We all are familiar with the many religions that exist and have existed in the world we live in, but have we ever stopped for a minute and asked ourselves what they are here for?
I believe that, above all, the religions are something created by mankind, with its virtues and defects reflected in them, with the aims of making people follow and carry out a series of moral rules. They also force us to believe in a superior creature, regardless of it being God, Buddha, or a statue, and they make us fear its wrath, and try to behave well to gain its favour.
There is an important issue to discuss here: Heaven and Hell. It may serve us to assure the poor and the disfavoured that there is still something worth fighting for, something still worth looking forward to. It also makes the rich appreciate what they have and help the needy. It is also useful in the case of the unpunished sins, the good deeds appearantly unappreciated, the offenses taken, or the world´s injustices. It simply rewards or punishes things that cannot, or are difficult to, reward and punish on Earth. And, if looked from a logical point of view, it merely consists of the eternal reward and the eternal punishment of our Earthly actions. Something that makes us fear Hell and pray for Heaven even more.
The Devil represents the dark side of us, our evil thoughts and temptations, not a malign creature. That´s a myth.
So could be God, but this essay is not about denying or proving anything. I´m merely posing questions to your subconscious, and supporting my particular point of view.
If we think about God, we may come to find some very interesting facts worth mentioning. One of these is the "He Who all sees, He Who all hears". We´re talking about the fact that He knows everything. Let us give it a thought... I´ll illustrate it with an example for a better understanding.
Somebody gets into a new store, far away from his home and workplace. One he has never seen before. There is only one employee who seems to be too busy to notice anything. There is no security system, and no customers to care about. Our subject browses through the store, and finds a very attractive item that his pocket cannot buy. He has the temptation of taking it away (this is what we understand as the Devil having whishpered into his ear), so he takes it away and nobody notices. This person could feel happy back home, he has gotten what he wanted. But then again, if he´s a believer he will start getting affraid that God has seen him. This is what we mean when we say that God is trying to send him a signal. This signal is transmitted in the form of shame. Then the shame becomes guilt, for he fears the Day in which he´ll have to pay for this bad action. The feeling will keep growing until at some point this person tries to do something to ammend this error, and we can take as a guarantee that he will not do the same again.
Religions have also been created to satisfy the basic human need of knowing what is expected from us while alive. What are we here for? Where do we come from? What is it that awaits beyond death? What should be our purpose in life?
Another reason for the existance of the faith in God is the attempt to explain the so-called paranormal phenomena or the meteorologic phenomena. This last one deserves a special mention. It has beenn proven by many cultures and religions that praying for rain does work. From the monotheists, to the tribal idol-worshippers, they all have gotten their share of "divine attention". Why is that? How many gods are there?
The reson to explain it is simple: it is called a mass psychic phenomenon. That is, many people wanting the same thing, at a same time, and hoping for it dearly while holding on tight to the belief that it is achievable, that it´s going to happen. The ancient Chinese already knew about this, and they knew that if the majority of the population in a land were depressed, they would get a poor harvest, and so was the other way around, when many people were happy and positive, there happened to be an excellent harvest.
So, as a conclusion, let us stop for a second and think of all this. If there weren´t holy books and prophets and clerics giving us orders of the kind "Thou shall not kill" or "Thou shall not steal", under the threat of eternal burning (the fire, by the way, was introduced to man in the Prehistoric age, and since then, even after having mastered it, men have always feared it, for it is easy to lose control of it, and above all, because it is destructive), what would our world be like? One could not walk out into the streets!
However, I strongly and firmly believe that religions are just ways to control the masses, using people´s subconscious.
As with everything else, we´ve got to have a good moral, a strong personality, and our own criteria, too. And listen to our hearts.
