He had a fish idea? — Hillary

Yep!

‘of’ instead of ‘as’. Point being is a view about which I was generally talking about. There are various other views I was not saying this is the general consensus at all.

There are various other views I was not saying this is the general consensus at all. — I like sushi

Which is a highly questionable conjecture, and on further investigation it turns out to to be a prejudice pure and simple.

He had a fish idea?
— Hillary

Yep! — Agent Smith

Damned!

And?

And? — I like sushi

Well, it's presented without investigation, as if it's true.

By who? What are you talking about?

Don't ask me. You said the concept of God stems from an urge for parenthood, or having good parents.

I did not. Learn to read or stop trolling. Not sure which it is you need to attend to.

You wrote:

"Possibly. The general view as the concept of god growing from a ‘loss of parental guidance’ thingy theory is kind of along those lines too. I don’t buy that completely, but it likely plays a part in human psychology."

Okay. Learn read it is then. Bye

Or learn to write. Although? You wrote, in very good English, that there is the theory that the concept of god grows from a ‘loss of parental guidance". It's a theory, but its applied. Which means, viewing religious folks in a light which is questionable because one knows nothing about them.

Contemplation=meditation? — Hillary

No, it works by thinking in addition to praying, but more focused on thinking, focusing on something ex. religious and thinking how this was and trying to get meaningful message out of it.

ex. you can contemplate over certain verses from the bible for extended period of time, trying to grasp it's most deep secrets, correlating the verse with other passages or books.

there are also other ways of contemplations, including non-religious ones.

In short it's about focusing on something and thinking about it for extended period, ex an hour or 2.

Contemplation is old-fashioned way of trying to get close to God, it was introduced as a countermeasure to meditation movements in western world.

see also:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contemplation

Precisely. I mentioned it, in passing, in response to what someone else said. I even said I didn’t think there was much to it - other than as a psychological item. It is most commonly attributed to Freud I believe.

In respect of the thread, it is a reasonable thing to consider ‘crying out’ as a babe as having some possible relation to prayer. Personally I find ‘prayer’ hard to categorise. Seems like a very loose concept.

Damned! — Hillary

Double damn! It's true! We evolved from marine creatures - amphibians are the missing link. Kiss the frog princess, he's a prince!

In every Philosophical study you first need to define your terms.
I think the definition will provide an answer to your question.

In respect of the thread, it is a reasonable thing to consider ‘crying out’ as a babe as having some possible relation to prayer. — I like sushi

Dunno... I think crying out like a babe has little to do with prayer, though who knows what goes on in the baby's mind? No one has memories of that golden age, and maybe we were closer to gods than we will ever be again.

Double damn! It's true! We evolved from marine creatures - amphibians are the missing link. Kiss the frog princess, he's a prince! — Agent Smith

Triple Damned! The Trinity damnation!

:ok:

Kiss the frog princess, he's a prince! — Agent Smith

Are frogs the missing links?

We could be juvenile chimps for all we know. We share 99.9% of our DNA. — Agent Smith

:monkey:

anthropology — Wayfarer

Anthropology should be considered a branch of primatology. That should put some of us who're obnoxiously self-aggrandizing in our place. Temet Nosce O Monkey, even if Hairless! :grin:

In every Philosophical study you first need to define your terms.
I think the definition will provide an answer to your question. — Nickolasgaspar

This philosophical inquiry centers on how a word should be defined.

Personally I find ‘prayer’ hard to categorise. Seems like a very loose concept — I like sushi

1) You can pray to people (ex. random persons), sometimes your prayer will be considered and fulfilled and sometimes not.
2) You can pray to God, same way sometimes your prayer will be considered and fulfilled and sometimes not.

I would categorize it as passive way of survival, ex. not doing anything and gaining stuff. :smile:

Yes, and it would be a good idea to include the definition challenged by the philosophical inquiry.

We could be juvenile chimps for all we know. — Agent Smith

Always thought you might be one of the million monkeys. How's Hamlet coming along?

More germane to the theme - the Aeon essay I cited previously talks about the role of trance states in the origin of religions (and I suppose derivatively of prayer also). After mentioning the 'Big God' theories (punishing dieties model) and false agency models (that dieties provide explanations in the absence of understanding natural causes), Vernon says

there is a need for a new idea, and coming to the fore now is an old one revisited, revised and rendered more testable. It reaches back a century to the French sociologist Émile Durkheim who observed that social activities create a kind of buzz that he called effervescence. Effervescence is generated when humans come together to make music or perform rituals, an experience that lingers when the ceremonies are over. The suggestion, therefore, is that collective experiences that are religious or religious-like unify groups and create the energy to sustain them.

The explanation is resurfacing in what can be called the trance theory of religious origins, which proposes that our palaeolithic ancestors hit on effervescence upon finding that they could induce altered states of consciousness. Research to test and develop this idea is underway in a multidisciplinary team led by Dunbar at the University of Oxford. The approach appeals to him, in part, because it seems to capture a crucial aspect of religious phenomena missing in suggestions about punishing gods or dangerous spirits. ‘It is not about the fine details of theology,’ Dunbar told me, ‘but is about the raw feelings of experience, and that this raw-feelings element has a transcendental mystical component – something that is only fully experienced in trance states.’ He notes that this sense of transcendence and other worlds is present at some level in almost all forms of religious experience. (Early humans) started deliberately to make music, dance and sing. When the synchronised and collective nature of these practices became sufficiently intense, individuals likely entered trance states in which they experienced not only this-worldly splendour but otherworldly intrigue. They encountered ancestors, spirits and fantastic beasts, now known as therianthropes. These immersive journeys were extraordinarily compelling. What you might call religiosity was born.

The article goes on to discuss how this eventually gave rise to doctrinal religions, mentioning shamanism, early cave art, and other anthropological evidence. I find it a lot more credible than the usual 'sky gods making thunder' routine which is generally used to dismiss religion.

Always thought you might be one of the million monkeys. How's Hamlet coming along? — Wayfarer

:lol:

AS seems the undertaker of philosophy while burying the undertaker at the same time. A strange ying and yang Ouroboros, committing philosophical suicide while pulling himself out of the swamp by his own hairs! An unfathomable clown, always having the last laugh. The new age philosopher, a welcome star, eternally falling brightly, but when we stand on our hands, he's actually shooting upwards!

But maybe we're all just juvenile chimps... :lol:

Always thought you might be one of the million monkeys. How's Hamlet coming along? — Wayfarer

:monkey:

To be ape, or not to be ape, that is the question: — Hamlet

One origin for prayer may be from associating an expression of gratitude for good fortune to whatever agency is making it possible.

So, not a matter of belief as much as a measure of respect. Honoring the gods may not bring hoped for results but pissing them off seems like a bad idea.

Being polite was the first martial art.