Howard

Whether it is an idol or an ideology, a deity or a dictator, there are vast numbers of people, perhaps the majority of the human race, who feel the need to worship. They seem destined to believe in something greater themselves and to follow a course that is directed from without rather than within.

Clearly, this is a major reason why religion and belief in “something greater�? is unlikely to go away. Even the Communists did not really eliminate religion so much as they replaced worship of a deity with worship of an ideology. And the need to believe and to live and to fight for something greater transcends basic human decency and common sense. The German and Japanese soldiers in WWII fought valiantly for the most despotic of regimes and engaged in the most brutal of practices in the name of their exalted leaders.

Those of us who do not feel the need to worship will never understand those who do. Whenever I see people bowing their heads or bending their knees, virtually groveling in prayer, I am just stunned. I cannot comprehend why people would want to grovel before anything, or why they think their particular deity would want them to. I even get disturbed at the ultra-patriotic flag waving and anthem-singing that seems to have gripped America since 9/11.

I simply do not understand why so many people feel the need to believe in something greater than themselves. But it has always been so and I suspect it always will be. It’s what keeps despots and holy men in business.

never been there

I know what you mean, I don't get it either.

If you want "something greater", isn't the Universe big enough?

Aravnah Ornan

Have you read The True Believer by Eric Hoffer? A key point that he makes is that many people try to overcome dissatisfaction with their own lives by connecting with something greater and more glorious. Another way he puts it is that faith in a holy cause is a substitute for lost faith in one's self.

Deacon Doubtmonger

(Edited from an old post of mine)

(1) My first guess is that it's easier to get people to swallow intellectual malarkey if they can be convinced to perform ludicrous body positions and movements; I had hoped that we humans would have evolved past such primitivism by now, but no such luck. Here's how C.S. Lewis put it in The Screwtape Letters (for those unfamiliar, it's a collection of letters from a senior devil to a junior on how to tempt humans to sin):

And from "The Skeptic's Prayer" by Peter Kreeft and Ronald Tacelli:

Sorry, guys, but the minute the experiment assumes the form of a prayer, we're panhandling the question. And nice double use of Ericksonian presupposition, assholes! First, seeds planted in the subconscious that certainty constitutes dishonesty -- and who wants to be called a liar? Second, once their god's "proven" to exist thereby, it immediately and automatically follows, with no further testing needed, that he's your capital-K king and therefore he and his earthly spokesmen have an immediate all-encompassing present-life claim on your actions, thoughts, feelings, time and money! (Full text of this article is here, and more on Ericksonian presupposition below.)

(2) Ritual can also be a means to make atrocious post-ritual conduct acceptable, and deaden the cognitive dissonance that might prevent it. All those who perpetrated the Spanish Inquisition, the Salem witch hunts, et al. humbly prayed to God and did all the sacraments and ceremonies to further the notion that they were doing His Holy Will. Or, from a report on a "men's movement" weekend where the leader coaxed people to imagine themselves to be rams and other "masculine" animals (and many actually grrr'ed, woofed, butted each other's heads and sniffed each other's butts!):

It's a lot easier to go home and dominate your wife if you've willingly put yourself through such indignity under the guise of "mythopoetics" and "seeking the deep masculine."

(3) Finally, ritual can create a border between the holy and the non-holy, or the holy and the holier -- even within the same church service! Here's an Episcopal Church scene from John Cheever's Bullet Park:

DD

P.S. A couple side notes:

(1) Ericksonian presupposition is a technique first used by hypnotherapist Milton Erickson as a sly, indirect means of eliciting a certain behavior. For example, it might take the form of "You will get up after a deep, refreshing sleep and feel very peaceful and relaxed, and later, when you've taken your bath, you will curl up with a pleasant book and feel fully at peace with yourself and the world." The hypnotist appears to be trying to help the subject relax, but is actually trying to get him to take a bath; the presupposition is made by the use of "when," and the hiding of it within a bunch of relaxation phrases is called an "interspersal." This isn't confined to hypnosis, of course; salesmen use it all the time ... and so do fundies! Here's an example from an antiabortion campaign running here in Colorado:

Of course, by the time some poor woman can look into her baby's eyes, it's too late to get an abortion, and her life now stands in danger of hardship and ruin, and of course Daddy gets to skip out, but what care the god-botherers? It's perfectly OK to use sleight of mouth if it accomplishes their heavenly purpose, right?!?

(2) The C.S. Lewis quote above seems to imply that all animals have souls; it follows that their souls can be as much in mortal danger from sin as humans'. So why aren't my cats praying??? If I ever dared suggest to my Siamese that they kneel and give thanks unto Me for their daily food ("IAMS THAT IAMS," SAYETH THE LORD!) they would simply yawn in My face and go back to sleep.

Eudaimonist

I suspect that low self-esteem is the cause.

Newton Joseph

GOOD POINT!

Newton Joseph

Eric Hoffer was very insightful and amazing man
His books should be an acquirement of every 8th grader.

:devil1:

tezz

I hear you Howard!

:notworthy, Opps, I mean you articulated my thoughts on pray pretty well. I started a post recently asking what was the purpose of pray, I received some very interesting replies, some of which I am still digesting (being a bit on the slow side it takes me awhile!)

Terry