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By personal observation it seems possible that some significant percentage of the population is happier if they have spiritual beliefs. In support of this idea are the many religions that evolved independently of each other. If we don't need God or gods then why do we keep "inventing" them? Our brains seem to be predisposed to seek meaning and purpose. Many of us want to believe that we serve some greater good.
I believe in God and I believe that life has purpose. But this faith comes in spite of the many "logical", proof based arguments that bombard the analytic part of the mind. I made the logical choice for faith but only after years of struggle. And I have seen many other people who go through the same logical struggle but who never seem to reach any satisfactory conclusions. I have seen this in both highly religious people and so called atheists alike.
So here's the idea. It seems possible to me that science and logic may be harming some people psychologically. I have even heard this idea expressed explicitly on various occasions. For example, the wife a friend once complained that after her husband explained refraction and how that produces a rainbow, it completely ruined rainbows for her. The magic of not knowing is what made her happy. In a small way, knowing the truth made her a less happy person. Now when she sees a rainbow she gets mad at her husband.
For years this baffled me since I always want to know the physics of the world around me, but for her the reality was completely the opposite. Then I found that this is true for many people. It finally dawned on me why, not everyone wants to know "the truth". Many of us, maybe even all of us have brains that want gods, magic, and imagined realities. In fact the older I get the more convinced I am that people are happiest when they settle into spiritual beliefs that go mostly unquestioned.
I really can't imagine how to reconcile this potential truth with the advancement of science, education, and fact based truths. Could education only come with a heavy price in psychological terms; with significant casualties along the way? Are we replacing God and spirituality with Prozac? Could "enlightenment" destroy happiness? If this is true in some significant part of the population, what should done, if anything?
I believe in God and I believe that life has purpose. But this faith comes in spite of the many "logical", proof based arguments that bombard the analytic part of the mind. I made the logical choice for faith but only after years of struggle. And I have seen many other people who go through the same logical struggle but who never seem to reach any satisfactory conclusions. I have seen this in both highly religious people and so called atheists alike.
So here's the idea. It seems possible to me that science and logic may be harming some people psychologically. I have even heard this idea expressed explicitly on various occasions. For example, the wife a friend once complained that after her husband explained refraction and how that produces a rainbow, it completely ruined rainbows for her. The magic of not knowing is what made her happy. In a small way, knowing the truth made her a less happy person. Now when she sees a rainbow she gets mad at her husband.
For years this baffled me since I always want to know the physics of the world around me, but for her the reality was completely the opposite. Then I found that this is true for many people. It finally dawned on me why, not everyone wants to know "the truth". Many of us, maybe even all of us have brains that want gods, magic, and imagined realities. In fact the older I get the more convinced I am that people are happiest when they settle into spiritual beliefs that go mostly unquestioned.
I really can't imagine how to reconcile this potential truth with the advancement of science, education, and fact based truths. Could education only come with a heavy price in psychological terms; with significant casualties along the way? Are we replacing God and spirituality with Prozac? Could "enlightenment" destroy happiness? If this is true in some significant part of the population, what should done, if anything?