Why did man come up with God?

(artist Kopeikin).

As long as a person is in the condition of a monkey, he is happy. Alas, with evolution comes awareness. With awareness – fear. Someone turns to Orthodoxy. Someone spreads a mat and performs namaz. Someone goes to Goa and meditates. Moreover, the entire religion is often entwined in a web of ritualism. Magnificent temples, mystical prayer services, mesmerizing icons. To give importance, significance, a bewitching quality.

Indeed. We are the powers that be. Man is the king of nature. He created the iPhone and the Collider. Through his actions he changed nature and climate. The planet is suffocating from global warming. Covered with a veil of ozone holes.

Man is so omnipotent that his nuclear bomb can destroy the entire world, including himself, with a snap of his fingers. But bad luck! This almighty cannot answer three simple questions: “Where from?”, “Why?” and “Where to next?” It's a setup, isn't it? No instructions were given at birth. And all the nuclear bombs, the latest technologies and the logical methods of Descartes are smashed to smithereens against the wall of these three simple questions.

The human mind is inquisitive. In order not to go crazy from powerlessness, he needs to come up with an explanation. Explanation of this formal setup. Someone even more omnipotent. And the man came up with an idea. God. Moreover, being led into a complete logical impasse, a person constructs such myths that make materialists burst into Homeric laughter. These myths are more like a fairy tale for children or the ravings of a madman.

Instead of the “big bang” - “the creation of the world”, instead of Darwin’s theory - the coming of Christ, instead of drugs and sedatives - prayer.

Like a student who pulled out an unlearned ticket during an exam. Ignorance causes panic. Therefore, a person experiences the “frightened child” syndrome. Finding himself in the family of a strict father and mother, the child tries in every possible way to demonstrate his “goodness”. He does his homework regularly, cleans his room, and doesn’t smoke like his peers.

The same thing works for our man. Fear has big eyes, and our hero begins to firmly believe that “He” sees everything and, most importantly, “remembers.” "Big Brother is watching you." And now you are desperately praying. Pray for praise. So that they can give you candy later, or send you to heaven. So that there are no bad grades in your “life diary”. Kind of paranoid, isn't it?

I have always wondered where people have such a love to spread rot on themselves? For the sake of an idea, a “bright future”, religion. A person starves, deprives himself of pleasure, and sometimes even beats himself until he bleeds.

(pictured is the Muslim holiday Shakhsey-Vakhsey).

It is logical to assume that religion is a product of human fears. A sedative. The origin of neurasthenia.

Constant fear is akin to a small suicide. When we are stressed, we get sick more. We're losing weight. We lower immunity. According to this logic, in order to become completely good, a person must deprive himself of all pleasures and suffer permanently. It's better to die right away. Or deprive yourself of the fullness of life while still alive. For him".

This is why deprivation and restrictions are so valued in religions. This whole picture reminds me of the stories of crazy people about being watched. When asked who is watching, paranoid people usually answer “They.” By “They” we mean bandits, FSB officers, the state, aliens. For believers, “They” turns into “Him” - the Almighty. Religion is a kind of legalized paranoia. If you start telling people in broad daylight that the FSB is watching you, it will cause confusion. But if you thoughtfully declare “God sees everything,” this will not bother anyone.

Fear cannot create a worldview in which we believe that life is beautiful and worth enjoying every moment of it. Enjoy pleasure, food, love and sex.

Our most correct ones are martyrs. The most correct ones go to a monastery and give their lives to the Almighty.

Out of fear, a person turns on a slow program of self-destruction. “I am bad”, “I am a sinner”. And therefore, I must pray, suffer, deprive myself of pleasures, and the list goes on. To atone for sins. What is characteristic is that the most correct ones do not reproduce. And vice versa, a woman in labor who gave life to a child is “dirty” and cannot enter the temple. And why? Right! Because I sinned - I fucked. And the child is direct evidence of this “crime.”

Such a fog of global self-deprecation drives especially impressionable people into depression and deprives them of the opportunity to fill life with their own individual meaning.

Being driven into a corner, a person strives to give his head to someone. Church, state, sect, family. Just to be saved. Moreover, more often from himself. From your own inner prison. Because in the face of the unknown, all “omnipotence” and nuclear bombs fade. It's scary as hell.

Understanding the full power of human fears, states masterfully use the religious trump card. Some create tandems with the church. Others replace citizens with “opium of the people.” They come up with their own substitute for religion. Home-grown total ideology.

By the way, old Marx gave a very good definition. Like opium, every ideology smokes the brain. It stops you from thinking. It is easier to send a besotted crowd where it needs to go. Yes, even to death.

Huge money is made from fears. Fortune tellers, healers. What about fortune tellers? All medicine and pharmacology earns millions and billions from human fears. And in foreign currency. Because there are situations when, in a panic, you are ready to give anything “if only it helps.”

And if a person had the opportunity to get to the “residence of God” and kill the Almighty, he would have done it long ago. I myself have witnessed more than once when people in despair, losing loved ones, threw away crosses and icons. They cursed God, asking “Why?” At such moments, many are ready to kill the “scoundrel.” Take revenge on him for your suffering. Not everyone likes to be a puppet in the hands of someone who is stronger than you.

The reality is: it doesn’t matter if you have a baseball bat, money or a big black Gelik. “He” will take you or your loved ones one day some Thursday. Or he will send you an unexpected illness. “His” arsenal has a lot of funny “crackers”, the thought of which makes your knees weak. And so at first (somewhere in childhood) you are confident that when you grow up, you will have a lot of money. You will be an adult and you will be able to solve all problems.

But as you grow up, you understand that there are problems that cannot be solved with money. Even if you give VERY large sums. Incurable diseases, loss of loved ones and many other things that do not immediately come to mind. Something that is tolerant of everyone - both the billionaire and the beggar.

There are probably two ways out here. First: learn to accept life and not argue with it. But it's more complicated. Therefore, the second remains - religion. Or its substitutes. Previously, you could still join the party, but nowadays the party is not as popular as it was 40 years ago.

And as long as the world exists, this logical chain will exist, leading from evolution to awareness, from awareness to fear, from fear to the church. From alcoholism to priest. Etc. And here it is naive to ask the question: “Maybe it’s better not to be afraid, not to drink, not to suffer right away?” But, as you know, this is a utopia. It is human nature to walk in circles. Knock on the thresholds of famous triangular patterns. Stole, drank, went to jail. Sinned - repented - received communion.

Scientists have explained why people invented strict gods for themselves

It turned out that for the “big God” to appear, the community must gain a critical mass - cross the threshold of 1 million people

Photo: EAST NEWS

The pagan gods offered citizens an interesting cultural program: swimming with naked girls on Ivan Kupala, jumping over a fire, singing shameful songs... Needless to say, it sounds tempting. And it is all the more surprising that the cheerful pagan gods almost everywhere lost the competition to the supernatural beings of the new formation - these arbiters of destinies were already strict judges and guardians of the foundations.

Moral Code of the Builders of Feudalism

An international research team led by Harvey Whitehouse decided to test the hypothesis that "moralizing gods" were created by humans to serve an important function: to facilitate cooperation between strangers as disparate tribes came together to create large civilizations.

To do this, the researchers analyzed the database of the Seshat: Global History Databank project. It contains information about the political, social and religious organization of 414 human societies that existed in 30 regions of the world over the past 10 thousand years. To assess the level of social complexity of a society, scientists used 51 criteria. They took into account the total population and the size of the territory. They found out whether the hierarchy of the society included professional military men, judges, and lawyers. Was there an official code of laws and special government buildings, how widespread was writing...

It turned out that for the “big God” to appear, the community must gain a critical mass - cross the threshold of 1 million people. In 10 out of 12 regions, a strict moralizing god was born 100 years after the state became a “millionaire.”

The old gods were good when people needed to appoint an “elder” in charge of the forces of nature. For example, among the Slavs, Dazhd-God was in charge of the movement of the Sun. Perun was entrusted with the control of atmospheric electricity. And Stribog turned the wind on and off. But when states and large cities began to emerge, it became necessary to entrust someone with oversight of the moral character of the builders of feudalism (or some kind of slave-owning-ism that was being created at that moment). Previously, authoritative tribesmen kept order in the community. But when the tribes began to mix in the melting pot of the empire under construction, it became clear that the motley crowd of people needed a Supreme Moral Arbiter to create uniform rules of behavior for everyone.

The first “solver gods” appeared in Ancient Egypt

Pagan gods were ill-suited to this role. They could happily punish a person if he treated the deity himself impolitely. For example, he did not make a sacrifice or broke a taboo. But they rarely “interfered” in relationships between people, especially when one of them violated the rules accepted in society. This is understandable: it would be strange to trust the solution of complex moral and ethical conflicts to a pagan god, who was also responsible for running around naked in a sacred grove. Therefore, “moralizing gods” were in demand, threatening supernatural punishments for misdeeds. Who would want to burn in “fiery hell”? - it is promised by the Jewish and Christian gods. Or ruin karma? - Buddhists are afraid of this.

The first gods, professional “solvers” of human conflicts, appeared in Ancient Egypt approximately 2800 years BC. This was the goddess Maat - the daughter of the creator god Ra, she personified truth, justice, law and world order. Then Maat's colleagues appear in Mesopotamia, Turkish Anatolia and China - that is, where the first highly developed civilizations arose. Only in one case did a society, which by all indicators had accumulated a critical mass of complex social relations, not give birth to a “big, strict God.” This is the Inca Empire, which lasted only a few centuries. Although historians claim that they too were moving towards monotheism. Viracocha, the creator of the world, claimed the role of supergod. Who knows, if the Inca Empire had not collapsed under the onslaught of European colonialists, maybe his cult would have joined the ranks of the world's largest religions.

Relations with authorities

If we trace the formation of most modern world religions, then almost all of them received real power and status only after they were supported by the official authorities. After this, clergy were always close to those who make real decisions about the further development of the country. This can be seen especially well in the example of medieval European states.

In fact, this approach is a huge boon for ordinary citizens of the state. Today no one can prove the existence of supernatural entities. In the same way, no one is able to refute the position of believers. In any case, the combination of power with official religion makes society more stable, secure and capable of progressive development.

Found a violation? Report content

How effective is it?

This approach to controlling society has proven its effectiveness over the previous millennia. A population that feels controlled from above obeys generally accepted norms and rules. At the same time, the level of serious crimes in such a society is significantly reduced.

“Fool” and “simp”: how to refuse swearing now

Infectious disease specialist: one dose of vaccine may be enough for those who have recovered from COVID-19

Where to put chlorophytum to get maximum health benefits from it

In order to increase the effectiveness of such religions, they allow moments of forgiveness of sins. Moreover, this is observed in almost all major world beliefs. The need for “indulgences” is extremely important. The fact is that world religions include in their charters a fairly large number of a wide variety of rules and foundations. Sooner or later, even the most law-abiding person, including the priest of a given cult, leaves them for one reason or another and commits an act for which, theoretically, he must seriously pay after death.

If forgiveness were not provided, then after the first offense the meaning of further compliance with the rules would disappear completely. As a result, the entire basis of world beliefs would be threatened. Today, all major religions allow forgiveness of a person who has committed even the most terrible acts. Naturally, for this he will have to try very hard and lead a purely righteous life in the future.

Fathers of religions: fanatics or pragmatists?

There is an expression that a person who wants to make a billion must invent a new religion. It really has a real historical basis.

Initially, the idea of creating certain cults, which assumed the presence of a super being capable of seeing and knowing everything, belonged to those people who wanted to control society as much as possible. Even if they really believed in them themselves. The creation of world religions by the hands of fanatics and people who have only sincere convictions in the correctness of the cult is practically impossible.

The fact is that at the stage of its formation, almost every belief is subject to serious criticism, and, if it was not invented by the current government, then persecution. To remain viable, a nascent religion must have a very strong foundation. Only truly pragmatic people can create it.

What happened before the “big gods”?

In those distant times, when people existed in fairly small communities, faith was based primarily on the veneration of the so-called spirits, which turned out to be the ancestors of the believer himself. At the same time, how highly morally a person behaves had practically no role. He simply had to make certain offerings in front of the altar or in favor of the priest and he could count on the help of heavenly powers.

Despite thousands of years of development of human civilization, some tribes and groups existing in the modern world prefer their ancestral totems and other accessories.

The real need for a “highly moral” religion, according to modern researchers, appears only when the number of people in society exceeds 1-2 million. They even managed to draw up a map of the emergence of such beliefs, where circles indicate the place where the first mentions of each of them appeared, and in The center lists the number of inhabitants in millions of people.

A Russian nutritionist explains how to replace sausage in sandwiches

Will make you work hard: how to “tame” a fashionable beauty monster

What “pitfalls” should you be wary of depending on your month of birth?

Morality for people and gods?

The need for a universal religion that would unite the population of the same state, over the centuries, the problem of crime and deceit arose. At the same time, increasing the number of patrol officers is costly for government authorities and society itself. And no matter how many law enforcement officers there are, they still won’t keep track of every person.

It is quite possible that initially the “all-seeing gods” appeared precisely so that everyone would feel a glance from above, which sees all his actions. In order to motivate people to behave correctly, the idea was formed that after death a law-abiding representative of society would find himself in wonderful, heavenly conditions.

At the same time, those who acted incorrectly and violated the established rules ultimately had to pay for their behavior by being subjected to one or another form of torment.