0.5 Are religious and political ideas delusional manifestations of  (Page 5/8)

What does it mean to believe in God? Does it really matter how the events of our lives unfold anyway?

Life doesn't really matter anyway so it doesn't really matter how our lives could be influenced by a god.

Those previous statements weren't even really that significant - it is obvious that the events of life are significant or not significant - some events in peoples lives are significant and other events aren't as significant. It could be viewed as being a bunch of little details or bunch of moderately small details.

God can be portrayed as being mighty or the universe as being everywhere and god as being all powerful. Are those ideas delusions? Why would it matter that much if god was all powerful? It seems like that idea is delusional - every religion believes in an all powerful god. While different religions have differing views of how they view god they all believe in an omnipotent being of some sort.

IF you think about it, people have delusions all of the time, and god would certainly seem like something to be delusional about. But what is the person being delusional about exactly? Are they being delusional that life is grand and extensive, or are they being delusional that god is going to help them in some magical or realistic way?

These are all important questions - how can an idea influence the human psyche so significantly? What emotional or cognitive processes are being influenced when people frame things in different ways?

Religion and the unconscious

To what extent is religion unconscious? Religion seems to be extremely unconscious because it involves ideas that are powerful and emotional.

When i say that religious ideas are emotional does that mean that they are delusional? Whenever someone thinks that their life is going to be a certain way and that it is going to happen magically that way then they would be both delusional and emotional - I am not suggesting that people who follow religion are delusional - or more delusional than people who are just planning out their lives anyway.

Why would the understanding of how much pain or pleasure someone is in need to be cognitively interpreted? Does that mean that it needs to be verbally interpreted or does it just need to be understood more consciously? If something is understood consciously does that mean that they are going to be less emotional about it or more emotional about it? The unconscious can deviate from the conscious mind, and, in that case, could be the opposite of what the conscious mind wants to think or believe.

I would think in that case doing something like reciting a prayer or thinking about something religious could be done consciously but the persons unconscious emotions wouldn't follow. Perhaps that is what it is like for someone who doesn't believe in a religion who tries to follow it but fails.

I suppose it doesn't really matter if the people who follow various religious beliefs and values care excessively about them. I am just wondering what the point of repeating certain values or beliefs to oneself is. Having not practiced any religion or prayer worship consistently I cannot speak from personal experience. However, if you think about it, religion is sort of like therapy in that the person repeats the things that are occurring in their lives - or at least repeating the things or ideas that lie behind what is occurring in their lives. That is what religious values and ideas are - they are the foundation for someones life - and you don't need to necessarily discuss your life with a therapist in order to enhance it or think about it. If the idea that lies behind your life is that you need to be pleasure-less or dutiful to your society or family then you ca think about those values to yourself or in prayer worship and don't need to discuss them in therapy.