Enlightenment, understood in the widest sense as the advance of thought, has always aimed at liberating human beings from fear and installing them as masters. — Adorno & Horkheimer, Dialectic of Enlightenment
I've attended Zen groups here in Australia where there was virtually none of that. You commit the fallacy of over-generalizing. — Janus
I was not talking about the mindful ritualization of ordinary activities like eating, drinking and so on, which I don't count as "pomp and ceremony". — Janus
when attracted to religious ideas it has been to teachings like Daoism and Zen, which are mostly without pomp and ceremony. — Janus
The materialistic consumer neoliberalist hell that we have is a result of this nihilism. — Christoffer
Some even question whether Daoism or Buddhism qualify as religions. — Janus
I wonder too what counts as transcendence? — Tom Storm
The belief in something transcendent is the essence of religion as I would define it. (Note, I draw a distinction between thinking the transcendental and believing in some form of transcendence). — Janus
Religious thinking is always hierarchical thinking.
I think the need to believe in something transcendant can only be satisfied by religion, and I think that need is inexplicably there in some people and absent in others. I think if you could somehow wipe out all existing religions and knowledge of them, religion would be reinvented. — Janus
Some people are simply attracted to that way of life, and others not. — Janus
As long as the need for religion is felt, humanity will not be better off without it. I doubt that need is going to disappear. — Janus
You can't kill a religion. As beliefs are not killable. They resurface from natural thought, exploration and desire for fundamental answers. — Benj96
If everyone was a scientist, some of them would move away from science in a quest for an alternative. If everyone was religious, many of them would move away towards something alternative (science). Neither subjective nor objective views of reality can ever be fully eliminated (killed). — Benj96
Yep, I don't believe religion is going away any time soon. And I also don't hold the view that humanity would be better off without it. — Janus
Well, you could make it illegal I suppose, or brainwash people against religion from childhood. Might not be totally effective, but would no doubt vastly reduce the ranks of the faithful. — Janus
I wasn't talking about killing people. — Janus
What if it won't die? Kill it? — Janus
So science will not replace religion. But it would be an excellent development if ethics did. — Banno
Some folk will also highlight the importance of ritual and spiritual practice which further serves to intensify what appears to be a form of aestheticism. They seem to be saying that their experience of the world, transfigured through the veneration of the divine is deeper, richer and more beautiful than yours (atheist). They see, or hope for, transcendent beauty. You see, or live in, ghastly nihilism. — Tom Storm
Thanks praxis. Obelix had it rough from the get-go, but even he managed to eat his fill in the unlikeliest of situations, so no worries, I'll fill my belly here as well. — Caerulea-Lawrence
Are there follow up questions as well, or is this application good enough to get a grasp of if I should be let loose on the innocent lambs in The philosophy forum or not? — Caerulea-Lawrence
I don't disagree, but I'm not convinced that you aren't saying one is better than the other. — Noble Dust
I'm not convinced that to be constrained is inherently a bad thing. — Noble Dust
How would that help you? I don't get it. — Noble Dust