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Religion is about emotion regulation

Started by Sandra Craft, July 05, 2019, 10:35:18 PM

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Sandra Craft

Found this article, which I thought interesting, as I was cruising thru articles on science denial.  The author's name, Stephen Asma, seems familiar to me but I can't pinpoint it.

Religion is about emotion regulation, and it's very good at it

Quote from: the articleEmotional management is important because life is hard. The Buddha said: 'All life is suffering' and most of us past a certain age can only agree. Religion evolved to handle what I call the 'vulnerability problem'. When we're sick, we go to the doctor, not the priest. But when our child dies, or we lose our home in a fire, or we're diagnosed with Stage-4 cancer, then religion is helpful because it provides some relief and some strength. It also gives us something to do, when there's nothing we can do.

From my own experience, that last can be very important despite how useless it is in practical terms.  During my Dad's last months I was feeling particularly helpless and useless, esp. since I lived too far away to even visit.  Having heard about the Japanese custom of folding a thousand cranes to ask favors from the gods, I decided to give that a go.  Not that I thought there were any gods to ask favors of, or that any gods would grant a favor if they existed, but just to have something I could do.  I told my Dad about it, more to amuse him than anything else, and periodically sent him a crane that came out particularly well.  I think I had just over 300 done by the time he died, and my stepmother gave them to people at his memorial.
Sandy

  

"Life is short, and it is up to you to make it sweet."  Sarah Louise Delany

Icarus

That is a most interesting episode in your life Sandy.  I think it an imaginative and beautiful tribute to your father.

Tank

If religions were TV channels atheism is turning the TV off.
"Religion is a culture of faith; science is a culture of doubt." ― Richard P. Feynman
'It is said that your life flashes before your eyes just before you die. That is true, it's called Life.' - Terry Pratchett
Remember, your inability to grasp science is not a valid argument against it.

xSilverPhinx

Quote from: Sandra Craft on July 05, 2019, 10:35:18 PM
From my own experience, that last can be very important despite how useless it is in practical terms.  During my Dad's last months I was feeling particularly helpless and useless, esp. since I lived too far away to even visit.  Having heard about the Japanese custom of folding a thousand cranes to ask favors from the gods, I decided to give that a go.  Not that I thought there were any gods to ask favors of, or that any gods would grant a favor if they existed, but just to have something I could do.  I told my Dad about it, more to amuse him than anything else, and periodically sent him a crane that came out particularly well.  I think I had just over 300 done by the time he died, and my stepmother gave them to people at his memorial.

That's a beautiful story, Sandy.
I am what survives if it's slain - Zack Hemsey