<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <rss version="2.0" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/" xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/" ><channel><title>Freethinker &#187; survival</title> <atom:link href="http://fthink.org/tag/survival/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" /><link>http://fthink.org</link> <description>Religion is the Survivalism of Higher Reasoning</description> <lastBuildDate>Mon, 06 Sep 2010 15:40:37 +0000</lastBuildDate> <language>en</language> <sy:updatePeriod>hourly</sy:updatePeriod> <sy:updateFrequency>1</sy:updateFrequency> <generator>http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1</generator> <atom:link rel='hub' href='http://fthink.org/?pushpress=hub'/> <item><title>Religion is the Survivalism of Higher Reasoning</title><link>http://fthink.org/religion-is-the-survivalism-of-higher-reasoning/</link> <comments>http://fthink.org/religion-is-the-survivalism-of-higher-reasoning/#comments</comments> <pubDate>Mon, 18 Feb 2008 12:31:20 +0000</pubDate> <dc:creator>Jon Henshaw</dc:creator> <category><![CDATA[Religion]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Evolution]]></category> <category><![CDATA[instinct]]></category> <category><![CDATA[survival]]></category><guid isPermaLink="false">http://fthink.org/?p=18</guid> <description><![CDATA[I&#8217;ve been thinking a lot about why human beings are drawn towards religion. My initial premise was that religion was a coping mechanism for the (discovery and) loss of hope and meaning. However, as I&#8217;ve thought about it more, that premise seems to be more of a symptom or attribute than a source. It displays [...]<p><a href="http://fthink.org/religion-is-the-survivalism-of-higher-reasoning/">Religion is the Survivalism of Higher Reasoning</a> is a post from: <a href="http://fthink.org">Freethinker</a></p> ]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I&#8217;ve been thinking a lot about why human beings are drawn towards religion. My initial premise was that religion was a coping mechanism for the (discovery and) loss of hope and meaning. However, as I&#8217;ve thought about it more, that premise seems to be more of a symptom or attribute than a source. It displays the the current behavior of a need or desire, but doesn&#8217;t explain how that behavior evolved.</p><p>The key word here is &#8220;evolve.&#8221; If I approach the issue through the eyes of evolution, then my core focus shifts from the observable &#8220;now&#8221; to survival. Ingrained into all human beings is the innate desire to survive — to not die. Higher reasoning doesn&#8217;t seem to change that desire, instead it masks it into the abstract.</p><p>We all desire to live forever and religious belief (including less organized, but culturally transmitted superstitions) communicate that one <em>can</em> live forever. Therefore, religious belief, and it&#8217;s prevalence across all humankind, can be described as a form of survivalism. It quite possibly is the evidence of what survivalism looks like in the mind of the conscious self.</p><p><a href="http://fthink.org/religion-is-the-survivalism-of-higher-reasoning/">Religion is the Survivalism of Higher Reasoning</a> is a post from: <a href="http://fthink.org">Freethinker</a></p> ]]></content:encoded> <wfw:commentRss>http://fthink.org/religion-is-the-survivalism-of-higher-reasoning/feed/</wfw:commentRss> <slash:comments>2</slash:comments> </item> </channel> </rss>
<!-- Performance optimized by W3 Total Cache. Learn more: http://www.w3-edge.com/wordpress-plugins/

Minified using disk
Page Caching using disk (user agent is rejected)

Served from: fthink.org @ 2010-09-09 08:14:43 -->