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Why hello there, this post contains spoilers about life, the universe and everything. Please don't read if you know you get offended about religiony and non-religiony stuff.

This post is really, purely for myself, to write down all my ponderings of late and to order my own views and opinions. They are only opinions and I'm way totally happy for every single person to have their own take on things. That said, I do apologise if anyone reading this feels affronted.

Most, if not all, cultures have a religion or belief system that imparts values on its people and tries to explain the unexplainable. Throughout the ages, people have looked to older or more learned people for guidance and these people used stories as a medium to impart that guidance and other lessons. I do reckon this might be where religion started.

Stories were used to console, entertain and explain, but they were also used as a tool to admonish and control people. 'Why should I not kill, you are not strong enough to stop me?' 'Because you will be punished in the next life.', etc.

In any society, physical strength and aggression most often is a person's most valuable assets, but I think less strong or elderly people found another way to power, utilising the power of the unknown, the power of religion and basically making up new rules to suit their situation.
Our brains are hardcore cool and as survival became easier for peoples and less taxing on our energies and brainpower, the search for answers filled that space. More people had bigger questions and those that were willing to offer an answer would have become more powerful, you can see this in any group of people, and this, I'm guessing, was the start of organised religion.

Everyone believes something different, each shaped by their own perception and how strong their faith is. Without meaning to offend, I do feel like the measurement of someone's faith is how strong they are willing to suspend their disbelief and how willing they are to accept someone's story.

Religion is a big business and while the Catholic church may not have the power it once did, religion as a whole is still very much on everyone's mind... but I think that all belief systems have muddied the waters and have confused people. A lot of people seem to spending their time sorting through the stories they are willing to believe and the stories they aren't.

I think that Religion has it's uses; it makes people feel less alone, it motivates them to act correctly, it makes it much easier to console someone who has lost a loved one and gives people something to think about that is a bit bigger picture... but I personally feel that it's time to give it away.

The simplest answer is often the correct one:

There is no divine.
There is no afterlife.
There is no plan.

This planet has a million kabillion wonderous and horrifying things on it, but that is all down to our perception. The complexity and amazingness of it all can be explained by evolution, what doesn't fit in, dies. The concept of transferance of souls is overly complex and is just born of our own fear of death.

Humankind doesn't understand a lot of things, but I think that is the greatest thing that it needs to understand is that we don't actually have to have answers for everything. There is nothing wrong with confusion and there is no shame in not understand something - and I feel all and any religions may have simply made up answers instead of simply admitting they don't know.
Life is random and confusing and really has no point - which might be upsetting for people, but I think there is also a freedom there; we can make it what we want it. We can decide what the point is and I think it should be to leave this world better than how we found it.

With freedom comes responsibilty. I feel that mankind's insistence on a greater power with a plan helps people accept events out of their control, but it also passes responsibility to someone else. No gods are ever going to come down and teach/save/condemn mankind.

The rest of our little planetary coinhabitants would probably see us as gods, ie, we can help them or destroy them.

I don't feel that religion has caused wars, because frankly if it wasn't that excuse it probably would have been something else - mankind is just another aggressive animal. However, without the concept of an afterlife, soldiers on ever side might be far less likely to throw their lives away or take anothers so easily. Or maybe not, who knows... Justifying things is our best skill.
We each only get one shot at this life thing, and then all that is left of us is any legacy we leave behind; be it objects, projects or memories.

With all this in mind, the whole preparing for the next life does seem a bit selfish, I know most people don't really think about it, but how rockin' would it be if the same energy that was spent in leaving the world/our communities a better place than worrying about praying enough or concerning ourselves with an omnipotent watchdog.

And this might be oversimplified, but if peoples all shared the view of 'it is best to leave the world in a better state then when you rocked in', mankind might have been far more in tune with the rest of our little planet.

I guess I would be labelled as an atheist, but I reckon that this term implies a cynicism or jadedness that I don't feel. Could I be an 'Everythingatarian' or believe in 'Aderism' if a label must be used?