I can say it was a way to reach an end, but it wasn’t the only way to reach that end. Society in the formative ages could have just as easily organized around collective strength and pack principals instead of magical thinking. It served some purpose, but it was a poor way to reach that end. It is a net negative on humanity, but it’s how we got here so we have to deal with its corrosive residue in society today.
Agreed, that’s my whole point. It was not the ideal way to get where we are, but it’s how it happened. There was a… I don’t want to say purpose, but “benefit,” might be the right word.
If we were designing things from scratch, then obviously religion would be left out. But it’s an unfortunate accident of the evolution of consciousness and evolution of civilization that certain societal benefits were included with the magical thinking. Just like the health of the human gut biome is tied to the existence of the appendix, even through the appendix doesn’t provide much in the way of direct benefits these days and can become inflamed and kill us.
I can say it was a way to reach an end, but it wasn’t the only way to reach that end. Society in the formative ages could have just as easily organized around collective strength and pack principals instead of magical thinking. It served some purpose, but it was a poor way to reach that end. It is a net negative on humanity, but it’s how we got here so we have to deal with its corrosive residue in society today.
Agreed, that’s my whole point. It was not the ideal way to get where we are, but it’s how it happened. There was a… I don’t want to say purpose, but “benefit,” might be the right word.
If we were designing things from scratch, then obviously religion would be left out. But it’s an unfortunate accident of the evolution of consciousness and evolution of civilization that certain societal benefits were included with the magical thinking. Just like the health of the human gut biome is tied to the existence of the appendix, even through the appendix doesn’t provide much in the way of direct benefits these days and can become inflamed and kill us.