How does religion bring happiness or fulfillment?

[Winston]

I don't understand something about religion. How is it supposed to fulfill my needs and desires? How does it fulfill anyone's needs? How is it supposed to make me happy?

If my needs and desires are for romantic love, beautiful women, physical passion, intimacy and stimulation from romancing attractive women, how will any religion fulfill that? Spirituality may bring inner peace, sure, but it's not going to fulfill my desires and needs in those areas. I'm still going to suffer and be unhappy from the deprivation of such things, even if I devote myself seriously to a great spiritual religion.

So what's the point? How can having a religion make you happy? What does it fulfill? I don't get it.

Devotees of all religions will tell you that the material world can't bring happiness, but their religious practice can. They say that the world is too materialistic. I agree that materialism alone can't bring you complete fulfillment or happiness. But how does believing in something you can't see bring complete happiness and fulfillment?

Now I acknowledge that there is a spiritual component in life that is real and necessary. But that alone can't bring you happiness, satisfaction and contentment. You need more than that, well at least I do. I'm not talking about materialism of course. I'm talking about other things, which I will list below.

But religious devotees seem to imply that their religion alone will bring happiness, peace, joy and contentment. That is too far fetched. Don't you need a little of everything in life? How can one thing alone do it all? What is their basis for that? And why does that work for the devotees who claim this? Are some people happy with religion alone?

In my view, being able to do what you love, having quality friendships with quality people, having a great romantic love affair and relationship, having some adventures and new experiences in life, and having good health, are what bring the greatest happiness, at least for me.

I don't see how religion fits into that though. How is it that some people find happiness through religion only? Can anyone explain?

[fschmidt]

Good religions promote morality which makes trust possible. Without religion, people degenerate into backstabbing scum. So if you value trustworthy people, you should support religion.

[Winston]

Good religions promote morality which makes trust possible. Without religion, people degenerate into backstabbing scum. So if you value trustworthy people, you should support religion.

I'm not sure that's true. Not everyone needs religion. Good people will find a reason to be good and bad people will find excuses to be bad. It is said that the Bible is a good book for good people and a dangerous book for bad people. Bad people will see what they want to see, take verses out of context, etc.

Isn't spirituality and a higher aware consciousness what people need? That will make them empathetic toward others and believe in the golden rule of "doing unto others what you would have done unto you".

[fschmidt]

I'm not sure that's true. Not everyone needs religion. Good people will find a reason to be good and bad people will find excuses to be bad. It is said that the Bible is a good book for good people and a dangerous book for bad people. Bad people will see what they want to see, take verses out of context, etc.

Isn't spirituality and a higher aware consciousness what people need? That will make them empathetic toward others and believe in the golden rule of "doing unto others what you would have done unto you".

How good or bad people are depends on their environment/culture which depends on religion. That is why cultures vary in quality. It does take several generations for a culture to generate into backstabbing scum without religion, it isn't instantaneous. Most people are unable to achieve higher consciousness without religious guidance, and in fact most without religion misinterpret intense egotism as higher consciousness.

[Winston]

Maybe you're right. Religion is better for society. But how does it bring one personal happiness and fulfillment? All religious devotees who are preaching their faith tell me that it does for them. See my questions above in the first post.

[Ghost]

.

[KokujinKrusader]

It doesn't.

[MrMan]

I don't understand something about religion. How is it supposed to fulfill my needs and desires? How does it fulfill anyone's needs? How is it supposed to make me happy?

If my needs and desires are for romantic love, beautiful women, physical passion, intimacy and stimulation from romancing attractive women, how will any religion fulfill that? Spirituality may bring inner peace, sure, but it's not going to fulfill my desires and needs in those areas. I'm still going to suffer and be unhappy from the deprivation of such things, even if I devote myself seriously to a great spiritual religion.

So what's the point? How can having a religion make you happy? What does it fulfill? I don't get it.

Devotees of all religions will tell you that the material world can't bring happiness, but their religious practice can. They say that the world is too materialistic. I agree that materialism alone can't bring you complete fulfillment or happiness. But how does believing in something you can't see bring complete happiness and fulfillment?

Now I acknowledge that there is a spiritual component in life that is real and necessary. But that alone can't bring you happiness, satisfaction and contentment. You need more than that, well at least I do. I'm not talking about materialism of course. I'm talking about other things, which I will list below.

But religious devotees seem to imply that their religion alone will bring happiness, peace, joy and contentment. That is too far fetched. Don't you need a little of everything in life? How can one thing alone do it all? What is their basis for that? And why does that work for the devotees who claim this? Are some people happy with religion alone?

In my view, being able to do what you love, having quality friendships with quality people, having a great romantic love affair and relationship, having some adventures and new experiences in life, and having good health, are what bring the greatest happiness, at least for me.

I don't see how religion fits into that though. How is it that some people find happiness through religion only? Can anyone explain?

I'm a Christian, and I don't think my own happiness should be my most important goal. It is more important that I be at peace with God. But joy is one of the benefits of being a Christian.

As far as romantic relationships go, if you find a woman who is not argumentative, submits to you, obeys you, loves you, provides for your sexual needs, is diligent about the home, open to correction, and humble, that could bring a lot of happiness to you. I've described a wife who fits the characteristics and does the type of things a wife is supposed to do according to the Bible. Of course, a man has responsibilities, too.

My wife is a Christian and so am I, and I'm happy with our marriage.

[Anti-American]

It doesn't.

I agree!! +1

[Wolfeye]

I don't think that a lot of religions hit real things. They tend, as far as I've seen, to say OTHER than what happens. It's like a weird denial thing. Most of these religions are about softening people up & then telling them they'll be invincible just by being right. It's like you're going to make God do something by going dead-weight. If they did other things, like calling f***ed-up shit for what it is & bolstering people's abilities to fight back, while still mentioning the capacity for more hospitable courses of action, I think they would do things that helped people. Doing anything other than attacking an enemy isn't unmanly or anything, but it does actually have to be a gear that exists. Not the verbal mention of it, the actual ability.

Also, so much shit in religion is based on obeying whatever rules, not it being a question of high-quality or low-quality of action. Religion is always trying to market servitude & tends to omit the fact that this obediance causes massive problems- the same problems it's supposedly trying to prevent in the first place, no less. How many horrible things happened because someone obeyed someone else. What's the idea? That it dissipates the situation to involve more people in it? That the person that had the idea isn't the one that committed the action, so there was no situation transpiring? Neither one is true.

The general concept of thinking by adjucation is untrue. If reality were really formed by recognition, nobody would get hit by a car they didn't see coming or have any unexpected good thing happen- actually, they wouldn't even come into being. something had to happen before they were around to perceive anything. What are they? Their own grandparent? Of course not. So the idea that someone's going to change the properties of a situation by designating it a different way is counterfactual.

This comes up in a big way with various religions (not really sure what's in all of them). It seems to come up even more with laws, seeing as with religion there's usually the concept that people can't "I Dream of Jeannie" whatever bullshit they come up with into existance.

Functionally, you get a bit of a problem with the middle man in religion, since they start acting like God's interim manager. Not for nothing, but if God started acting like an enemy (and there's no way to say anything so that someone else can't lie or twist your words), why would you act like there's something special there? Supposing for a second, that God decided to act like the Devil- what would be so wonderful about that? Nothing. This would be called "Thinking by Analogy," just like the idea that whatever a priest does isn't wrong or that wearing someone else's clothes will give you their abilities. The exact term is probably "thinking by analogous circumstance," but it amounts to the idea of yelling louder to make your point more accurate.

I personally believe in something of an influence of good & a different influence of evil. That there's something that is the "wind" to good & there's something else that's like the "wind" behind evil. Not so much people or fate, just more of an influence that can think & make assessments. Like I said, there's no way to say anything so that someone else can't lie or twist your words on their own & language does eventually have to connect to something, but someone can't aim against something that they don't know about. I'm not saying that everyone has a sense of fairness & an urge to be this good way, but they feel pushed around by this feeling & act counterintuitively- I'm just saying that someone does have to have that grasp of the situation in order to aim their actions in a f***ed-up way.

[fschmidt]

Maybe you're right. Religion is better for society. But how does it bring one personal happiness and fulfillment? All religious devotees who are preaching their faith tell me that it does for them. See my questions above in the first post.

As Ghost said, modern Christianity is worthless. A good religion would benefit you personally because you could trust its members if you joined. Unfortunately I don't know of a good religion today that isn't racist or doesn't require unreasonable beliefs, but I am working on it.

[Wolfeye]

One more thing I forgot to add, but did imply, in my last post is that it's better to have a Good & Bad WOLF sense of ethics. The Bad Wolf vs. Good Sheep model doesn't actually work to the advantage of the good guys that are supposedly the ones that are cared about by these religions. It's basically sabotage. I don't know if it started that way or got steered that way, but it does nothing to prevent any problems that are aimed at someone that doesn't have it coming. I figure revenge ties in with all this, because it DOES tend to help someone feel a little bit better & it serves as a preventative measure- since that one that did whatever it is won't be around to do it again (at least, if it's serious). Another thing is that the prospect of vengeance as a reciprocation for whatever affront being contemplated is a bit of a deterant & so is the prospect of attacking people that are like that to begin with. Not only may it not go so good coming, but also going- there's problems coming back from in front AND from behind. AND it might just help somoene sleep just a little bit better.

[starchild5]

Its a scam - A gigantic Psy_Op

I'm in India. The home of some of the greatest religion and philosophies the world have ever seen. From Yoga to over 50,000 gods and goddess to buddha and what not

If religion had any usefulness. Majority of India would already be in an another dimension as we are the ones who were exposed to it for the longest of times. I'm a Christian myself and have read all Hindu philosophies which are same as bible ones. basically, be good, do good, no to harm others etc etc

We would be the most happy and content because we have lived through all religious teachings ever conceived on earth. All bible teachings, All khuran teachings are already present in Vedas etc...

and Its EXACTLY THE REVERSE. The people here are Psychotic, close minded, selfish, dishonest and parasitically poor. India is below hell. Even when all religions claimed it could do....It has not even done 5% of its promise on India for over 10,000+ years... What more proof one wants other than India that religion simply does not work.

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

Religion gives you false hope.

It was created by the Evil. Once it does its evil acts. It created Karma to put its sin on humanity. It does all the crime on earth but puts the blame on us and calls it Karma.

If there were no religion. The evil would have been terminated long long time ago.

We would have actually found out who is causing all these pain and misery on earth in the first place rather than seek happiness. Religion Assumes we were born miserable and we actually need to do something like pray to god, do yoga, be vegan, be spiritual, be good, do good etc to be happy.

Its cunningly takes away the attention from the real culprit aka evil and focusses on us, as we are the one who needs help not the evil.

It's the reverse. Our true nature is eternal happiness. We were born happy. Our DNA is one of true bliss. This darkness created all the misery and now it wants us to pray to it to get rid of it..It will never happen.


Its like Good Cop - Bad Cop..

Actually. What Winston Said..." being able to do what you love, having quality friendships with quality people, having a great romantic love affair and relationship, having some adventures and new experiences in life, and having good health, are what bring the greatest happiness, at least for me. "

Is what this darkness keeps us away from, not give us what we really want, and gives us this false hope through religion that, if you pray, you will get it. Its impossible the way religion is designed that humanity will go anywhere with it or ever reach its true potential. Religion is designed in reverse to make us never reach our true goals.