Are we all just drug addicts?

[FreeTony]

No nurturing required. Religious behaviors gravitate to natural brain stimulants. Singing, chanting, dancing, waving your hands in the air, touching other people — these all have powerful and totally natural effects on the brain. It's probably a simple evolution of behavior; the more natural stimulation an act has, the more likely it will be incorporated into ritual. And then there's the drugs, ayahuasca, peyote, the drug used in the Eleusinian mystery cults, soma — many religious rituals involve powerful psychoactive substances.

There are any number of ordinary behaviors with powerful mind altering properties. Religion just cobbles them together to create a brain stew.

What other reason is there to listen to something incomprehensible spoken in a dead language? It's all just twiddling the knobs on the brain.

I was talking more about the idea that has been ingrained from childhood that going to Church is a good thing, and that not going is a bad thing. Many church goers are racked with guilt about missing a Sunday session.

I have seen the stuff you're talking about and the massive highs people get from some church services.

Surely to feel guilt about non-attendance is a bit different though? I really enjoy playing sport, but if I miss a session I don't feel guilty about it.

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Oh and the ant thing ... biological beings can't run on an algorithm, or all of this is part of the algorithm. It's Dawkins who put this very very well in his book on the selfish gene. The genes you have want to control you (the body) and guide you in such a way that you can ensure their survival. But there's a delay between what happens at the genetic level and what happens in the physiological level. So to ensure your survival, genes gave you some level of autonomy, i.e. your brain. So you can't run on a rigid fixed formula because the more adaptive you are the better you are at survival, but at the same time, somethings are better left to instincts. So biological beings have some flexibility, but there are things that map out the big picture for us, like we have to eat certain types of food, have sex, stay safe, keep warm, etc. etc. And these are usually done by giving you pleasure or discomfort.

As I said, I'm not a biologist so I'm putting ideas out there and seeing if they are at all valid!

So can an Ant choose not to eat in the same way a human can? Does it feel pleasure/pain in the same way we do? Was there a simpler mechanism even earlier in evolutionary history which directed how organisms behaved? Is this ability to be adaptive what we call consiousness? (Lots of questions)

I haven't read the selfish gene, but it is on the reading list.