Live Chat

Okay, so I've been reading an article in the New Science magazine that a very intelligent friend of mine put me on to.

The article talks about the development of children and how they perceive animate and inanimate object and the forces applied inbetween.

Through a series of tests, invisible "agents" affect the movement of inanimate objects and it seems that the child understands that there is a difference between the thing and what is moving the thing.

An example is a bunch of building blocks behind a small screen. A ball rolls in from the left and, although you don't see it happen, the blocks are knocked down. The child accepts this will the ball being the agent and the blocks being affected by the ball.

If the blocks fall down by themselves, the child finds this confusing. From this and other tests the conclusion was drawn that there is an acceptance of these agents affecting the things around us.

Also, with slightly older children, and experiment was done where they expected something to be in a jar, but when they looked in the jar the thing had changes. They accepted that various deities (depending on culture) are acceptable answers for who changed the item.

Long story short, it seems that children accept the idea of an unknown force affect our lives, as we grow up we put a framework around that or identify with others who provide that framework.

My question is.... Is that why we identify ourselves with a "religion" and that the poster boy for our religion is "Satan"?

I can share more specifics, but I think you get the picture. What are your thoughts on this?

_________________
Determination. Perseverance. Resolution.

Firstly, working in childcare I can honestly say basing a studying on the reactions of children watching cartoons to determine a 'God Space' in the brain seems redundant. Babies are like sponges- they absorb everything- It would be impossible to determine what external stimuli could be influencing their reactions. Their behaviour is also hugely effected by their physical conditions at any given point in time i.e tiered, hungry, itchy. In my experience, nurturing adults are the Gods to babies. That's not to say we don't have an expectation of invisible agents. In nature invisible agents are real e.g I can't see the microwaves cooking my food.

But does the absence of explanation really = God space?

In the 50's a tribe of 'savages' (Waorani) were discovered in the forests of Ecuador and had been completely isolated from the civilized world (probably since the beginning of people). As to be expected the missionaries headed in (see story of Rachel Saint). The Waorani had no ideas or concepts of God, religion or afterlifes. Everthing is as it appears and no other explanations or spiritual meanings were really needed. Eat, sleep, shit, fuck, kill. That's it.

As for your question Grym, why the preference for Satan? Maybe the same reason one may prefer brunettes over blondes.

_________________
'I avoided people like they were zombies, even before they were zombies. And now that they are zombies, I kind of miss people'- Columbus, Zombieland

There is a link between the "religious experience" and certain activities in the brain especially around the temporal lobe. But I have yet to see any real evidence of a predisposition toward supernatural explinations starting in child hood.

and:

Because they have taste? :p

_________________
"I would believe in the god Chaos, you know, if he was around. I think he's not a god with a plan; a god without a plan! A god going, 'What? Me? I didn't know!'" -Eddie Izzard

"You know what they call "alternative medicine" that has been proven to work? Medicine." -Tim Minchin

I'm honestly not sure how the above test indicates any belief in a god, but, perhaps, I'll look into this research more and get back with you.

Continuing with Athiel's statements there has been significant research attempting to find what has been called the "god spot," the part of the brain responsible for religious beliefs. At various times, a study has claimed to find it, but in reality the entire brain is involved with certain aspects.

Moral reasoning seems to be primarily in the frontal lobe, which coincidentally is the part of the brain that is the most advanced in humans and allows us to deal with abstract concepts. Religious people think about god in certain parts of the frontal lobe, and at first this was taken to be the "god spot." In reality, both believers and non-believers alike end up thinking about questions about morality in the same regions as the religious think about god.

"Religious experience," as Athiel stated, has been found to be prominent in the temporal lobe. This area of the brain can be thought of as controlling mid-level brain functions such as speech, and processing both visual and auditory semantics.

Those who practice meditation have been shown to have enormous brain activity in the parietal lobe, the area most responsible for sensory information.

I've also read recently some very interesting research that seems to show that the more dogmatic or rule-based your belief system is, the more the amygdala was aroused. The amygdala is associated with negative emotions such as fear and anxiety. These studies determined what values participants deemed sacred, then would have the person make a statement to the contrary, e.g. a deeply religious person stating "I do not believe in God" would cause the amygdala to fire up.

Long story short, religion/morality are as complicated as the human brain itself.

---------------------------------

And as an aside to MoodyVoodoo's point about the Waorani, I was just reading the other day about a similar tribe known as the Pirahã. The article goes into some interesting issues in linguistics, but also deals with the Pirahã's lack of a concept of a deity stating:



If interested, here's the article: http://chronicle.com/article/Researchers-Findings-in-the/131260/

_________________
Who, though He was in the form of Man,
Did not deem equality with Man
Something to be grasped.

Rather, He satiated Himself
Taking the form of Superman
Becoming as a God
And found Godlike in appearance

Yet He exalted himself higher, even embracing Life,
Life in Eternal Recurrence.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn2 ... n-god.html

I think this idea is much more palatable!

_________________
'I avoided people like they were zombies, even before they were zombies. And now that they are zombies, I kind of miss people'- Columbus, Zombieland

Sorry for the slight necropost but time has been precious lately and just got home from a very long business trip.

I got this book on my Kindle which I think covers part of the point.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Laws-Magical- ... 1594630879

In summary: We have many instinctive (versus rational) beliefs which are basically magical thinking. They make us happier and more likely to persevere and endure by giving us the sense that things "matter," and encourage us to carry on.

Basically in many ways (opinionated statement incoming) being a Satanist is our way of saying, "yeah, but I am not going to bow down before YOU assholes, I can make my own path." So, yeah, there is a place in my brain and heart for divinity, if perhaps not for "God."

XPT

Awaken, Illuminate, Ascend

_________________
"When someone asks you if you're a god, you say 'YES!'"