Why Do intelligent people still believe in religion? 10: agreement | GinaConspiracy
I discussed in my acceptance video about how peer pressure is very strong Acceptance however is just part of the reason why peer pressure is so ingrained into us
In a tribe, consensus and agreement were important, very important If the tribe wasn't all headed in the same direction together, it could be easily divided, so we developed an emotional positive when we all agreed on the same things Coming to an agreement feels like you just solved a puzzle or just found new understanding in a fresh light even if the agreement is completely unfair, such as tricks con men use making it seem as if you have both come to a mutual agreement, when you have actually just agreed to what he wanted Until recently in fact the individual was considered unimportant when compared to the cohesiveness of the community to the point that John Locke in the 17th century was the first to postulate that perhaps not everyone was mentally and emotionally alike, and perhaps not all social norms worked for everyone This went completely counter to the current model which assumed that were are all the same
From a limited view of the world they had at times and the fact that the majority went along with the crowd and kept silent if they disagreed as to prevent social discontent, it is easy to see why individuality would seem foreign to them These days we are taught that individuality is so important, and we have the luxury to agree to disagree on almost any topic Sadly we are wired to feel connected emotionally to the point that depression is the highest it has even been, because our individuality makes us so isolated Religious singing or chanting in unison is something that heightens this feeling and religion takes full advantage of it as we all feel as if we agree on the same thing while it happens Constantine did not actually care about the truth about Jesus when the counsil of Nicea was formed, he just cared about unity and agreement so he could ferment his empire better, and many religious leaders at the counsel gave up some of their long held beliefs, especially about the divinity of Christ for the sake of unity Each one came to the counsel and after some discussion and a vote, God's church agreed in the trinity after many of them believed he was just a man and became god and various other versions
All dictatorships are like this, they don't really care about the truth they only care about everyone agreeing with each other as they know the communal bonding will cause less discontent and easier brainwashing There are still tribes where free love and infidelity is considered the norm, and jealousy and monogamy are looked down on for the sake of tribal cohesion When community is what matters over the individual, the majority wins at the expense of the minority, agreement is everything it makes the majority feel good Several people close to me have noticed and been a bit bewildered when I get flustered when they don't agree with me on a subject especially after explaining my position over and over I thought it was because of my need to be right and a drive to prostalatyse that is a leftover from religion
After thinking about it though, I was never really driven to convert people to the point that I would get frustrated with them, and I really didn't feel the need to be right, I tend to be very open minded and ready to change my view when I am wrong on an issue My problem is I'm crashing from the agreement drug I was raised with the feelings of always agreeing on the same things and it was addicting In my family being homeschooled, I obliviously believed we all agreed on the same things until we got older which was a let down The tennents of religion were something we all agreed on but as I got older I began to realize that they sure weren't acting on what they claimed to believe
Its possible that if I had continued under the delusion that everyone in my church believed as I did, I may have stayed in the religion, however I was taught awareness, thinking and a thirst for truth which are all bad things to have if you want to stay in a fundamentalist religion When you and another person agree with each other on so many issues and you find out that they don't on a particular issue and can't convince it is an emotional crash, and your emotions may make the thing you disagree on seem a lot larger than all the things you do agree on I find myself still wanting that feeling a lot, especially when it is someone that is close to me I find myself getting frustrated because I'm sure if I could just explain my point of view correctly, we would come to an agreement, which make me feel happy and at peace Just because someone feels accepted doesn't mean they feel agreement, which is not a big deal for me if I am not that close to them but if its someone close to me it can cause withdrawls for me
Thanks to religion and homeschooling the agree to disagree is really difficult with someone close to me as it makes me feel distant from them It is something that has just recently been made aware to me, and I will have to work on not being addicted to agreement, though it feels so good Lack of agreement in the atheist community is something that confuses the religious to no end, they can't even begin to imagine being part of a community without set tennents or things everyone claims to believe This is why they claim that atheism is a religion They also claimed that eastern philosophy was a religion even though it was very fragmented and freethinking, because they could not fathom a living without lockstep system that everyone agreed on
Their need agreement on issues, causes them to fragment easily when part of the group ends up disagreeing on an issue and the crash from lack of agreement creates a false us vs them mentality This is why there are so many denominations At some point the minority opinion got large enough that they all began to speak out and since they no longer felt alone in their conviction they finally felt like they were right and the other group were the heretics The atheist and freethinkers community have given up agreement for the sake of the search for truth which can be very painful to some, but over time it will be worth the effort taken
Source: Youtube
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