What would a vacuum of religious or spiritual belief be like

[leo-rcc]

Hi,

I would like to say hi to the forum first.

It is usually considered good form to introduce yourself first before jumping in like this.

I should state that I take no position with regard to the belief or disbelief of a god, deity or metaphysical divinity.

Why not?

Is it possible that the imagination of something greater than ourselves helps certain types of humans cope with the cultural societal and interpersonal struggles of life.

It might, but if these certain types of humans need a faith, a placebo crutch for their life, it doesn't make the existence of that crutch any more real. Just like some recovered drug addicts thank their god for kicking the habit. If it helps them, great. They just fail to see it wasn't their god that did it, it was themselves all along.

But those that do it secular, can also take the credit for themselves if they succeed or only blame themselves if they fail. No excuses.

A delusion might help and give comfort, but it doesn't make it real.

If one is more sensitive to the overall outcome of a system rather than the behaviors of the individual parts in that system, then that person is likely to feel weighted down in their managed individual control since they recognize that their actions have little effect on the system on whole.

It only takes a snowflake to land on the right place to cause an avalanche. Just because one plays a small part in a grand scheme of things doesn't mean they cannot make a difference. And again, no god is required for such a process.

If they somehow believe that their individual actions have profound effect on the system because they believe the greater system is tied to their actions, then they might feel happily empowered when there would find little motivation to act otherwise.

Still, it has no bearing on the actual existence of gods or if their beliefs are justified.

This motivation might be metaphorically named as being the spirit.

Or delusion.

I might challenge that religion and spiritualism could be an adaptive coping strategy for humans. And I would even posit that the culture that has the strongest religious core along side a strong desire for technology will likely be a culture that will dominate all other cultures.

Do you have any evidence of that? As far as I can tell the best economies on the planet and the highest standard of living with the lowest crime rates are found in countries that are more secular.