Why the Lack of Religion Breeds Mental Illness
2024 ж. 17 Мам.
786 237 Рет қаралды
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Religion = Restrict.
God and Religion are not the same.
9000bc called, they want their simple minds back. They said find your own belief. Like the 🌞
THEY ARE HIDING FLAT EARTH AWAY FROM PEOPLE. flat earth = 100% GOD AND THE BIBLE ARE REAL. SO THEY REFUSE TO TAKE IT SERIOUSLY BECAUSE IT EXPOSES EVERY LIE THEY HAVE EVER MADE TO ENSLAVE PEOPLE. BA'AL EARTH AND NASA ARE LIES ==>🌍 "nasa" IN HEBREW MEANS TO DECIEVE. THERE IS NO SPACE, JUST A FIRMAMENT DOME, AND OTHER DIMENSIONS/REALMS/HEAVENS. ONCE YOU KNOW THE EARTH IS FLAT IT WILL GET RIDE OF YOUR EXISTENTIAL DREAD WHEN YOU KNOW GOD IS LITERALLY ABOVE YOUR HEAD THAT BIG BANG THEORY CREATES. MENTAL ILLNESS/DEMONIC POSSESION BECOMES A LOT EASIER WHEN YOU REMOVE GOD OUT OF YOUR LIFE.
@@nitsudocsicnarf347 WELL MOST CIRCULAR CHURCHES ARE FILLED WITH FREEMASONS AND SATANISTS AND ON'T TEACH PEOPLE THE REAL TRUTHS IN THE BIBLE. they teach people to go into a building be entertained by some songs than go back out into the world and continue to listen to the satanic overlord govts. noah never spent his time in a building, king david never spent all his time in a building, none of the biblical figures spent their times in buildings they were living the story of the bible in real time on the FLAT EARTH WORLD STAGE. the same will be for the end times it won't take place in a church building it will take place in live action. simply put it, the revolution won't be televised!
My conclusion from reading the comments is that the term “religion” brings to mind different concepts for different people.
Basically
Dennis Prager and Jordan pedersen are fighting for hierarchical austerity and homoerotic distrust of femininity 💚
Yes, it is interesting right. Someone pointed out that it is the lack of spirituality that causes people to suffer, but the very difference between spirituality and religion is that one is an individual and the other is a collective belief. Humans live communal, we think and function in relation to each other. Thus it is logical that a society is more stable and healthy when its people share the same belief. I think he can only understand the importance of it and the power existential beliefs have, when he do believeth.
@@beatdown4785 I believe we need to emphasize how important it is for us humans to understand the difference between religion and spirituality. I really appreciate your comment.
All religion has ever done is take meaning from my life, I sometimes wish there was a hell for them to go to. Religion breeds mental illness, it looks at the despair it causes and only pushes harder. Fml
“A time is coming when men will go mad, and when they see someone who is not mad, they will attack him, saying, 'You are mad; you are not like us.” ― St. Antony the Great
Increadibly circular arguement. Not many mad people self identify as such.
The time is now and always. The main difference is the greater number and the social position of "madmen".
@@paulgibbons2320 Some of the viewers are going to use this video to reinforce their confirmation bias.
@@aceboogisback9946 >Reinforce their confirmation bias >Far left Bruh
@@Klongu_Da_Bongu Not everyone that has a political opinion that you don’t like has confirmation bias.
Moderation in all things has led me to my happiest life. Not being over-reliant on one thing, be it logic, faith, hedonism, optimism, skepticism, love, hate, or anything really. I feel tremendous love by those around me, but I also accept that these things will one day be gone, and I shouldn't get too bent out of shape because of that. In the long run, everything will turn out pretty much okay. I'm alive and that's good, and one day I'll die, but that's okay too.
basically the same life philosophy ive discovered. Essentially stoicism more or less
@@ClaytonBridges Seems so. Seems that everytime I think it through the ideas of stoicism seems more rational. Maybe I'll consider it more
Well said. This seems to make sense to me
even being too moderate can be a problem its about being flexible, vigiliant and doggedly chasing the truth regardless where it takes you.
@@CommieApe 100%. Whether that is left of right politically on some issues. Or progressive v conservative on some issues. Weighing and chasing truths as unbiasely as possible
Wow like it’s a curse being too wise. You’re happier if you don’t give a shit and just be the good person you see yourself being. I’m Christian and a psychologist. Happiness isn’t that deep but if you try to find a meaning you will get depressed. I’m a nanny and just playing with the kids makes me so happy. My goals is watching them get smarter and their goals are just to have fun.
true, the purpose of life isnt anything deep its just to live
I would replace wise with knowledgeable
Strongly disagree. The meaning of life is Love. It is in every religion. Agape love, self-sacrificing love is the meaning to life.
I think as Christian’s, the depression can be more equated to the acknowledgement of how sinful we truly are and we mourn for those who are lost. My heart aches everyday and I’m only sustained emotionally by the grace of God. The weight of sin is very serious which is why I find the prodigal son parable and the story of the weeping woman so beautiful because there is hope in Christ.
@@paradiserestored6179the acknowledgement of sin is claimful and conflicting because you label others evil for what they belief ir who they are.
"If we continue to scorn religion, we will not lose our need for meaning. We will merely look for meaning in other places. We will worship the state, a political party, or science." This describes practically half of my Facebook feed, and it's the reason I've stepped back from social media. WAAAY too many people are putting their faith into political parties. I know this one guy at work. He's mid 50's, and non-religious. Yet, he's completely devoted himself to the Labor party, and has disowned people who speak about it any less than absolute praise. Yet if the pandemic has taught us anything, it's that politicians by and large hate us. And people still devote themselves....
We dont need religion
When I see that profile pic I immediately disregard your comment and laugh saying "who cares what this little kid thinks" Had to say...
@@mariharrik5987 Care to elaborate?
@@burninintexas7597 Maybe you should try getting a JOB!
Of course humans will still yearn for answers and meaning. I, for one, would much rather that we look to science, philosophy, art, and math as providing this meaning. The information gleaned from these disciplines is concrete and demonstrable.
“I live in that solitude which is painful in youth, but delicious in the years of maturity” -Albert Einstein
So true
@@j.pershing2197 Your facticity of what is proven or not lacks veracity. One common example is GPS, which would not work without using Einstein's theories. Everything is relative.
I like this Albert fella
@@j.pershing2197 I, too, believe this
@@j.pershing2197I'm just a curious guy, but taking the time to understand a few things in modern science informs me that Einstein was right about almost everything. I'm not taking away from the other discoveries of those you mention. You seem big on proof, but theories are needed too. Some are more useful than others, but their veracity is not dependent on labs. Testing and labs can be done on cosmic scales and machines on site. Too many examples to list at the moment.
I think one major thing that Religion does is being spiritual as a collective. Meditation can help oneself, and just having friends and parties will help the basic needs, but only when you pair spirituality with other people do you benefit the most. Thats why i think having a soulmate or a partner that supports you and understands you and vice versa, that you become better and have a better life. Same is also said for having true friends, not just the ones you spend time with, but ones you share with, connect with etc.
I had insomnia and depression for over two years. It was during this time that I became an atheist because every attempt I made to improve my life backfired. It wasn’t until I got interested in Stoicism and read Epictetus’s first book that my life began to have meaning. Since stoicism can be practiced along-side religion, I began to trust Epictetus when he said that I had angels who protect and care for me; and so does God. This trust, alongside the many therapeutic stoic practices, relieved me of a lot of anxiety and eventually lead me to cure my insomnia and consequently, my 2 year-old depression. For those who are skeptical: Stoicism can be practiced secularly (none religiously), but, weather it’s through changing your beliefs on religion or just applying stoic practices, it WILL improve your life.
🏆🙏
Religion is a mental illness.
Such ancient traditions like stoicism are also more “advanced” than the Abrahamic religions. They don’t have a bunch of morality tales or false promises and delusions. They’re about confronting reality, your reality, this life and this world. It requires discipline, honesty with yourself, and even bravery.
This is a great example of what the video teaches. We must believe in greater outside ourselves. I found meaning in Christ Jesus. To truly follow Christ, it is defined by relationship but definitely challenging as in a marriage.
Religion improves the bank accounts of cons and witch doctors (preachers)
Well said. Where I live many people who profess “no religion” worship their political party and politicians, and those who “represent science.”
I have no religion and "worship" no one or no thing. The only form of faith that is rational faith, rationality being our best exercise of cognition so far. Rational faith is belief in one's own capacity to negotiate one's way through life. Any other faith is blind/superstition, hence irrational. Irrationality itself is a form mental illness, albeit to varying degrees. Religious "belief" is no different than belief in Santa Claus and any adult that claims such belief is not all there. So the whole presentation above is but a steaming pile.
Where I live people worship religion AND their political party and politicians. As you can guess, it's not going so well.
@@happyhaze1526 So if “rational faith is *belief* in one’s own ability to navigate through life”, on what to you base that belief? Some deeper beliefs? Or is it just a core assumption in your religion?
Many more worship football and metal bands etc.
@@happyhaze1526 How do you know you have such a capacity? Many don't. In fact, it's guaranteed you will face situations you won't know how to deal with including dying.
“Fairytales don’t teach us that dragons are real. Fairytales teach us that dragons can be slain”
Yup as a Muslim who grew up in a non muslim society and got lots of comments etc... i was really struggling mentally...and couldnt even pray or anything... However, I started to read about different religions, philosophies including atheism etc...and then really delved deep into islam and the many sects and really tried to understand. Eventually after seeking as much knowledge as possible I decided islam was still if for me and that theres just so much ignorance about it from non muslims and muslims alike because many do not delve deep. Im practicing and feel much better now, i dont care about unecessary things anymore and my patience is much better. I can attest that religion is the reason for much of our current ethics, morality and good laws as well so theres a lot of benefit to it. My doctor also said idc what u believe in just pray or meditate. He's very right about that! Religion can be harmful esp when the wrong ppl join and dont follow it correctly or when people dont bother to think about what it is that they believe in. But besides that theres a lot of benefits and frankly a lot of thr world and our progress is due to religion/religious people. Yes, even scientific because religion was never against science. Which is just the study of the natural/physic world and religions esp abrahamic have started the same exact way. With someone theorizing about the world and its creation. We need to stop demonizing religion and pondering about the world and even if it's in the spiritual sense it's still fine to think and ponder. That's really my biggest issue with some non-believers and believers alike. Everyone is just so biased about their own beliefs they don't make true effort to understand the different facets of the belief/philosophy itself. This pushes us back I feel... Anyway, I agree with this only reason I didnt kms and made effort to get better is islam. Otherwise I would have been dead 10 years ago and definitely NOT here to write this long ass comment 😂
you're not a Muslim, here's why (coming from a guy who was born in a Muslim family and a Muslim country): 1-The word "Muslim" has a pattern in Arabic like "mushrik", they all rhyme on the word "mofél". Which basically describes someone doing something, "Mushrik" is someone who does shirk, "Muslim" come from the word "salama=سَلَمَ" which means "To surrender". Muslim means someone who has surrendered *To Allah. 2- the consensus is that the word "surrender" in all languages basically means to leave your fate to someone else, to let them decide, or simply to submit to someone. 3- So a Muslim must be submitted to Allah, if he is not submitted to Allah, he is not a Muslim. Now, to be submitted you have to listen to everything Allah says and do them and not falter. Quran is claimed to be the word of Allah, therefore Muslims must do everything Quran tells them or else they're not Muslims(because a Muslim as i said needs to be surrendered and submitted to Allah) NOTE: You do not do everything the Quran says nor does your country, therefore you're not submitted and surrendered, therefore you are not a Muslim. Because remember a Muslim is a person who has submitted. For example, i asked people what do you do if you caught someone who stole something from you, most answered, give them to the police or just let them go... But a Muslim answer should not be this. A person who had surrendered to Allah should say, Allah commands me to cut off their hands regardless of whether they are female or male. But no one would say something like that, not even you i assume. 4- because your moralities and your country's laws hinder you to take such religious actions such as cutting thieves hands off or crucifiing or cutting one arm and one leg from opposite sides of people who committed corruption in land(which can include people who criticize Islam), you are not a Muslim. You are not surrendered to Allah. Conclusion: A: you're either a Muslim who follows Quran and the word of Allah word by word and you end up a terrorist B: you are hypocrite who believes he's a Muslim (a person who has submitted and surrendered to Allah), but you actually are not a Muslim Note: Assuming like the other so called Muslims you haven't read the Quran, here's quotation for things i have mentioned: 1- "As for the thief, both male and female cut off their hands. It is the reward of their own deeds, an exemplary punishment from Allah. Allah is mighty, wise." 5:38 2- "Because of that, we decreed upon the children of Israel that whoever kills a soul unless for a soul or for corruption done in the land it is as if he he had killed all mankind. And our messengers had certainly come to them with clear proofs. Then indeed many of them, even after that, throughout the land, were transgressors. Indeed, the penalty for those who wage war against Allah and his messenger and strive upon earth to cause corruption is none but that they be killed or crucified or that their hands and feet be cut off from opposite sides or that they be exiled from the land. That is is for them a disgrace in this world; and for them in the hereafter is a great punishment." 5:32, 5:33 not to mention how this verse is unimaginably misquoted and used as a propaganda machine for islam, " 'wage war' means oppose, criticize and disbelieve not only an actual war" -ibn kathir 5:33 it means anyone who criticize or disbelieve must get that punishment, "corruption/mischief also means various evil doings against Islamic law" -ibn kathir 5:33 that means apostasy, criticism of islam, disbelief, homosexuality, adultery, immorality etc must be punished like tha. also when the Quran says we said to the Israelites the same thing, because Allah claims to be the god of Jews then we expect to see the same thing in Jewish scripture but there's nothing like that. we can only find SOMETHING LIKE IT(NOT QUITE IT) in the Talmud 27-31, Talmud is not a book from god though, it was the work of some Jewish rabies for interpretation and understanding and Quran stole it.
And no religion didn't create morality, good laws, nor was it on par with science!
If religion is responsible for all of our morals can you explain why we have evidence of murder being strongly discouraged before humans even became humans? We have evidence of morals existing tens of thousands of years before the oldest religions
I am being honest here, I don't think you understand Islam at much, I was raised a muslim and just by the fact that you have girl drawing on your profile pic tells me you didn't learn about your faith enough. P.S: Drawing of humans or promotions of such acts is haram(impermissible) in islam.
You made the right decision
I’m not religious and I don’t keep up with social politics, but I truly do love my life. I enjoy the lack of religion in my life, as I don’t feel threatened without something handing me meaning to live by; I make my own as I see fit. I was born into religion, but I eventually exited from it. I can confidently say that I enjoy my life, even without religion in my life.
Thats your personal experience but most people are worse off without religion and lack a meaningful life. You also don't make your own meaning you choose an act which you find meaningful and its not likely you are going to discover your own individual meaning.
@@RA-ie3ssit's because there's no other solution of keeping society from crumbling. Its sad that the one thing that creates division, stunt your potential and hate is necessary for humans to function without self destruction
I agree
From what i experience, it is not the lack of religion per se that is causing mental illness. It is the lack of meaning, your rule on the cosmos, your life, the fact that you exist, and ultimately, your suffering. I truly believe that lots of souls simply dont have their identity, and i myself never felt this bliss and content after leaving my suffocating religion, and i also know someone personally who is directly my opposite. I feel very fine that i dont have any role in this existence and i guess you can say that thats what i believe my role is, but people may find the exact opposite in believing in a religion, as they found a role from that religion.
@@nashir1187 yes, lack of meaning!
I tried to walk the path that the narrator says is sufficient: Read the myths without joining a community that believes in them. It doesn't work to give life meaning, in my experience. It's not enough to simply know the stories and reflect on them. You have to become part of a community that lives by them. THAT gives life meaning.
Exactly, if you just read the myths you're only getting the propositions. You need the participatory, procedural, and perspectival ways of knowing which can only be found through a community. The communion of believers wrapped within the religious metanarrative is absolutely essential.
Have you looked into the contingency argument for the existence of God. kzhead.info/sun/aa2Se8OFanN5e4E/bejne.html
Apparently that gives meaning for you, which is totally cool. The beauty of it is that we can have whatever meaning we want.
So all you need is a community, not religion. Unless you're a sadist looking for an excuse to torture and kill people. Then you need religion so you can do this terrible things to people for 'heresy'.
@@technomage6736 community in any sense is important, but I think it’s more the “living by them” part that’s most important here, community gives you the tools and resources to act on what you’ve reflected about the stories based on the most successful past examples (saints, for example). The experiential part of the myth is fundamental to its full realization, and in that regard you’ll have to discriminate what part of the whole corpus of rituals, practices, communal participation, etc you are willing to engage with and live by that, usually for sometime before you can actually start telling what works for you and what doesn’t, most of us don’t have that kind of patience yet have seen or know good examples of good religious people out there, and even some really extraordinary ones, if one is lucky.
My biggest problem with religion experienced through gathering together is lack of discussion. In the end you cannot question some dogmas in your religion, because you will be seen as someone who is trying to "destroy" community by lack of faith.
I have experienced that to some degree but I have allso experienced much less insecure grupes able to hear and hold ideas and thoughts without feeling threatened.
If u want to debate your religion freely, try Judaism.
There's tonnes of discussion in religion, you've gone to the wrong place. Quakers do it. Buddha used to do it. There are lots of conferences and sympsia doing it. Unfortunately the best funded ones seem to be geared to create a global religion for cynical purposes.
@Archie Baldwin I think purely individual engagement in religion is restrictive since it confines your spiritual beliefs and experiences to the realm of subjectivity. The objectivity of those experiences and beliefs can only be obtained through institutions, which requires collective engagement and reasoning.
Exactly. When forced into religion by govt aligned welfare, to a "Hillsong' like charity.....i wanted to discuss these dogmas, in bible study room. A new christian (indian) pastor whose faith relates to his house being sold (jesus did it).....didnt want to do actually verse study (which i had questions about).....instead.....it was 'Speak in Tongues' ..session. How excluded and deluded by it all i felt. And it felt i was in a room with 'demonically possessed' gullible idiots. hehehee......to counter, i started speaking SUMERIAN...and hailing the pagan gods names. this prie$t quickly ended the session...then. Then upstairs in the main congregation (with a Catholic commune section, at the back)....came the faith healers. A 60yr old woman, passed out on the ground , underwear on full display, in violent convulsive 'Fits".......meant, another...Demonically Possessed!!! (for me). is it any wonder i told them to Bugger Off!....when these deceived idiots tried to Lay Their hands on me......and then claim , i had the devil in me. Judgemental fools.
It is very interesting to me that they found the that experience of “happy” people without meaning was the same as those who were enduring extreme hardship. Before I found meaning, I too considered myself a very happy person. I genuinely thought I was having a wonderful time. But after I met my husband I came to realize that the happiness I felt was so small and shallow compared to what I have now. Even while we are experiencing hardship in the form of financial difficulty, I am filled with so much joy and purpose compared to who I was before. And returned to Christ was an essential part of it. Before I was just a mere construct of my damage and desires, now I am a person
As a pagan I agree with you. Conviccion is seriously the most important factor behind every action. It not only gives life to all things but sees life in all things. Vitality/spirit is present in everything. Soon your faith will turn into knowledge because you allowed the truth to come.
Amazing Grace.
Muslims also experience the same stuff.. same with hindus.. janes.. which tells us its a human thing and theres no supernatural element whatsoever
I agree, all hail Lucifer the light bringer.
Pure nonsense
I'm agnostic. but that doesn't necessarily make me believe in nothingness. it actually gave me the freedom to believe in anything I want. it leaves me open to all the possibilities, whether there's a God or not. it actually made me appreciate all the wonders of our world without questioning its legitimacy. it leaves me wanting to know more since on our current understanding of our world, we barely know anything in the grand scheme of everything.
well said !
My thoughts as well! I have some extended family that lean fundamentalist religiously, some extended family and friends that lean mildly/not-so-much religious (or just spiritually with no religion attachment), and have some atheist family and friends. My experience with each one of them leads me to agnosticism because then I can experience new perspectives and connect well with my family and friends. Part of my biggest fears with developing my beliefs is getting too "stuck" in one belief (for lack of a better term) and developing a cognitive bias that would make it harder to connect to others (already got some other issues that makes connecting with others hard, and I don't need something more that makes it harder than it already is). ^^;
@@Scarshadow666true. I actually find it easier to connect to different people and have a full understanding of what they believe in. I think agnosticism helps me learn more about myself and everyone else.
You still have no meaning. You can never truly appreciate the world around you without God. You will always short change yourself by not considering The Creator. Always.
@@talisikid1618 Well you see, that's what makes me appreciate life even more. By finding some meaning to something that is objectively meaningless. And honestly, I do consider the existence of God. I even speak to him from time to time. I don't know if he is listening or not or if he really exists or not, but I still do pray to him. I really want to believe that he exists but the only way for me to be able to say for sure that he is 100% real is when I die and see him for myself. And if he really does exist and decides to send me to hell for being me then it's fine. he has all the right to do so, he is God after all. but I will always be forever grateful to him for giving me the freedom to think for myself and being able to live my life as a free thinker.
We are relational creatures. We find that we have a meaningful life when we have meaningful connections. In my view.
you would make a terrible monk or nun
@@johnnyelle8052 that's interesting. It depends on the kind of monk. Western, asian...? Would you expand on your comment?
@@anaguerrerosholisticwellbe2788 I see so one religion is better than another? You're hate shows you are not religious at all. Maybe quit the internet for a while. Your type are ruining the world right now.
@@johnnyelle8052 your sense of commentary is rudimentary at best, my son
That makes sense
Your title should read: "Why the Lack of Belief in Unfounded, Unfalsifiable Superstitious Claims Breeds Sound, Rational Thought".
Too many characters, I fear.
Oh that wouldn't get attention, mate.
The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoyevsky is a great read for anyone enjoying this video regarding this concept.
My life is full of immense suffering. Medical issues, subsequent cognitive issues, financial issues downstream. I often wonder whether I'll ever be able to feel like my old self again. I never even had youth to enjoy. But the things I've discovered in the pits of despair, and the subsequent art and ideas I can produce to explain life to others, will make it all worth it.
Hearing your authentic account on your life experience is value to me, friend.
Learn to code
@@George-sl5jq Funmy you should mention that, I got into programming as a way of turning my life around. It is my art, and I live for my creations. I was in a dark place when I posted the above, but it seems I've figured out the source of my more recent medical issues. Hidden infection! Cleared it up and I'm getting better by the day.
@@PsychicAlchemygreat to hear this!
Religion is a mental illness.
Happiness can't hold a candle to meaning in the final analysis. As long as I can tap into the creative spirit, I'll not be bothered by age or loss
To be a human is by default to be creative. As a biological being you are bound to scopes and limits. Meaning your limits to the body and to understanding will always be of creative outlook. Humans are not angels. Can not understand everything. Do not have the body to understand reality. Understand the creature you are and you will free yourself of the prison this society has forced onto you from birth and education.
Is this a quote?
On meaning, bear in mind that life was full to overflowing with meaning for the 9/11 hijackers as they raced towards their targets, and for the Crusaders on their way to Jerusalem. On the creative spirit, recall that Hitler was an artist, that Charles Manson was a songwriter, musician and singer, and that Richard Gatling's creative spirit gave us the first successful machine gun. Of meaning we must ask, Just what does this mean, and what is it worth?; of the creative spirit, Just what has it created, and what is it worth?
@@alias_M It is a Monica Lewinsky quote
@@echillykahlil Just to clarify, my real problem is anyone saying real and salutary meaning is religious or quasi-religious in nature, and that's what I hear in this video. I would put it that all religion amounts to an attempt to find meaning, not that all meaning amounts to an attempt to find a religion. Thanks for your reply.
Lack of meaning or lack of aim was always a curse of epochs that lack proper philosophical thinking.
You have an amazing philosophical thinking
Exactly
So all the great philosophers such as Schopenauer lack "proper thinking". That sounds a bit arrogant.
@@joeltunnah "the lack of being." Kind of reminds me of Jordan Peterson
@@joeltunnah God is dead bro
🤔 I think that having imaginary friends as an adult is a sign of mental issues.....
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
My mother had severe Bipolar disorder and prayed everyday to Jesus.
I can’t see returning to religion after having left it. I left it because it was so obviously untrue. Returning would require me to live a lie - which would surely lead to problems.
Why view religion materialistically? The writers of the major religious texts obviously weren’t materialists. Why do we continue to view these texts materialistically?
facts
@@andrewternet8370 because reality is materialistic. We exist in a measurably physical world, I dont care about the authors opinions. I care about whether or not their claims are true, and as of now none have been proven true.
Well, religion has many approaches, you can't say that is obviously untrue. And if you look closely, all of them are mostly symbolical and speak of the same principles. I actually see some wisdom in it, since it can't be coincidence that different people, regions and times were talking about the same thing, but differently.
@@andrewternet8370 How is being convinced something is untrue being materialistic? I had a very active spiritual life... a personal relationship with God ( through Jesus, not with him, which is heresy)... the whole nine yards. Then I studied the Bible and other religions and it all fell apart. Did I become a materialist?
It's not too late to teach children about critical thinking, and then let them decide for themselves how to investigate reality with reason and evidence.
You are assuming that everyone has the capability of critical thinking. Trust me, most people would rather choose a simple life, with a determined path.
Yes!! So this!!
@@Lux_Aeterna Strongly Agree!!😃
It might not be to late for the younger generation that's really young right know. But im afraid it's little to late for the generation that's just know becoming young adults. Sadly that whole generation has become way to brainwashed. There dumbasses actually think that more government is the answer to all our problems. When in fact our problem is that we've done let our government get to damn big. Not only do we have to fight our government know we also have to fight our on people. Unfortunately we've all been played by these corrupt institutions. The same one's that are supposed to help finish molding these young adults minds into a productive part of society. But instead they've been brainwashing them into thinking America is evil because it was built solely on racism. SADLY they can't see that they're just being used just to try and destroy the greatest country that's ever been built. Yeah America has had and still has it's problems. But try and name me another country in this world that's never had any problems and still doesn't have problems. But right this minute our biggest problem is our government. In all actuality the people that's in our government is the biggest problem. They actually have the nerve and think that they can just rule over us like a dictatorship and we're not going to do anything about it. Sorry not sorry, im afraid that's just not going to be possible for us to do. The tree of freedom sometimes has to be watered by the blood of patriots- George Washington I believe
@@mitchgray5610 America is not the Greatest Country in the World it is now full of vain selfish Egotists America worships Greed and Excess
So believing in angels will help me avoid being depressed. Thank you i will now believe in angels.
Believing you have a purpose and life has meaning will.
At least we agree on that, except I make my own meaning @@RA-ie3ss
To me life has more meaning not believing there is a god or subscribing to a religion. I feel like this is it. The life your living now. Right in front of you. Gives me a sense of intense realness and gratitude that concouisness is even possible. Its mind blowing.
This is what all those religious books have been preaching all along. But these religious nuts are taking it too literally instead of reading in between the lines. Psalm 82:6
My five pet peeves regarding English vocabulary/syntax: 1. Typing “your” when “YOU’RE” (you are) is required. 2. Typing “their” when “THERE” is required (and vice versa). 3. Using “people” when “PERSONS” is required. 4. Using “literally” when “VIRTUALLY” is required. 5. Using the two words “OFF OF” in succession.
I think the real issue here is a question of value, not necessarily meaning. A serial killer presumably finds great meaning in murdering people. Your source of meaning can be disordered. But what's valuable? Is life inherently valuable? What about pursuing virtue? These are deep questions that can find their answer in different ways, but I think God is the best answer.
Wow all that is needed to cure schizophrenia was to give that person a meaning to their lives.
Lmao
Did he say that?
Most of peoples chasing things to validate self worth, they only see themselves as worth anything if someone/something tells them they are. So I propose that everyone try to be a worthy person for self satisfaction and who gives a hoot about anyone/anything’s definition of you. If you spend your life with an attitude that is respectful of others and accept that there will always be more to learn, you can live a full meaningful life.❤
Amen.
What I'm hearing you say brings to mind the worship of one's self and ego. I could be wrong.
@@jamiecummings6109 not self worship. Self understanding, improving and acceptance. Knowing it’s ok to be yourself even if others do things different or poke fun at you. When honestly yourself, you shouldn’t get too embarrassed or hurt by others scorning you. Try responding with solutions not aggression. Learn about your passions and beliefs, but also learn about the things you don’t follow. Each of us is the product of life experience’s and our interactions with them. So we each have our own way of seeing things. And as human beings we are capable of accepting others for being themselves.
@@jamiecummings6109 you dont have to be religious to be a good person. You could look at ancient philosophy what is actually the Good parts that are in the religions. The rest is man made to control like dogmas. So you can be the best of yourself starting from within. Like esoteric. From inside out. You be better human for other to become better too. When you live in a place where people are good you become that if you society is bad you take bad habits, but if you control your mind and yourself you control you thought and behaviour
Success= a progressive realization of a worthy ideal.
Everyone worships something, if they know it or not.
It isn't so much the lack of one having religious faith that would cause them to become mentally ill so much as it is that the failure to replace it with sufficient ethics/philosophy that speaks to them would cause them to feel deeply empty and lacking in purpose.
It's literally just the lack of a collective of individuals who have similar thought process and goals. Loneliness.
@@kamikeserpentail3778 Precisely. You can prevent isolation in a ton of ways, not just through codified spiritual systems.
Agreed
@@kamikeserpentail3778 not really. There are plenty of people i know that are very social but still have issues as described in this video. They desire a greater meaning beyond other people. And when some of them turned to faith it helped them. The church and religion are two separate things and should not be conflated together. Especially considering a-lot of people find meaning in faith and feel irritated at the gatherings at church because they take away from ones purpose.
I think you hit the nail on the head. We are spiritual in nature, and to not only avoid including some aspect of spirituality in one’s life but to demonise it and abstain from any philosophy about our existence is a one-way road to mental illness. To deny the spiritual aspects of oneself is to deny your own humanity imo, and it’s what has led to the dehumanisation of Christians, conservatives and unborn children by the far left. I’m not even religious, and I can see that people need religion, no matter what form, to maintain order and compassion within society; something the West is clearly lacking at a worryingly increasing rate.
"Meaning" almost always ends up being social in some way -- that's the clue. Even if you're locked up alone in your lab trying to invent something, you're either trying to benefit your "tribe" or trying to gain status within it. It comes from the instinct of a social animal to do things which enhance the survivability of his tribe and bloodline. The "selfish gene" at work. So animals DO have meaning -- they just don't notice it because living their natural lifestyles means they're never WITHOUT it long enough to experience the lack. Humans, with our UNnatural lifestyles and overly-complex capacity for introspection, often find our behaviors sufficiently distant from those we find instinctively satisfying, that we percieve a lack of "meaning". Our current society has made it worse, as instinctively "meaningful" activities have been rendered impractical, unfashionable, or so easy as to scarcely register on our instincts that we're doing them. Breeding has traditionally been meaningful, but now it's tied up with unnatural fashions, laws, and arbitrary measurements of financial stability, to the point that many people choose not to do it at all. Feeding oneself is fundamentally meaningful, but tapping on a computer Monday so as to recieve a direct-deposit Friday so that you can order pizza Saturday doesn't feel, to your monkey-brain, like feeding yourself at all -- it feels like goofing off and then having stuffed-crust manna randomly drop from the heavens. All traditional religions (built for a lifestyle much closer to our natural one) encourage behaviors compatible with instinct -- with some compromises, since the newer the religion, the more unnatural the environment in which it needs to thrive, and the religion must always fit the SOCIETY, not the individual. You might LIKE a religion which allows you to hook-up with random girls, but would you like OTHER men to hook-up with your daughter? And there are more of them than of you. Religions, like species, adapt or perish. So it's no surprise that religion and meaning often coincide, as religion actually exists to encourage, justify, or explain the very behaviors which we are built to find meaningful -- the behaviors which, when employed in a natural(ish) human community, tend to promote the success of that community and the DNA it carries.
This is one of the most under appreciAted KZhead comment I’ve ever read.
Beautiful.
Bravo, Steven.
Religions exist because God exists. Mere reproduction of life does not give meaning to life. There are many now who decide not to reproduce because they see no meaning in life, only angst.
Religion and myths are more than cods of conduct and behaviours. Much like a peas of art, music or natur can carry lots of meening without puchig you to do anything in particular.
I was raised in a strictly religious home. I was strictly religious myself and I had chronic anxiety and panic attacks through my 20s. I have a friend who grew up in a stricter family than I, and that didn't prevent her from getting schizophrenia. So, I don't think religion necessarily prevents emotional and mental illness. It is a complex topic.
schizophrenia is genetic
you missed the part when he made the distinction of the religious mythos with the hijacked dogmas imposed by institutional powers. on purpose?
You need to talk to god
religion on the surface can be without spirituality
On the contrary, religion causes mental illnesses and trauma because of the hellfire idea to many of its adherents even though they don’t admit it.
A very logical, scientific, scholarly approach and illucidation of the profound meaning and value of religion in the life of every person. Excellent presentation most definitely.
This is why we atheists are subhuman filth
Faith in god is helping me so much. So is having gratitude for life and the physical world around me. There is so much beauty all around us, and we need to appreciate it more. I think god just wants us to appreciate life. To not take it for granted. That’s what I’m learning.
Unlike others who shut down or unsub when they see a differing opinion or view, I actually considered what was said. To preface what I’m going to write, I absolutely welcome discussion and criticism. Why is there the assumption here that without religion, people either immediately swap, or drift, towards “unhealthy” or “unfulfilling” institutions? I can only speak with personal experience but I believe I have found mental security in the unknown, or at least continue to work towards that goal. The inherent ignorance of being human and being a small 80-90 year blip upon the unimaginable scale of time itself (assuming I don’t die before natural causes) has led me to not necessarily give up on my search for meaning, but to displace it from external to internal. I wake up in the morning and do the things I do every day because I simply do. There does not have to be a guiding force from above to control that, in my opinion. I have found security in knowing that I *do not know*. I do not crave a higher power to devote myself or my morality towards, I live by my own code that has undoubtedly been shaped by my Christian/western upbringing. With this is mind, my current atheism/agnosticism has not led me to devote to another power structure that I know of. I do not worship the state, nor science.
Agreed, I generally feel the same way.
Well said. Same here
Meeee tooooo
So, what do you show reverence to? There must be something.
@@garbageFreeFall himself and his big brain
Religion presents us with such a great paradox. On the one hand, the personal search for meaning and spiritual truth is the most crucial pursuit we can ever undertake. It is only in our quest for the transcendent that we can ever truly find ourselves. And religion is the documented history of humanity's collective efforts in this direction. Thus it is perhaps the most precious domain of knowledge that we possess. And yet, the history of organized religion is also the history of cruelty, ignorance, bigotry, manipulation, corruption and lies. Religion has been the cause of some of the most abhorrent behavior that we have ever engaged in. When we view religion as a social institution, it reveals everything that is worst in human nature. But when we view religion as a personal journey, it is the means by which we can acheive our greatest potential. This is why Jesus told his followers to pray in private, and condemned false teachers who made a public display of their supposed "righteousness". The only relationship that matters is the one between YOU and God. Grasping after power will always lead us away from truth.
This idea that religion is responsible for countless evils is really just a myth of the enlightenment that has unfortunately become embedded in our cultural psyche. Taking just the last 200 the majority of the myriad wars and persecutions had anything to do with religion, or, as with the communists, it was the irreligious persecuting the religious. Please actually look at history instead of mindlessly repeating the worn out platitude about the evils of religion.
@@Mike-md7op I have a degree in history. I'm not "spouting platitudes". I can prove that what I said is true. Do I need to do that? And more importantly, if I do, will you actually listen to reason? I don't want to waste my time talking to dogmatic ideologues.
@@ahobimo732 Sorry if I came on too strong. However, the idea that religion is some extraordinary cause of violence is simply not true. Did the communists, who killed 100's of millions over the last century, do it in the name of religion? Was WW2 about religion? Was WW1 about religion? I could go on. Religion has been ONE cause of conflict among others, and surely the history of the West as it has become more secular clearly demonstrates that the decreasing influence of religion will not lead to a increase in peace. Finally, I might note that it was the modern, secular West that invented nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction, not our deeply religious, medieval ancestors. We may say that modern man has stopped praying and studying religion because he has preferred to study how to invent more powerful explosives and guns. Religion is, in fact, the greatest gift of God to man...and history is the proof of this. All traditional civilizations are nothing more than the outward expression of a particular religion. Medieval European civilization was nothing but the outward expression of Catholicism. Medieval Muslim civilization was nothing but the outward expression of Islam. Traditional Chinese civilization was the outward expression of Confucianism/Taoism/Buddhism, etc. Now, if our ancestors were so stupid as to have been misled, over all those millennia, than I would say mankind is beyond redemption...of course then it also becomes very hard to account for how a few thinkers in Europe over the last few centuries all of the sudden discovered that everyone, everywhere, for all time, had been wrong, and that religion is actually just a source of oppression.
Secular/worldly belief systems like Communism, Socialism, Globalism and other forms of Authoritarianism has proven to be FAR more destructive than anything thing else has ever affected mankind with calamity. Even the most blood soaked and warlord producing religion such as Islam can't even begin to compare. Even in this moment, many of our global governments have the capability to bring an end to civilization in under an hour (nuclear war/M.A.D.) I suggest the book "The Gulag Archipelago" in that case.
God and the Bible is nonsense and they don’t exist
It's not lack of religion, it's lack of direction and a personal narrative, which as you point out - many people find in religion. Organised religion is primarily a means of controlling populations by installing ultimate wuthority in a conveniently absent parental figure who has left instructions with his trusted generals - who happen to be influential men. It makes good use of basic human drives - to gather, sing, tell stories and share ideas and moral imperatives, but its aim is always to coerce and judge. Personal religion is much more useful in terms of mental health, whether that's a favourite small community prayer group or just a personal conviction that someone's with you, but it still requires you to embrace lies because they make you feel better, and that's immensely destructive to wider society. I have no quarrel with people finding meaning in patterns, whether that's tarot cards or bibles, but I do have a problem when poeople start believing that's genuinely true and try to enforce that view of things on the world around them. When you trust feelings more than reality, then you're making yourself so vulnerable to being misled and manipulated.
Religion isn't necessarily the answer to a lack of meaning. It's -an- answer, but there is no single answer. Some find meaning in craft, some find meaning in others, some find meaning in themselves. There's also the fact that pointing at a lack of religion as the reason for the rise of mental illness and delusion is a great way to distract from other reasons for those things, like exhaustion, abuse, exploitation and the changing of society to new modes of social and emotional expression. Juvenoia and fear of the new is another good thing to point at here, because that's something we can point at in the past and show that no, things didn't fall apart because people moved from reading novels to reading magazines, or from simply remembering things to writing them down. The world isn't in decline.
My thoughts exactly! Some people find meaning in religion, which is fine, but not being religious doesn't mean you lack meaning. People should find their own drive and motivation. My problem is when people insist that meaning can only be found in religion, especially since religion can be the cause of mental illness in some people.
Religion sets standards. People with no standards are the most easy to use and manipulate, religion or no religion. That's why 1st world politicians absolutely hate religions, because a God fearing person who believes the absolute authority in life and death will hold them accountable for humoring evil intentions when tempted by non God fearing people, ESPECIALLY those with money.
You can find meaning in other things but they are all temporary. God and reliance on God is the only constant. You can be in the middle of the desert with nothing but you will have that thing. It is not a crutch but a cure.
@@nidafatima3266 yes, some people find comfort in religion. Unfortunately, I do not, and I see no reason to force myself to believe something I don't. While I'm not sure how God can be a constant if he isn't real in the first place, I can see how people can turn to him to find peace. I simply do not find my peace in Christianity.
@@friedtea9969 Similarly, I do not find peace in things that are temporary, which are everything but God. Everything that is will eventually die. The realness of God isn’t the discussion here, it is the psychological implications of belief vs disbelief and the ramifications of meaning or lack there of on our ontological perspective. Belief is the ultimate cure to the uncertainty, existential anxiety, and lack of inherent purpose in every frame of life. To me, that’s proof enough. Sure you can say that it’s not for everyone but religion is a large framework and if you aren’t in need of this facet of it, you might need another. Also I’m not sure why you said Christianity. There’s other more better frameworks of reality out there, different versions of Truth but there’s one that is raw and pure. I’m not trying to convert you, just to share my perspective that making something temporal your meaning will ultimately destroy you at worst and make you confused at best.
I don't know what the meaning of life is. But I have found at least three things that make it meaningful: beauty, love, and compassion.
Have you looked into the contingency argument for the existence of God. kzhead.info/sun/aa2Se8OFanN5e4E/bejne.html
I like that
Yeah, and the Inquisition and the Salem Witch Trials were the products of healthy mental processes.
Whenever I see someone claiming that a lack of Jesus is destroying the USA, I joke that the Salem Witch Trials must have been what the USA was supposed to use for law.
Thank you for voice of reason. Appears on these vids if you don’t comply and agree w the masses and butt kissing of the topic you are shunned. Thanks for speaking up
I'm surprised religion is still a thing we turn to. We have figured out so many age old questions about the universe through science alone, and a main motivator for me is to find the true answers to the things we've yet to figure out. We aren't going to find those answers in old fictional books.
It's like this video was put in my recommendation by my mom, she always says I'm severely depressed because I dont believe in god
Without great guidance we can easily become lost especially if there is nothing to compare or don't have someone with good intentions to confide in. Do your best, seek help. Life is a daily struggle for all, never give up. Fight to believe in yourself and keep on a good path.
Yes, proof why Islam is the greatest religion.
Beliving in ourselfs is a terrible idea since we are constantly disapointing ourselfs. We are imperfect creatures. Just beliving in ourselfs can make us belive that we are superior to others.
Brilliant video, very well put!
I struggle with mental illness (anxiety and depression), and my Christian faith has been a great solace to me.
Same here. I’d be a much worse person without my faith.
I think your Christian faith *is* your mental illness.
Amen, my faith has saved me and taken me out of chronic social phobia and anxiety!
Your religion in your mind helped you but thats not a universal concept.
@@thewhitestag33implying people without faith are worse people.
Back in my 20s I used to hear grown ups say that I might be an atheist at that time, but when I grow older, will believe again. I think what they really meant is that I would return to religion. I don't believe in anything supernatural today but I do agree with the part about myth and meaning.
Heard the same, but it indicates nothing more, than fear of death overcomes people as they age to such an extend, they would return to fairytales.
Look, projection!
I cannot agree as a secular person. I been much happier ditching the trauma hounds for good.
religion is meant to create and defeat enemies, faith is there to create a better world for all - just replace past with hell and future with heaven
Maybe if religions couldn't use hellfire and brimstone sermons, they wouldn't screw so many people. However, that would give the holy man fewer sheep in his flock, and he wouldn't like that.
Wonderful talk thx. Yes, knowing the difference between our mythos and logos needs in our times is an immense challenge.
I was recently approached by a missionary. Though I am not religious, it was a strangely satisfying and nostalgic interaction, as though I felt a long lost fragment of previous centuries and healthier times.
That could be your spiritual and subconscious recognition for reconciliation with your Creator. As humans, it’s pretty clear we have a disposition to want to believe in something more than ourselves. Christianity actually speaks to the whole story whereas Judaism and some of Islam speak to the partial story. I’d be happy to share the Gospel message with you if you’d like to receive the information 💛
@@paradiserestored6179 Dude....christianity is based on judaism
They are trained for this, they are trained to capture your mind, Once my father was aproached by a misaionary ,offering $4 per month if convert whole family into christianity. Never follow any religion , only dharma and karma stands , an eternal lawful duty which nobody can stop you from fulfilling.
@@markodiusrex7114 yes, Jesus was Jewish however He fulfilled the law
@@eee9034 who’s they?
It took me a long time to realize that whatever critical thinking skills I posess did not come from school, nor from my career, but from being made to listen from the age of 7 to two sermons per Sunday, in a church with a very strong preaching tradition. (That and reading George Orwell and Dostoevsky.) I thank my father for 'forcing' me to do this. It enables me to understand what is happening in totalitarian China, with the failures of our liberal democratic institutions, with metastasized American Evangelical religion, and with gender ideologists who exhibit many of the same characteristics of the worst forms of religious fundamentalism they attack.
I'd say that a better title for this video is "Why lack of meaning breeds mental illness"
See, I could get behind that as opposed to the ridiculous current title.
This was beautifully articulated and well researched. Thank you. Even someone who has a hard time believing in mainstream institutional religions can appreciate the psychological vacuum that is left when faith is abandoned. I surmise that is the reason, as society moves further and further away from these belief systems, that our own attempts to create meaningful stories is also suffering. One of the common complaints, for example, among those who critique modern films is how much the hero's journey, as described by Joseph Campbell, is no longer satisfactorily portrayed in many modern films. Many modern heroes in cinema seem already naturally endowed with all the traits of success, and don't seem to have to through all the trials and tribulations that used to be the hallmark of hero.
Lack of faith leaves no vacuum unless you have an ego problem where you can't accept the way things are for what they are. Where you get greedy and feel you need something special beyond this physical world and your mind. Faith comes from a mix of insecurity and greed.
I think Atheist can almost be a new religion, just remove god and replace that concept with mainstream science.
@@legalfictionnaturalfact3969 There is no "lack of faith" in anyone. Everyone has their faith in something or somebody, be it religion, environmental green green green, government, themselves, someone else, material things, jobs, but I believe everyone has a God that they worship or think about higher than themselves. The native americans had faith in and worshiped the sun as God. Everyone puts their faith in something or someone. I think it's best to put your faith in Jesus, because he set an example of how we should live and showed us how to live and believe all the way to his death.
@@wolf-bearchief3705 ...no. atheism isn't scientism, though an atheist can be a scientist. i am atheist, but not scientist.
@@2tycade no. some don't have faith at all. just knowledge. if i dont know the answer to something, i dont' say i " have faith that x".. i just say I DON'T KNOW. lol. again, faith is arrogance and greed. be happy with what things actually are. you're not special. that's just what it is. really takes the pressure off, when you think about it. it's freeing.
I am muslim. I have believed in God as long as i can remember. I have lost my faith, and also regained it in time. I am not perfect by any means and still have much to learn. But I will simply say, it is very nice to *believe* that there is something there guiding you and taking care. Anytime anything goes right or wrong, its part of the plan.
Belief in anything unsupported by evidence is delusion, nothing more.
Having something that fulfills us with a greater meaning and purpose is what I think the main selling point of religion is. Some people can find that without it, and some people can’t and go to religion to give them that extra boost.
Right. I live by my values and don’t need anyone or anything to tell me how I should think or behave.
This has long been one of my favourite channels on KZhead.
“I Am The Way, The Truth, And The Life” It will take forever to understand. But life has been easier chasing this Truth. Much much harder, yet somehow, easier. Or less burdensome, if you will.
Secular humanism helps to reduce any negative effects of a lack of religion. The problem with religion is there is no scientific proof, so for those well versed in Science it makes no sense to have faith in something without good evidence.
Having no religion means there is no truth. Only “your” truth. If life has no rules and no true purpose then of course you’re gonna be confused, depressed and hateful. Separate yourself from this world or die with it. Your choice.
I've been reviewing your videos for about a year now. Thank you for your work and for helping me to grapple with great ideas by great thinkers.
Mr Speaker, you make a salient point - that most people aren't quite aware their lives lack meaning. Reading the comments shows that the 'religious,' the anti-religious, and the non religious often have much in common: they never pause to consider that religion , or the religious myths or stories can re-link ( religio) to their deepest selves, and their deepest selves to life, to the cosmos ( Religion and Yoga have much the same etymology) - that they have an inner meaning that goes to the core of their personal suffering and struggle. And for the potential in these stories to generate the highest meaning and realisation not only for themselves, but to understand they are crucial for the destiny of humanity and the planet.
A false religion cant connect you to anything of value. Only a spiritual endeavor can do that. Religion and spirituality are not the same things.
@@gothboschincarnate3931 First define "value".
Oh yeah. Believing in a guy who demands absolute submission, constantly threatening that you will go to hell if not, is supposed to give my life any meaning and connect me with the cosmos... Being a blind slave to a sadistic tyrant who doesn't even exist has to be one the most meaningless and dumb things you can do with your life. It was useful for the nobles and church to force most of people into submission and effectively making them slaves. The peasant class.
@@piotrmalewski8178 That is only one definition of God and something of a stereotype. As for the peasants, they had their own forms of religion, regardless of what the aristocracy thought. The fact that they did became an occasional embarrassment in the middle ages.
@@thursoberwick1948 You can't deny that in medieval times, religion was an important part of the feudal system. In fact it was the whole justification for it.
I made a lot of mistakes in life, battle through pain and sufferrings, but the foundation of the truth that I have keeps me to stay up on my ground and continue to pursuit the purpose of life. Without the fundamental truths, we become misery.
It's not a lack of religion. It's a lack of what religion is a vehicle for: understanding WHY an action is considered right or wrong.
...which is lack of religion. If morality exists, it is either objective (same for everyone) or subjective (everyone makes their own). If it's objective, whatever determined that objectivity is both moral arbiter and separate from mankind; God. If subjective, morality is essentially opinion and can never be more than enforced mob rule; hence the Woke, whose protean code of ethics changes by the year. The logic is not difficult.
It seems impossible to know what's right or wrong when everyone can pick their own meaning to life and we don't know what we're here for.
@@Kogen123 that's the secret: there is no meaning or purpose. It's what we make of it
But without religion there is no justification for why an action is right or wrong.
@@mimia.4810 there absolutely is. Run around doing whatever you want, just be ok when someone else does it to you. THEN you start to figure out the golden rule. From there, you'll figure out the positive & negative natural consequences of an other actions.
The Cry for Myth (1991) is a book by the American existential psychologist Rollo May. Great book.
Perhaps he has a better imagination than the weak ones.
Thank you 🙏🏾
Can you possibly send me the link to download that book
@@suhani6677 try Libgen
Rollo May was great on so many levels.
I have probably engaged myself more, both intellectually and philosophically, trough this channel than any other way. I guess i just had to find the right medium. Btw, for this kind of material to be absolutely free makes me really happy.
Religion is the training wheels. Jesus said We are gods John 10 34 ....
@@AttainingExcellenceJesus said right before that "Have I not already said you are gods?" Which he is referring to Psalms 82:6. In that chapter including 82:6 he says this. "How long will you defend the unjust and show partiality to the wicked? The ‘gods’ know nothing, they understand nothing. They walk about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken. I said, ‘You are “gods”; you are all sons of the Most High. But you will die like mere mortals; you will fall like every other ruler.” Psalms 82:5-7 Context is key. Don't cherry pick for your own purposes
@@AttainingExcellence that's gnosticism not Christianity
@@FirstName-zt2my again, what you are preaching is called gnosticism which is a parasitic religion that takes things from everything in this case catholicism and twists them You are just a cultist
Do not believe the lies of these gnostics St Thomas Aquinas was part of this cult but rejected it and embraced catholicism, you can read everything he said and he goes against gnosticism Gnosticism is also the religion of the Nacional socialist that invaded Europe
Recently, I watched 'Three Thousand Years of Longing.' It is about a woman who tells a myth about how she rediscovered the need for myth in her life. I think the enormous hatred and blind devotion in politics is an effort to find meaning. I recently played a video game which uses the quote by Nietzsche that when you look into the abyss, the abyss looks back at you. It then describes a character whose life is shattered. Every morning he wakes up as a different person with a different meaning to his life. He never recognizes that he is always waking up as a different person. I appreciate your video for capturing what is going on in all these events that I have been watching.
Which game is that?
what game?
camping here for a reply on the name of the game
Succubus Academia. This doesn't enfold until the last few minutes of the game.@@NiekLodewijkx
Succubus Academia. This doesn't enfold until the last few minutes of the game.@@bigcheeto-vp2ku
To all my fellow Christian believers who are scrolling through the comment section and get sad: Luke 23:34 "Then Jesus said, 'Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they're doing...'"
“When you are studying any matter or considering any philosophy, ask yourself only what are the facts, what is the truth that the facts bear out? Never let yourself be diverted either by what you wish to believe or by what you think could have beneficial social effects if it were believed. But look only and solely at what are the facts” - Bertrand Russell
It's unclear to me what point you're trying to make
Human beings are emotional beings and therefore, need emotional support. And philosophy- not only the factual kind - greatly helps with that.
@@FiniteSimpleFox he's using a quote to make a point about how this videos thesis is contrary to the way you are supposed to approach philosophical thinking... this is supposed to be a philosophy channel, but it's more quasi philosophy lately.
Why is religion the only vehicle for finding meaning to life? You can find meaning and purpose without religion. How do you even define religion/mythos in this context?
Because we need the little lies to believe the big ones. Just as Terry Pratchett put it in Hogfather: kzhead.info/sun/qbSMZb2vloupe3k/bejne.html
Humanism just copied Christian morality and took it for granted as "self-evident"
A purpose greater than oneself that gives meaning to one's life. That works best for me.
@@Jkp1321 Basis of Christian morality and every other morality is one thing, that is: liberation from suffering
I think the breakdown comes from what one means by religion. If you take a closer look at all 'religions' around the world you find some very different looking belief systems. Some of which aren't at all concerned about the existence of some ultimate conscious being that is running the show. Many things that we label as 'religion' are simply a symbolic framework for viewing the world and how we fit into it.
This gave me courage, thanks man!
I’ve been a minister-believe me, religion is not necessarily a great spot to find healthy meaning. I know a LOT of people who’ve been completely screwed up by religion. I’ve studied the history of Christianity and I can tell you that COUNTLESS people have been slaughtered on battlefields in the name of religion. I know a LOT of people who are religious as can be and still struggle with depression, anxiety, aggression, and a whole host of other emotional ills. What we need is meaning. What we need, more than “religion” is an investment in our human spirit. This is what has worked for me. I need 1. Deep friendships with a few folks and neighborly social connections with a bunch of other people. 2. Opportunities to contribute to the betterment of the world (volunteering at a food shelter, cleaning trash out of the forest, etc.) 3. A deep appreciation of the Humanities and Scientific Exploration that contribute to joy, wonder, compassion and empathy. Science is full of heart filling, mind expanding wonder. And yes, the humanities includes the mythic-like the Bible or the Bhagavad Gita, but you can also get a lot out of Shakespeare, a Zora Neale Hurston story, or a Barbara Kingsolver novel, or 1001 Arabian Nights, or Grimm’s Fairy Tales. Jung was right about a lot of stuff, but he is showing his mid20th century age in his pronouncements about religions. Today, he’d probably pick the word “spirituality.”
Religion actually means 'to bind again'. So our quest is to become conscious about what we are binding ourselves to, and why.
The meaning of life is to live it, and through that add your piece to the river of life that moves all life forward through time. Making both dark but also unimaginably beautiful and good things happen. Infact you already are contributing by being here to read this. Don't worry, you got this.
Ignoring economic factors is a completely absurd way to account for social problems.
I disagree that religion is the only way. But I agree that we're missing something vital. What we lack as a society is not "religion." What we lack is spiritual fulfillment. You can derive spiritual fulfillment from many places. There are healthy and unhealthy non-religious ways to get spiritual fulfillment, and there are plenty of healthy and unhealthy religious ways as well. I derive my spiritual fulfillment from music and art.
Probably my favorite video you've created because you're spot on throughout its entirety. I was raised a Lutheran and attended church regularly, I always had doubts about its basis in reality but continued to go for the community/comradery. Around age 18 I began to seriously question the teachings, and ended up renouncing my faith. I became nihilistic as my understanding of reality and my personal narrative was torn apart, and as a result began to pursue "things of this world", but all have been unsatisfactory. In my early twenties I was dumbfounded how my coworkers were so happy, because none of them were religious and had no definitive meaning or purpose in life. But like you've alluded to, the mass psychosis brought on by nihilism is just beginning to occur, because technological advancements have kept humanity distracted and content from reality. My coworkers were consumed by Instagram, Facebook, Netflix, etc. which kept them content and distracted with alternate realities or skewed perspectives of our own, but you take these things away and force them to contemplate reality and their place in it, and I think they'd be entirely different people. I think the world is becoming increasingly unnatural, and human nature is far less malleable then we'd like to believe for us to keep pace. I remain hopeful that western civilization as it exists today, the material-consumer society will be abandoned and instead people will pursue experience and relationships, in a sort of post-material world that's far more "spiritual" or humanitarian. Maybe that's something we should consider striving to acheive.
Well all you and I can do is be outstanding citizens who raise moral offspring! We can fix it by individually doing the right thing,
as a teen, you were on Christ's side, while the church served Mammon. you were right to eventually deny those hateful lies. there is literally no such thing as a right wing "Christian" those folks are Paulines...Paul's message is "Believe = Saved" which contradicts Jesus' message. you're doing fine....great, for what you've been through.
Just realize religions create vastly more mental illness than anything... this guy is a gaslighter... For we Americans, RELIGIONS are evil foreign psychotic mass murderous mental illness and an ADDICTION to being LIED TO, an ENFORCED PSYCHOSIS, and, of course, written orders from their evil handbooks for their customers to automatically instantly HATE, HURT, and MASS MURDER everyone
I must disagree with a misleading title, even though the narrative is well done an engaging. A title which replaces ‘religion’ with ‘purpose’ would be more accurate. While Jung adheres to a belief that only some form of religion can provide a comprehensive and fulfilling framework for personal actualization, i wholeheartedly disagree. For example the Stoics provide a framework. There are others which do not rely on organized spiritual religion. Having spent 18 years within the Catholic mindset, then following college and a family, spent 31 years within a Evangelical mindset I have set both of those aside. The church entities (I.e. religion) is mostly a framework of control by humans which are just as biased and as fallible as I am. Mental health can be achieved without the religion described here. In same cases it is the cause of the mental ill-health. Setting my soap box aside, this channel is thoughtful and well done. Thank you for the effort.
Any institution is prone to corruption, religion is what gave people a sense of community whereas people now are bound by material status or political ideologies. A free thinker can see the corruption from any institution, but most people need to be controlled for their own well-being, otherwise they will be controlled by more nefarious groups. I’d much rather live in a society which worships a morally righteous diety than rich celebrities, businessmen, and politicians.
Agreed, a sense of purpose is critical for good mental health, not a religion. Religion sells people comfort from the fear of their own mortality. It has morphed into a money making business and is grotesque.
Give me an example of something independent of any religious guideline that you consider "meaning" and that which can shared by everyone.
@@gurutruthspeak598 the problem with your question is a black and white approach with no grey. To give you any answer in this form of question purpose no benefit in anyway. You require to learn the faults of the mind to be elevated to a level that can allow you to observe the world without imputing conscious or unconsciously, your meaning of life. Therefore, come back with a more thought out question that asks a deeper meaning or thought. For I who was also brought up by Catholic religion abandoned religion, simply of its hypocritical rules that play and plague the minds of those who are not developed enough to see the way of religion is black and white thinking. If you really want to learn, be courageous and walk that path of discovery. Don’t ask for everything and instead read, learn or experience it yourself to come up with your personal interpretation. Don’t expect other people to have your perspective, as everyone do not have the same nature, nurture and environment. Not to poke at your ego or username. Quite ironic for a person on the internet sprouting what they believe is truth, but utter nonsense with superficial observations.
@@HelioPopTart Give me grey! Give me every shade of grey you can muster, but don't tell me the answer serves no purpose or benefit - who the hell cares for your opinion on that anyway? If you can't answer it, then ignore it. I'm not interested in your background or what you formerly believed it. I don't give a toss about your views on Catholicism because that is completely irrelevant. Answer the question, or go find another message to respond to.
I was Christian for 15 years and without a religion for 10 years and in just accepted islam for 5 years only, my life got better so fast. Even i got richer in the process 😂 in my opinion if you wanted to be the best version of you if you are a male or female look for a good religion, for me i accepted islam. Nothing can make you happy then loving god because he is the one who created morals, marriage, laws, families, good and evil Delma and read any books titled intellectual deigned and you going to find god everywhere, god solved many questions we had when our parents are bad to us and when society are bad to us and when we are poor and when we are alone and no one care about us, god always with you and protect you and want you to be happy
I find it hilarious how many of my friends - now in the 2nd part of life, laugh or spit at religions openly. You see this a lot with degenerate communities like reddit. Yet they dont see that they too have a god, sex or money. And their devotion is even more fanatic.
I have listened to Schoppenhauer's book on pessimism 3 times. It left me with this exact conclusion-a purposeless people will go mad.
We are all purposeless.
@@collinmc90 Thats why Europe will become muslim majority in no time ....
@@collinmc90 is what an nihilist/atheist would say.
@@collinmc90 no.
Its more like not making peace with being purposeless will make us mad for me
We all have to agree “mankind” is flawed. Ego, gets in the way of everything, good or bad. Mankind created religion, mankind documents religion, mankind interprets religion, mankind profits from religion, mankind controls using religion. Mankind thinks it is the smartest being on the planet, never ending wars, never ending destruction of the earth, never ending poverty, never ending starvation. Now tell me religion works? The only reason the world would be in chaos without religion is because those that blindly believed have woken to the lies. Which brings me to the world is continuously in chaos. Wonder why people blindly accept government control? It’s the same people that blindly believe in religion
One of the few comments I vehemently condone with.
religion also made people go to church every weekend, going outside and meeting others, making it much easier to have friends
And we atheists never go outside, meet people, or have friends.
@@Johnsmith-hp6twOf course not, but the family a church community builds is unmatched. It’s also holds people accountable and gives purpose.
@@mimia.4810 we atbdists don't want love or purpose. And we want to keep sinning without accountability
Lack of purpose breeds mental illness. Very few individuals can find purpose within themselves - like through creativity. Most people find purpose together with other people. And what brings and keeps them together is this commonality in beliefs and rituals, that which we call religion. It doesn't have to be about belief in a supernatural being, but about something transcending the people and the reality. Many radical ideologies throughout history have create this religious mythos around them in order to replace the "old" religions - but with far more complex ideas and new purposes.
There is a story of a sawed off ham bone. The 4 year old daughter asks her mother why the ham bone is being sawed off. The mother does not know, she just did it because her parents did it when she was a kid. The grandfather when asked does not know as it was done when he was a kid. Then the great-grandmother is asked and says it was because the pot they had back in the day was small so cutting off part of the bone had to be done to fit the ham. Religion is often claimed as belief in abstract being(s). But in truth it is a belief system regardless of the abstract. Some aspects and traditions might become out dated but not understanding why they are done is when religion loses it's value. This can be seen in things such as marriage which use to be about family and community building but now is more of a narcissistic day of self indulgence for the bride to be broken when things are no longer desirable. Perhaps the ideal of the abstract eternal damnation is more just a tactic to try and scare some into being moral as many are not deep thinkers about what will happen as a result of their actions. For in a way the Judeo-Christian god and by extension Allah is effectively a god of morality and consequence. In this it could be argued that in turning from god Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by the loss of sound morals. The idea that while doing the right thing might not always result in the desired result every time it generally tends to result in a better situations in the long run. It could be argued that Ann Rand's Objectivist ideals are effectively trying to find meaning in a meaningless existence.
Impressive deduction
@@thotslayer9914 I do.
I grew up religious, many different forms of Christianity. I do not attribute that or the lack of that to my mental illness. I attribute living under someone else’s hypocrisy to my mental illness. My developing mind was nurtured under the contradictory nature of someone’s grand hypocrisy
You sound like you would enjoy the book Invisible Man (by Ralph Ellison). It explores that very theme.
Everyone is a hypocrite, Christians admit they are flawed.
Well said.
Religion offers manipulation, greed, arrogance. Religion wont connect you to a higher power or higher self. Religion connects you to lost sheep that cannot think for themselves and have no answers. Spirituality offers a chance to connect. Religion and spirituality are not the same things. Religions goal is money, cult like manipulation.
A narcissist perhaps? If not for double standards, they'd have no standards at all...
I’m pretty much the only person at my workplace who is a Christian. Everyone I work with is either constantly sad/hopeless, or mentally unstable. Whenever they ask me “Why are you so happy?” I say, “Believing in something higher than myself gives me a sense of hope and a will to live because of something to look forward too after I pass away.”
Listen to yourself. How delusional, arrogant and disgusting
You believe in something that doesn't exist though.
@@jcvdmantasthe fish might not see anything above the surface of the pond, but that doesn’t mean the above world doesn’t exist
@@jcvdmantas Thank you for responding to my comment. Even though we might disagree, I hope everything will go well in your life 🙂.
God bless you my man 😎
same reason a young child may feel sad once they realize santa is not real, the problem is that societies use religions as crutches that they dont really need to walk, but once you remove the crutch many cant figure how to walk without it. The problem is not lack of belief, the problem is the beliefs, it will take many generations for humans to learn to live without the belief in deities.
Wonderful synopsis of the need for religion - or fundamentally, a belief of something higher and greater than one’s individual ego or the ethos of another person, government, or apparatus that will most certainly have no problems asserting and inserting itself into your personal domain. So many people today are living in a nihilist bubble. It creates apathy and a layer of cynicism that places shackles on their intellect and how they interact with the world. In my 20s I was very much like this and thought that science and technology could fulfill my needs and answer my questions. Then a lot happened! I lived life. I struggled. I succeeded. Then the pandemic hit and I felt so lost and unfulfilled. I started reading *a lot* on theology and made it a goal to read the entire Bible. As I was reading religious texts, gurus, spiritual leaders - along with the Bible, the Bible really made so much sense to me. Nothing I was reading from other scholars was much different - which validated for me that the Bible was all I really needed to focus on - the core teachings… I am still not ready to commit or prescribe to any particular religion but I do consider myself a student and servant to God. This commitment has helped me a great deal, especially with my mental well-being. My hope is that people find a path toward their own personal “myth” - and embrace it unapologetically.
Basically religion enters in your life when you are emotionally unestable
@@angelaschone2847Are you not most receptive to help when you are in pain?
Give the Quran a read too
Don't get into religion - it will harm you just like it harmed me, my friends, and countless others throughout history. Religion is an immense psychological burden, a parasite of the mind that will make you chronically disgusted with yourself, chronically apologetic for being human and living in human society. I have finally abandoned religion one year ago, and I'm the happiest I've ever been now.
Ill be praying for you! Edit: I meant to put an exclamation mark, but I accidentally left a question mark this whole time.
I was diagnosed with bipolar type 2 during the pandemic. I’m still searching for the nature of the universe and a meaning. The more I look for the answers and truths. The more I mentally drift from objective reality
Read the bhagavad-gita. I feel as though that book really answers everything
Give time to other people.
Don't focus on what Humankind say. Use their teachings as a guide...not as #FACTS. Focus on what you see around You. Look at creation. Pay close attention. To life...all life forms. Sun,moon,star,,sky,wind, rainbow,rain,ocean, trees, animal's.... mountains .... Nature. Don't focus on what MAN SAYS... focus what you can physically see . When i practice the above mentioned. It's my conclusion. NO MORTAL MAN....is responsible for CREATION.,,,so conclusion in my opinion. Is ..there is a HIGHER POWERFUL ENTITY!!
You're not bipolar ok, you just need to remain in the constant moment.
I can't talk too people anymore even though I'm surrounded by fools.
Great video, thank you.
If self-realization is to be positive, it must be led by wisdom. That was the key with Christ's example.
I had never considered the lesson of Jesus Christ in that light - to live our best lives, to strive to reach as much of our potential as possible. Thank you. I have not considered myself Christian for a long time, but this allows me to see the religion from another angle.
It's all good and nice, but remember Christians started persecuting each other already in the IIIrd century over differences in opinions on certain dogmas. The problem that is the root of all evil in all religions is the lack of self-criticism. And religions aren't self critical by definition. If something is self critical it is not religion, because self-criticism eliminates faith.
@@piotrmalewski8178 this is so wrong it’s almost unbelievable anyone could think this.
@@stephengehly2319 Do you think all the young socialists and communists engage in self critique? They don't, so it can be argued that they follow a form of non theistic religion
How do you know Christianity is true?
@@stephengehly2319 Actually, it makes sense. But I guess depending on if you have religious beliefs or not, your perception of what was said may be more or less something you don't want to hear. Try to read and and think about it.
Thank you for your work, it's always a pleasure to dive into your work. Thank you
Your wlecime
why contribute to this garbage?
@Ok I just paid 50€ to the state. We all have to eat I guess 😉
Every single year of my life sees a growth of peace joy and love. My Christianity is not merely a hope in an afterlife, instead it is directly accessible giving me connection with the very real energies that God shines on humanity so that we can participate in them. It's not primarily about belief or ideas even. It's about profound tangible results that happen as a direct result of relationship with God.
Honestly, religion was never the problem, people using religion as a front for their own selfish agenda was and still is the problem. I have left behind the idea of following religious leaders blindly and have started following religion according to what the texts of the religion says, there is a huge difference in how I see and practice religion now. Religion is more harmonious and less difficult than ever.
Life in itself is meaning. I think people lack the appreciation because they are unaware of how much is required for life to exist on Earth. Once you realize how precious life is and that you get to experience such a thing at all, you do your best to figure out what in living that life gives you purpose. The meaning is the entire journey itself.
This should be sung from the rooftops. Thank you.
This comment is underrated. Thanks.
So basically just practicing gratitude? I understand how that's good but that doesn't bring meaning in my opinion.
no. life have no meaning. life is not precious.
@@filipmazic5486 without God it is not happen.
I have a saxophone. It's overpowered as hell. I literally play every single day and it gives me a self sufficient form of purpose.
Yes, yes I find the same thing is true with my garden.
OP sax 🎷 hell yeah!!! I have an OP guitar and it does the same for me🤘
@@mkultra7940 same🌻🌻
New Yorks alright if you like saxophones
your saxophone is your religion
I’ve noticed the opposite. There are sooo many crazy hyper-religious people. Just nuts.