Showing posts with label oppression. Show all posts
Showing posts with label oppression. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 29, 2021

Science vs Religion






Modern science is objective analysis, while spirituality is subjective
and intuitive understanding. Science can be measured. Religion, not so much. Religion is based on faith while science is based on logic. That is why the two are often not compatible. But both are seeking to answer some of the same questions.

Since all societies, after all, seem to have religions of some sort it must have a social purpose. While the theology based forms are only a few thousand years old and characteristic of post-agricultural societies, the shamanic forms apparently date back for thousands if not millions of years.

But religion presents a particular puzzle, since it often involves extremely costly behaviors, such as altruism and, at times, even self-sacrifice. So we should also look beyond the individual to the survival of the group, and they could generate cohesive social bonds to form primary groups.

Family structure is the invisible set of functional demands that organizes the ways in which family members interact. Family structures of some kind are found in every society.

The family is a unique social system with its own structure and patterns of communication. These patterns are determined by many factors, including the parents' beliefs and values, the personalities of all family members, and the influence of the extended multigenerational family (grandparents, aunts, and uncles).

The traditional family structure is conceptualized as the configuration of family which is organized according to roles, rules, power, and hierarchies. As the core institution of society, the family affects all other aspects of society. This is especially true of politics. Political leanings are notably influenced by both family structure and family values. Intermarriage between groups, tribes, or clans was often political or strategic and resulted in reciprocal obligations.

Family structures are different depending on the tribe. It is probably generally true that in hunter-gather societies men generally hunted, while women generally gathered. In regions where they ate mostly plant materials they were more likely to be matriarchal, while others were patriarchal if they ate mostly meat. A Matriarchal family structure describes a household where the mother is the authoritative figure. A Patriarchal family structure describes a household where the father is the authoritative figure.

Animism is an ancient philosophy that views everything in Nature as having an indwelling spirit/soul, including the plants, rocks, waters, winds, fires, animals, humans, and other life forms. Animism is the foundation of shamanism and has been considered the earliest form of human religion on planet Earth.

Nature spirits are believed to be various types of beings or spirits which inhabit Nature. The belief in their existence was almost universal in the ancient era of religions which embodied animist religion. An intimate relationship with the environment is apparently built into the human psyche. Historically, nature, mountains, rivers, trees, the sun, the moon have always been honored in ancient cultures.

Cultures around the world recognize the existence of spirit beings that come in many forms. People in much of the world recognize and have reverence for an abundance of spirits, seen and unseen beings with a direct tie to nature.

Together, they are thought to maintain our world’s balance by guarding it and harmonizing with each other. They can do that as spirits or as attachments on natural living things. They usually live where nature is untouched by humans. This could mean in the deep forests, secluded rivers, volcanic areas, and mountain tops. They could also be among plants, trees, beaches, deserts, or wide and open spaces.

Some spitits are thought to have originated from the belief that ethereal elements are the building blocks of nature. This then progressed into elementals being defined by the gentiles as unknown but powerful forces that affected men and the surroundings.

The belief is that there are a number of spirits who mostly live in nature including animals, water, and the earth. Ancestral Spirits—the spirits of dead ancestors often played an important part in traditional religion. The core of shamanism is the belief in, and acknowledgment of, spirits and the spirit world. A shaman is a person who has become "a master of spirits, at least of a group of spirits."

Before there was science or religion a master of spirits was consulted for help with illness and all sorts of problems which didn't have practical solutions. The shaman uses his powers to render the spirits' activities ineffective or favorable by appropriate words and ceremonies. The shaman does this by communicating with spirits at will, often through induced ecstasy or even possession by a spirit that imparts to him intense mental states, superhuman strength or infused knowledge.

In many groups the shaman outranked the war chief, marking the beginning of the church domination of the state. The shaman sometimes functioned as a priest and even as a priest-king. The benefits and privileges of a kingdom are only accessible to citizens having the favor of the king.

Some would say that science is predicated on the assumption of materialism which is neither provable nor scientific. Materialism is a form of philosophical monism which holds matter to be the fundamental substance in nature, and all things, including mental states and consciousness, are results of material interactions.

The problem is that science has delivered power into the hands of the greedy and faith has delivered power into the hands of hierocratic authorities. Which leaves the rest of us out in the cold of oppression. And we are quite literally sick of it—and so is the planet!

A lot of us are just looking for somebody to blame so we can absolve ourselves from any part we have played in it. We have been grounded in the superficial values of materialism. We have become so conditioned that many don't even trust intuition, much less have any sort of intimacy with nature. The pandemic is only a distraction from the larger issue of our earth crisis.

Even if all religions were wrong, that doesn't prove that does or does not exist. We are in the wilderness. It is not a question of returning or getting back to the way it was. There is no re acquainting to do. It's about learning how to be and acknowledging that the way it was is wrong.Growing up means stripping away our pretenses.

Who will we choose to become? In times of catastrophe, the collective consciousness is going from one state to another. It is a kind of initiation. In the face of chaos the religious domain and the factual domain are being brought together.

The good news is that neuroscience is telling us that we can literally rewire our brains which can go a long way toward becoming healthier and happier.