What’s mainly depressing is that so many people think that every religion is exactly like Christianity, but with a different object of worship and a slightly different flavor of supernatural belief. They don’t know anything about philosophy, they haven’t examined their own beliefs, they just parrot whatever pop science they’ve heard last and think that somehow gives answers to metaphysical questions.
Read some philosophy people. Examine your own beliefs a bit. I’ve just recently seen a bunch of Lemmings who I’m sure consider themselves very rational and scientific freak out at the idea of not having free will, and by extension, there not being absolute good and evil. They can’t even argue about it, they just immediately fall into ad hominem attacks and strawmanning. Bring in the fact that whatever virtue one thinks they have is just the result of genetic lottery, and suddenly the idea of some kind of an untarnished soul becomes awfully tempting. Dare to suggest that nobody is inherently evil and boy do people get mad because their favorite past time of judging others has been called to question. Yet these same people often consider themselves above religious folk because they actually think that their worldview is purely science based and not at all colored by what they just want to be true.
Oh, not to even mention questioning if matter is the fundamental aspect of reality (as opposed to consciousness). People with 0 understanding of philosophy will start arguing about this and then get mad because they can’t prove that there’s matter outside consciousness. They’ll do the science equivalent of saying “God is real because the Bible says so, and the Bible is the word of God so it must be true”. Matter is fundamental because my scientific framework that is built on the idea that matter is fundamental says so (it actually doesn’t, because again, so embarrassingly many people don’t even realize that science has never answered a single metaphysical question).
Unless you have spend several years with philosophy and actually scrutinized your own beliefs honestly, you are living in just as much fantasy as most religious people. In some cases, more so.
And because I’ve been around this block a few times: unless you can provide at least a logical argument (ideally scientific proof) for the existence of free will, absolute good and evil or matter being fundamental, I may not reply.
cmbabul@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Ultimately I think the subtext of it is, “I’m really scared of the uncertainty of existence and want a circular explanation to ease my anxiety about death”. The rest springs from that fundamental fear because someone claiming to have that answer can sell it for any price including blind loyalty.
TheDoctorDonna@piefed.ca 3 weeks ago
I have always been a little bit jealous of people who can be sold on religion. It must be nice to have the comfort that comes with it, especially if you’re the type to ignore all the rules and think that you’re going to the good place just because you had faith.
I am not scared of dying exactly, I’m afraid that something might come after when I just want to sleep. What if a religion got it right? Good place or bad, I’m not down with that. I want finality in my end.
L7HM77@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
That’s my fear too. I was under high stress from work, woke up from deep sleep one night with chest pain. Really felt like a heart attack, and the only thing I could think was “Thank fuck it’s finally over,” then the most peaceful calm I’ve ever experienced washed over me, and I fell back to sleep.
Now I have recurring anxiety when I think of death, because what if the Buddhists got it right? What if I find peace again when my time comes, just to be thrown back through this shit??
affenlehrer@feddit.org 3 weeks ago
That’s a legitimate fear IMO.
cmbabul@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
Never insinuated it wasnt a real fear. Just that it was being used against those who haven’t faced it
Daft_ish@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 weeks ago
Yes, but not so much the anxiety about death. Moreso the anxiety of life. Death to me is pretty inconsequential. Its the motivation to keep living that keeps me up at night.