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Author Topic: Fascinating explanation of the human need for god  (Read 19293 times)

danickstr

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Fascinating explanation of the human need for god
« on: April 17, 2008, 12:21:05 AM »

        
The Embryonic and Parental Shell Theory

Taken from Cornelis Mondt

In summary, the theory states that the basis for religious feeling is the crave in all human beings for a substitute to the ultimate protection offered in the embryonic state by the womb and in infancy by the parents.



The embryo, surrounded by the womb's fluid and warmth, receives almost complete comfort and protection.
At birth, the baby at first encounters the shock of coldness and bright light, but soon again finds the comfort embraced in the arms and held against the warm breasts of the mother. Though not quite as complete as in the womb, the baby still feels surrounded by a shell of protection and security.


Developing from an infant into a toddler the small human being perceives the parents as almighty beings, omnipresent, all-knowing and all-providing. The small child learns another phenomenon too - the parents anger. At times it he/she gets yelled at or even spanked. Sometimes the toddler consciously or subconsciously senses the reason for this anger and interprets it as punishment for improper actions. At other times the anger is seemingly without cause and is not understood. The child learns to accept these incidents of hurt or scare as integral part of that encompassing shell that attends, cares and shelters him as did the womb at the onset of life.



It is to be understood that the keyword is "shell", an omnipresent entity surrounding you. Even if the shell may occasionally hurt you, as the womb may have shaken, or the mother's hands may have hurt you, it is always there, reliable and sheltering from that threatening outside. The shell may show many faces, male and female, loving and punishing, giving and demanding, but it is always there to rely on.

(In this respect it may be interesting to note, as all who deal with family therapy have no doubt noticed, that children who were often spanked or even severely beaten by their parents in early childhood will often say: "still, I love them", while children whose parents left them or were hardly ever around to attend to them will express much more frequently feelings of hate and resentment. It would seem that breach of the shell is felt as a much worse abuse than the affliction of physical pain.)

Eventually of course, the child's eyes are opened to the world. It starts evaluating and comparing and soon it comes to realize the limitations of the parents power and
knowledge. It witnesses the parents inability at times to cope with difficult situations, solve problems or answer questions. At the same time it starts to fully appreciate and comprehend the enormous challenges paired with dangers that are posed by the world around him.

This is when that shell of absolute protection and safety that constituted an integral and perhaps central part of the life experienced so far, falls away.

And at that very moment the human starts craving for its replacement. The human mind, always self-protecting, will not allow a vacuum, perceived as dangerous to its equilibrium, to exist for too long. The process of compensation in general is well known and researched. If a vital component for the mental well-being disappears, a substitute is found. If no substitute is found - it is created by the mind. This lies at the base of many healthy as well as pathological mental processes.



And so - God or gods are created. They too may have many different faces, male and female, caring and punishing, giving and demanding. All those faces may reside in one God showing a different face at each occasion, or the god may actually have multiple heads. There may be many gods, each of them representing a different facet.
They may be clearly visualized as a parent's face is, or rather be invisible and amorphous as the womb, residing somewhere in the skies, the mountains or the trees.

In whatever variation, they are always there surrounding us, omnipresent and almighty. Sometimes angry and demanding, sometimes smiling and loving, but always there to turn to, to beg from, to talk to, to pray to. Always constituting that shell around us that satisfies the basic deep need to be looked after and cared for.
Even when bad times arise and disasters occur, we know that somewhere there is someone who takes it all into account and will eventually set it all straight.

This basic psychological process, is the cause of the fact that religion has existed in all its different facets throughout the centuries. That is why so many people feel this urging drive inside to believe in a god, to pray even against their own rational reasoning. It is because every human being through all times and all in all nations went through that same process in embryonic state, infancy and early childhood.
Because all, no matter what culture they grew up in, needed compensation for the loss of the blind belief in their parents' almightiness and of the shell they provided.

It is no wonder therefore that those few religions that do not embrace the clear concept of a God or gods (like some eastern religions) are those that stress the inner completeness of the human soul. They supply the compensation for the loss of the protective shell by training the human mind and body to be its own shell, to feel complete within itself, irrespective of outer occurrences.

We now also understand that the main force behind religion is not the attempt to explain the world, as often assumed by many atheists. This would maybe explain the onset of religion in primitive cultures, but would not explain it's thriving amongst advanced civilizations and highly educated people. No doubt religion offered answers to many otherwise unanswered questions and offered explanations for seemingly incomprehensible phenomena, but this is not the cause of it's existence. Rather; in this aspect religion continues the work of parents with the infant, initiating it into understanding the worlds complexity, teaching and guiding it along dangerous roads, setting behavioral rules and prohibitions. Always, of course, knowing better than the child.

Just as the child often thought different, but learned to accept the parents' command without further questioning as the prize to be paid for their sheltering and protection, so the college professor willingly adopts religious axioms, contrary to clear scientific proof and logical reasoning, in exchange for the ultimate protective shell offered by God. The shell he knew as an infant, an embryo.
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Food for thought for the future:              http://http://www.kurzweilai.net/" target="_blank">http://www.kurzweilai.net/www.physorg.com

Barry Hufker

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Re: Fascinating explanation of the human need for god
« Reply #1 on: April 17, 2008, 12:30:06 AM »

Bullshit.


OOOPPPS!  I think I just said that outloud...

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Podgorny

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Re: Fascinating explanation of the human need for god
« Reply #2 on: April 17, 2008, 01:53:18 AM »

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bruno putzeys

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Re: Fascinating explanation of the human need for god
« Reply #3 on: April 17, 2008, 03:48:09 AM »

Fascinating perhaps in the same way that some of the more colourful religions are fascinating. What utter drivel!

I can't understand how some non-believers manage to try supporting their position with speculation that's just as lacking in scientific rigour as that which they're hoping to drive out. This "theory" is an ad-hoc concoction that does not make falsifiable (=testable) predictions, and neither does any of its premises. This piece of epistemological rubbish isn't worth the hard disk space it's written on.

Current understanding of the psychology of religion is that the ability to believe in the supernatural is a logical consequence of how various nerve centers have evolved to handle real-world situations based on necessarily incomplete sensory data. Once this ability is in place, supernatural beliefs can start evolving through normal memetic evolution. None of this predicts or supposes a need to believe; subsequent emotional attachment to beliefs is a result of cognitive dissonance reduction or may simply be a part of specific religious memes. In fact, none of the standard claims made of religion (people believe for comfort, belief explains an incomprehensible world etc etc) holds up to scrutiny.

A good primer is Pascal Boyer's "Religion Explained". One of the exceedingly strong points of this book is that it always explains the type of experiments done in order to obtain the data on which these theories are based. Also, like any good science book it lists its references so you're not just stuck with the author's interpretations, you know where to find the data and even how to duplicate the experiments.
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maxim

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Re: Fascinating explanation of the human need for god
« Reply #4 on: April 17, 2008, 06:14:41 AM »

any "theory" is fair go as long as it doesn't purport to be THE truth

that's a fascinating if somewhat far-fetched hypothesis, but no further fetched than the suggestion that jericho may have been felled by a salvation army band...

as a metaphorical poem, the idea of parent as god is fun and thought-provoking

in fact, imo, it's not far from the concept of society as god, which also has merit

imo, god is what we don't know

and that's a lot...
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MagnetoSound

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Re: Fascinating explanation of the human need for god
« Reply #5 on: April 17, 2008, 06:26:40 AM »

Even when bad times arise and disasters occur, we know that somewhere there is someone who takes it all into account and will eventually set it all straight.


Oh, right. That's OK, then ....

Pardy awn, dudes!

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mgod

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Re: Fascinating explanation of the human need for god
« Reply #6 on: April 17, 2008, 06:50:40 AM »

Barry and Bruno in complete agreement. But for completely opposite reasons I think.

DS
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bruno putzeys

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Re: Fascinating explanation of the human need for god
« Reply #7 on: April 17, 2008, 08:00:00 AM »

Well I'm not going to intone "amen" or "say it brother" simply because this guy's conclusion (that belief in God is explainable without presuming the existence of God) aligns with my world view. You can't debunk one unscientific theory with another.  I'm not interested in having my world view confirmed. I'm interested in making sure my world view is in line with reality as much as possible. That's what science is about - breaking free from the cultural narrative and instead extracting hard facts from reality. A scientific theory has to "work". It is successful when it reliably predicts what reality will do under given circumstances. When a theory shows it can do that, I'll adapt my world view to incorporate it. This in stark contrast with certain supposed "alternative theories" which have entirely fulfilled their function as soon as the audience starts humming appreciatively. None in that sort of audience will ever stand up and say "hang on, what evidence do you have for that".
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Barry Hufker

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Re: Fascinating explanation of the human need for god
« Reply #8 on: April 17, 2008, 10:07:28 AM »

Although one would think Bruno and I agree for "opposite" reasons, actually I disagree based on my understanding of science, life and human nature.  This just doesn't add up for me as a viable, scientific, theory.

Who'd a thunk it?

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studiojimi

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Re: Fascinating explanation of the human need for god
« Reply #9 on: April 17, 2008, 10:23:16 AM »

Bruno Putzeys wrote on Thu, 17 April 2008 05:00

It is successful when it reliably predicts what reality will do under given circumstances.


We shape our reality utilizing spiritual principles and working with in the spiritual laws of the universe.

Positive God thoughts and ideas followed right by words, actions and reactions yield happiness, health and wealth.

Here's a little scientific experiment for ya....

do this for a month with you indwelling God given zeal and enthusiasm and i personally guarantee you a new attitude about life, God and love.

Too Blessed to Be Stressed


•If you read and study more, the MIND will get stronger.
•If you pray, serve, seek spiritual wisdom and praise God, your SPIRITUAL Self will get stronger.
•If you eat properly, lift weights and exercise your muscles your BODY will get stronger.
•If you think and speak more positively about yourself, your Self-ESTEEM will get stronger.
•Thinking and speaking words that UPlift are mental exercises that make you stronger,
for example....
I am a problem solver
I am intelligent
I am loving
I am capable, worthy and qualified
I am creative
I am an overcomer
I can do it
I can make it
I can endure it
I am a child of God
I am rich with ideas, friends and possibilities
I am focused on my priorities
I am forgiven
I am valuable and appreciated
I make a difference
People are seeking my services
I am abundant
I am healed
I am always in the right place at the right time
I am a magnet for abundance, prosperity and love
I can begin again
My pain can change
I am enough whether I am in a relationship or not
I have great ideas and follow through
I am energized and empowered to do great things
I am improving every day
I am getting stronger in my discipline and desire. . .
to let go of anything or anyone that is not for my highest good
I complete what I start
I am full of peace and love
I am led and fed by the Spirit
I am Too Blessed to be Stressed!
EVERYDAY is a Blessed Day for me!!
Love, Peace, and God's Blessings, God.


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How very good and pleasant it is
when kindred live together in unity!
Psalm 133:1

i dig music

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Re: Fascinating explanation of the human need for god
« Reply #10 on: April 17, 2008, 10:39:12 AM »

wow........who knew?

its kinda like the holy father, the holy mother, and the son of the holy father?

one would expect it works the same way with animals,

so we could then theorize.... there is a dog, cat etc.... god.

F&^king brilliant!
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mgod

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Re: Fascinating explanation of the human need for god
« Reply #11 on: April 17, 2008, 10:58:06 AM »

I think its an interesting way to think about the subject, scientifically valid or not. Just out of curiosity, are Freud or Jung scientifically valid?

DS
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bruno putzeys

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Re: Fascinating explanation of the human need for god
« Reply #12 on: April 17, 2008, 12:06:46 PM »

mgod wrote on Thu, 17 April 2008 16:58

are Freud or Jung scientifically valid?

Nope. Took generations of scientists to undo the damage.
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studiojimi

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Re: Fascinating explanation of the human need for god
« Reply #13 on: April 17, 2008, 12:13:28 PM »

Bruno Putzeys wrote on Thu, 17 April 2008 09:06

mgod wrote on Thu, 17 April 2008 16:58

are Freud or Jung scientifically valid?

Nope. Took generations of scientists to undo the damage.



and quess who will have the last word?

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when kindred live together in unity!
Psalm 133:1

Barry Hufker

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Re: Fascinating explanation of the human need for god
« Reply #14 on: April 17, 2008, 12:18:28 PM »

According to the Christian faith (and this is not a fundamental belief as far as I know but it is widely accepted), animals such as dogs, etc. have a body and a spirit (self-awareness) but no soul.  As such there is no question about "salvation" for them as it simply doesn't pertain.  Only people have body, spirit and soul.  We are made in God's image and so have parts in each of us representing the three persons comprising one God.


Thank you, thank you.  No, really thank you.  It was nothing really.
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