Explore the world, explore the self

[SelfEsteemLvl1] 15mins "Our identity, our storyline, is created by what we repeat. It becomes what we believe." Andy kept saying to catch myself thinking and feeling to label them and let them go while meditating. I did catch myself thinking a lot, but I don’t think I ever catch myself feeling. Enabling myself to feel more and know more about my feelings is actually one of the main reasons I started meditating. It’s funny that what I am seeking is actually other people’s trouble.

Listening to podcasts "Creating God" from Hidden Brain, the guest always talk about some other more relatable examples, such as culture of using fire is passed down to generations along with genetic heritage, and peacock’s costly display signifies the integrity, etc, before actually bringing up his points associated with religion being a human cultural construct for evolutionary beneficial purpose. It’s a great technique to bring the listener closer to accept his point of view. If he goes into the topic of religion, which is an unmovable faith in many people, whatever he says will face a lot of resistance even before he says it. This warming up the audience seems like a great way for any conveyance of idea, but need to pick those examples very carefully. If the disconnect is too large, people will focus on that instead of the merit of any examples or points you want to make.  

“Creating God” -Hidden Brain podcast The view of people created religions and god to impose values and curb behaviors is right down my alley. I believe so too. Because it’s so rational/economical it’s no wonder that the angry, bad-deed punishing gods work better than the loving and forgiving one according to the research. I wouldn’t discount the power of forgiving god either since Christianity is still pretty strong in this world. But thinking about it, the god in Christianity is also punishing and pretty unforgiving. It has everyone carry sin when they are born. There’s hell to punish wrong-doers, and there were natural disasters that wipe out all when it’s the majority that’s bad. With that kind of power, it’s pretty lazy to 砍掉重練. So the research seems to be accurate, it’s the scary gods that prevail in our society.