thoughts on religious/spiritual belief

[firecat]

This was originally posted as a comment in vito_excalibur's journal here; it's slightly expanded here.

Whether or not deity exists, it seems clear that a lot of people have a lot invested in deity's existing (believing or hoping or acting-as-if or...). I'm probably just not looking in the right places, but sometimes I wonder why more attention isn't paid to why so many people invest so much in it. Most of the speculations about that I hear are insults or dismissals from people who don't have the investment and who think that having the investment means you're deluded. That may be so, I suppose, but I also think that throwing away some pretty amazing (and yes, also some pretty horrible) human accomplishments as entirely based on delusion is depressing and reductionistic - kind of like saying oh, thoughts and feelings are nothing but electrical signals in the brain. Yes they are, but they aren't "nothing but."

Can you think of any neutral-to-positive and non-insulting reasons that many humans have a lot invested in believing in the existence of deity? What do we get out of it; why do some of us need or strongly want it?

(Disclosure - I need/strongly want spiritual experience and have had spiritual experiences [that could also be explained in non-supernatural ways, but I choose to experience/remember them as spiritual]. I neither believe nor don't believe in the existence of deity. I usually boil this down to "I believe in deity on alternative thursdays.")

Comments

Re: thoughts on religious/spiritual belief

[pir-anha.livejournal.com]

what constitutes an insult?

for me, a difference between insulting and non-insulting is expressed in viewing something as a "crutch" versus a "tool".

i am not sure all people of faith see it similarly.

finding tools that aid one in gathering strength, perseverance, comfort, and joy around oneself can be a good thing.

somewhat less strong is the distinction between "delusion" and "illusion".

delusions are for psych wards, but illusions aren't necessarily insulting or to be scoffed at: when reading fiction or watching a stage play or a movie, being transported by the illusion into another world can be educational, reaffirming, relaxing, delightful, and a host of other things -- and those effects can work wonders in one's daily life. that isn't a bad thing either.

Re: thoughts on religious/spiritual belief

[firecat]

I would draw the "insult" line between "delusion" and "illusion," although people who believe in deity more strongly than I do might also find "illusion" insulting.

Whenever people say, for example, "fairies don't exist" or "fairies aren't real," I think of all the forms in which they do exist - in fairy tales, picture books, as sculptures, as characters in movies or computer games. I've never seen a flesh-and-blood fairy that wasn't obviously created partly out of human imagination, but to me products of human imagination clearly exist and are real in various ways.