Religion, reality, belief

“I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.”

These memorable words fromInvictus, Latin for “unconquered”, by English poet William Henley, highlight man’s need to accept responsibility for his own fate.

From the times when humans developed reason and thought, there has always been the tendency to attribute occurrences to the work of some supernatural being, and to ignore the fact that everything which happens does so as a result of a specific cause which produces its resultant effect; every thing is inter-dependent

Whether it took the form of worshipping idols, sun or stars, animals, landforms, or various divine ‘beings’, people always believed that control of their destiny was in the hands of something or someone outside themselves.

What adherents of many religions fail to appreciate is that any cause knowingly generated by man results in a man-made outcome.

Results are not because of successful prayer to some mythical presence for something desired by the beseechers, but this willingness to do so has resulted in religion’s gaining immense control, especially when favourable effects eventuate.

I am not singling out any particular religion, I condemn all of them. My mantra is freedom from religion, not freedom of religion.

Karl Marx held that: "Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people".

Religion devolves from an ethical moral base, but ethics and morality certainly are not dependent upon religion for their adoption. Religion’s exclusive claim on these qualities is diminished by the groupthink which goes with it; a sort of mass delusion (no pun). It has resulted in immensely powerful cliques in the form of churches, generally constructed with overpowering dogma, hierarchies, and influence, thus the ability to manipulate public attitude.

I do not suggest that there is anything abnormal about the existence or structure of social bonding, since man is a gregarious animal who disdains isolation. One has only to participate in assemblage activities such as ballet, sport, stage performances, or choral singing to appreciate the feeling of well-being which comes from taking part in collective participation; endorphins at play.   

The basis of most religions is the desire to achieve good outcomes in life, but not only is the definition of “good’ a little nebulous, but also its methods of achievement. Much religious indoctrination involves mind control with followers forced to accept fatuous hypotheses as unquestioned facts. Faith is substituted for logic and reason.    

I have one close friend who chose to enter the priesthood as a result of his admiration for the positive virtues espoused by his family’s religion and his own upbringing. After some time at his seminary, he became disillusioned, not only with the dogmatic mindlessness and incorrectness of what he was being taught, but also with his religion. He walked right away from it.

Later, he began to understand something of Buddhist practice, and saw that its atheism was exactly the kind of direction he sought.

When discussing Buddhism with questioners I define it not as a religion, but a blend of psychology, philosophy and spirituality. A very profound blend.

The Nepalese prince, Siddhartha Gautama later known as the Buddha, deserves gratitude and respect for achieving enlightenment around twenty six hundred years ago. He spent the rest of his life educating others how to become enlightened and in the process explained cause and effect, karma. One of his teachings was that each person is entirely responsible for whatever happens to himself. I note that many of the ritual, formal outward methods of paying respect to this revered tutor, particularly by Chinese adherents with strong Confucian tradition, wrongfully can suggest subservience rather then reverence.

A childish belief in things supernatural, such as Santa Claus, is enjoyable fun during the years of early growth, but should disappear steadily as the youngster becomes more educated about the truths of existence. This also depends upon just who carries out the educating.

Because religion has power as its corollary it is a potent tool for the enforced control of the ideas and actions of individuals. It is worth recalling Lord Acton’s expression in a letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton: "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men." I point out his qualification ‘almost’, and suggest that the coupling of power with greatness could depend on whether a person acts out of goodness, altruism, and the desire the improve the lot of others, or else is manipulative, scheming, and obsessive.

Nonetheless, the power of social conformity reinforces the herd outlook where arbitrary rules dominate. History has seen an immense number of harmful actions taken as a result of religious beliefs. Not as a result of truths, just mere beliefs.

We’re being subjected to some of these right now with the anti-Muslim posturing of more “orthodox” religions. These attitudes often are not the honest result of individual soul-searching, but stem from one “team” trying the beat the other.

There is a long-standing argument that implies that ethics and morality are not intrinsic personal attributes, and only come as a result of adherence to strict religious principles. Such codes of practice, created by humans, reflect human psychology. Being as strong as they are, they also provide an almost unassailable set of restrictions on individual reasoning and analysis.

Woe betides he who dares to question their authority!  But then, just what is authority, and how does it emerge? A simplistic answer could be that authority is the permission given by society to its leaders for action.

There is no divine or supernatural being who has any authority capable of being exercised. Yet at gatherings, often national occasions, prayers will be offered to that mythical entity for a desired result; “Please give us rain to break the drought”, “God save the Queen”, or in wartime the plea by preachers that one side wins and that the enemy is annihilated.

It is interesting to note that the words ‘Gods’ and ‘Gullibility’ both have ‘G’ as their first letter. Before the modern world became educated as now, there was total reliance by over-trustful people on religious mores to run society.

There are still aspects conflicting our spiritual and secular viewpoints. Do any of you remember the Sunday Observance laws of the not too-distant past? There was little tolerance of any person or activity which did not conform to the religious beliefs of the time. You could not purchase a drink at a hotel unless you went a sufficient distance from home to qualify as a traveler; you could not hold organised sporting events; shops and entertainment venues could not open on Sundays – the list was almost endless, all in the name of preserving entrenched sanctity of Sundays.

One of the outcomes was that children grew up being indoctrinated, and unquestioningly yielding to the group pressures imposed by conformist adults. Fortunately education today is much more inquiring by nature, and places emphasis on unfettered reasoning, challenging the truth of new information presented to students. Perhaps this will see an increase in the rejection of religion by our society.

If you want something to happen, try to understand the distinctions between religion, reality, and belief. If you want to prevent something from happening, then discover just what could cause an undesirable outcome, and take steps to counter its effect. 

Don’t rely on religion or some fictitious “being”. As many home improvements suggest, “do it yourself”.  

And in so doing keep in mind Henley’s line, “I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.”