, then we would have little need for religion. The problem is…. we all love our little lies. And in my world, it is the lies that cause all the world’s problems, and justify all the world’s crimes, and encourage all the world’s evil.
  • What Are Your Thoughts On Politics And Religion?

    THE COMPLETE ANSWER

    I have come to understand that the abrahamic religions are the cause of the dark age, the cause of more deaths than the plagues, and the continuing cause of human suffering, and the greatest threat to human transcendence (evolution).

    RELIGION AND MINDFULNESS

    We all require mindfulness outside of hunter gatherer lifestyles where we know our ‘place’ with everyone around us. We need Personal mindfulness. Interpersonal Mindfulness. And socio-political mindfulness. We evolved as pack animals. A strange mixture of chimp and wolf. We all long for the security of some aspect of the elation, power, comfort, and security of pack. Yet the more advanced our civilizations the more isolated we are as individuals. This was the problem religions solved, and religions solved them by evolving all at about the same time, in response to the needs of living in greater numbers with less certainty in our relations.

    We fail to grasp that religions are vast lies that provide mindfulness. We can achieve mindfulness through intentional discipline, a variety of rituals, participations in feasts, dances, parades, sports, celebrations, and especially in oration, ‘theater’, and Myth.

    But we can obtain that mindfulness by truthful, half truthful, or entirely untruthful means. And there are profound consequences for any people given the means of mindfulness they choose.

    GOVERNMENT AND COMMONS

    As far as I can tell, government is necessary for the production of increasingly complex commons. And mindfulness is necessary for cooperation in those increasingly complex commons.

    But that said, both politics under democracy and religion regardless of political structure are constituted of very little other than utter falsehoods, because both seek power over us and profits from us, by lying.

    If we lived under rule of natural (common) law (of tort), where we extended warraty of due diligence from goods, and services, to political speech, and houses of government were but a market for cooperation between the classes (as in the old english monarchic model) except that we used direct democracy or direct economic democracy, without representatives, and each voted on each issue individually, it is very hard to imagine we would have much use for politics.

    If we were all taught mindfulness like we are taught table manners, reading-writing, arithmetic – even if we had to teach it by half a dozen different means in order to satisfy the needs of peoples with different brain structures, then we would have little need for religion.

    The problem is…. we all love our little lies.

    And in my world, it is the lies that cause all the world’s problems, and justify all the world’s crimes, and encourage all the world’s evil.

    Curt Doolittle
    The Propertarian Institute

    https://www.quora.com/What-are-your-thoughts-on-politics-and-religion