Belief In Belief And What Makes Us Human (Featuring @kyriacos as author)
I am very excited and honored to introduce @kyriacos as a feature author again. I have great respect for his articles and believe this is somebody we can all learn from.
Please have a look at his previous posts:
The myth of selfishness is currently posted
No, Steemit Is Not Anarchic - So What Is It?
Why technical analysis is trading is 100% bullshit
I will feature a few of @kyriacos posts in the next few weeks. Please make a point of reading his posts and following him if you enjoy the reading!
Belief In Belief And What Makes Us Human
What makes us human has little to do with our brains and more to do with
our hips. ~4.5 million years ago our earliest relative,
Australopithecus, had to move out of the dying jungle and venture into
the savanna. The nomadic life might have benefited our chances for
survival, but it made our hips narrower due to excessive bipedal movement.
This change, along with the development of our brain, hindered child
birthing. It is hypothesized that it became increasingly more difficult
for heads to squeeze out of the birth canal. Humans started being born
prematurely. Most of us died. As a result, for about 100.000 years, the
human population stagnated at about 2000 individuals. We struggled up to
the late Stone Age. We needed to take good care of each other if we were
to survive.
The reason we believe in Gods or have the ability to talk about someone
else who is not present, is the byproduct of the same evolutionary
mash-up. Our brains are still under development after birth. Early
minds, carefully crafted around concepts outside of our control. A cry
is all we got. It is enough to serve and make us feel safe. Whether we
are hungry, sick or drowning in crap, the ever godly hand eventually
shows up.
This abstract hotline ability is ingrained in our physiology for a
very long time. For years after birth we are hopeless. The rest of
animals are pretty much on their own after a few weeks.
The abstract communication from early development carries on in our
childhood. We have tea parties with imaginary friends and expect Santa
to bring us presents. Later in adulthood, we imagine having
conversations with our friends without them being present. We program
our day and fantasize about our vacations. We try to explain causality
in everything around us. We believe we are the center of the universe
even if we are clearly not.
This is how and why we dream. This is also why we understand our own
death in the projected future. Evolution crafted us to believe, to
imagine and to explore. Belief in belief, or what we know as “hope”, is
what eventually makes us human.
__
@kyriacos
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@jacor yoy know how to pick a winner. Well done @kyriacos. Good post, some of us have realities (of the soul) that are instintive, oe beaten into us with the karmic equivalent of a cricket bat.!!!) Any exploration of the subject is welcome.
thank you @onetree your input is appreciated
@jacor Big fan of your topics and writing style. Keep up the good work !
agree 👍
thank you @cire81 and @meteor78
You can follow me as well if you like my topics
Interesting point you make. But, one could argue for any quality that a human animal possesses, and declare it to be "the" thing that "eventually makes us human".
I can argue it is the understanding and salient valuation of morality and truth that "eventually makes us human", reaching greater heights of "human" potential. Belief in beliefs is certainly part of what makes us human, sure. But as for declaring it "the" attribute, aspects, property, quality, or characteristic that makes us "human"... not too sure about that. Peace.
@krnel
it will be hard to argue morality since every single species has its own version of what we call morality. we cannot understand why and how othr species act and based on what premises since the environment is what determines our morality.
The atribute that makes us human is rather our premature births.
Do you think morality, right and wrong, are simply the whims of our social environmental conditioning that have us believe something is right or wrong for some people while it differs for others?
ofcource @krnel
For example Inuits of Canada sometimes eat their first born in the winter if they run out of food. Muslims stone people for punishment. Ancient Egyptians used to have sex with the dead.
Morality is just what a group a people decided to arbitrarily do in a specific place, under a specific timeframe. The most classic one is murder. If you are in war you are allowed to kill and crowned hero. If you are not in war you are a murderer.
You are confusing the ability of a consciousness to believe whatever it wants and justify any action as a "moral code". This is what moral relativism is, whereby anyone gets to decide what is objectively right/wrong, i.e. moral. Truth does not work that way. What is right and what is wrong does not work that way. Truth is what is. Moral truth is what is right and what is wrong. Anyone who thinks moral relativism is justified as an objective methodology for engaging in behavior is mistaken because of how they improperly recognize how most people are making up whatever they want to believe to be right or wrong based on their subjective preferences, wants, desires, inclinations, wishes, etc., compared to the objectivity of a rational mind clearly determining what is right and wrong because it is always right or wrong no matter the time or place, not based on personal whims and wants at the time or place.
The truth, reality/existence of principles of moral conduct does not waver and change depending on shifting geographical locations or time periods. Only consciousness chooses to manipulate and alter these foundations of concern for others as well as themselves to recognize the others and care for their interests as well. To accept moral relativism as a justified way of living, is to lack understanding of moral principles and accept the fallacy of pseudo-"morally" relativistic subjective wants and desires overriding an objective determination of correct moral conduct towards others. Peace.
I hope that we can get rid of all those gods, before they kill us.
I'll never understand how "atheists" and "dawkinists" who are always making fun of religion and touting evolution, can't see that religion was a necessary survival mechanism that evolved from the same mechanism that we did. :)
@jokerpavis
I too don't agree with "Dawkinists" and "neoatheists" but I don't believe in any deity that humans came up with. They very fact that we "believe in belief" makes deities obsolete.
❤
awareness of awareness
very interesting article @jacor