(July 5, 2011 at 1:13 pm)Darwinian Wrote: Indoctrination, conditioned responses, instinct perhaps. Not sure I'd really call it thinking though
Well, thought is thought, no matter how idiotic. That's why I didn't use, let's say, the word reasoning or logic
(July 5, 2011 at 7:20 pm)BethK Wrote: If they are told the shit is happening to them, and worse is to come because they are "BAD", but if they repent, believe, and ask for forgiveness "good" things will happen and even better things await them in heaven, it makes the whole set of occurrences seem to be more in their control. If they were told, "Random shit happens. Some of it is because of choices you've made, part of it is where, when, and in what socioeconomic class you are in, and it's difficult to truly be upwardly mobile. A lot has to do with choices you've made in the past, and a lot has to do with probability and statistics. If you want to be forgiven, talk to someone you've done something bad to and they might or might not forgive you, and there's not much you can do about it.", they don't feel in control.
It's generally a "good" thing to feel in control, that there are things you can do to better your predicament and to permanently improve it. People "buy" what makes them feel good.
Fucking neurotic control-freaks! But still they won't take so much control that they actually are the own masters of their life, but invent a deity as a fail-safe (because when random shit happens, he works in mysterious ways). Idiots..
When I was young, there was a god with infinite power protecting me. Is there anyone else who felt that way? And was sure about it? but the first time I fell in love, I was thrown down - or maybe I broke free - and I bade farewell to God and became human. Now I don't have God's protection, and I walk on the ground without wings, but I don't regret this hardship. I want to live as a person. -Arina Tanemura
