If you believe that the stories, morals and symbols that’s employed in religious dogma are fantasy and the scourge of society, you’d be as well throwing every product of creativity onto the fire along with the Bible because you’d be hard-pressed to find one that is not directly influenced by religious stories. The story of Harry Potter, for example, may look on the face of it like a fantasy story but it’s a replication of the story of Christ. At the end of thestory, Harry is killed by Voldemort (a manifestation of Satan) but is re-born in order to defeat evil. If you want to throw religion to the flames, you better be prepared to throw everything else in with it because you’ll be left with nothing by nihilism. We’d like to assume that we are happier now than ever before. Materially we have more and we have scientific and rational thought. However we need only look at our levels of happiness over the last two hundred years to find that that is not the case:

Source - https://warwick.ac.uk/newsandevents/pressreleases/reading_the_past

People assume that religion is a scourge of society, but according to the above, the rise in atheism and the decrease in religious belief does not correlate with happiness. In fact, the decrease in religious belief might just be the cause of our declining happiness.

As the above findings suggest, actively religious people describe themselves as happier than non-religious individuals. There are various reasons and factors that contribute to this. A sense of community contributes to overall happiness meaning that the attendance of religious services amongst like-minded individuals is healthy and meaningful. The latter is what, I believe distinguishes the religious from the non-religious.

Religious stories are thefoundation for the world we live in today, so take them seriously or suffer the consequences of nihilism

The Enlightenment brought scientific and rational thought, which was able to progress human civilisation significantly but perhaps something was left behind: meaning. We became so obsessed with expanding our knowledge of the world, universe and cosmos that we forgot to attend to what it all means. Religious people have purpose because God or Gods provided them with purpose. They pray in order to find meaning, some find meaning in the act of praying. The concepts of afterlife, rebirth or reincarnation brings with it a moral necessity to act in accordance with the good. Of course, there are exceptions to this and religions have significant issues in which reform is theonly moral prerogative however one concept that religions have that atheism does not is meaning. Therefore if we want to intellectually reject religion and also have meaning and purpose in life, we must accept the significance of religious stories, for they hold what we most desire. If we understand religious stories, we understand every story that’s been told since and we understand society and culture today as it is predicated on religious stories. Religious stories are the foundation for the world we live in today, so take them seriously or suffer the consequences of nihilism.

Keep On Struggling

Gregor

Movie I Enjoyed - Moneyball

“Frustrated that his baseball team can't afford big-money players, Oakland A's general manager Billy Beane bets on a bold new strategy to change thegame.”
I have little to no clue how baseball works, however this true story is told entertainingly so that it can be enjoyed by anyone. The themes and morals of the story are as inspirational as this quote from Mickey Mantle shown in thefilm: “it’s unbelievable how much you don’t know about the game you’ve been playing all your life.” Billy Beane proved that to be true. We should never be married to our opinions and our convictions should not be set in stone, so it’s crucial to frequently challenge your own ideas, biases and views to reinforce them or ditch them.

Watch the trailer for Moneyball below.

WATCH HERE

Nootropic Supplement I’m Experimenting with - Brainzyme

“Brainzyme® FOCUS™ is a range of brain food supplements containing 100% plant-powered ingredients that have been scientifically proven to support concentration, cognition, energy, memory and mental performance.” Approximately half an hour before I started writing this I tried the Focus Original formula and I do feel an increase in focus and motivation that’s not overwhelming but it definitely has an effect. I’ll be experimenting with the other two formulas that Brainzyme offer, Pro and Elite, this week so stay tuned for my take on these next week.

Check out their website below.

LEARN MORE

Instagram Videos I’m Enjoying - juanjo_sound

Described is his bio as “Original music composition + podcasts = this” this guy creates amazingly entertaining music by sampling from famous podcasters such as Joe Rogan and Andrew Huberman.

Check his Instagram account out below.

CLICK HERE

Quote to Ponder

Don’t hire a dog, then bark yourself - David Ogilvy

References

Moneyball Image - IMDB

Brainzyme Image https://pressreleases.responsesource.com/news/100908/brainzyme-improved-my-mental-performance-brainzyme-reviews-from-medical/