Easy to state an irrational theory

[icarus3k]

Its easy to state an irrational theory and base it on belief. I've stumbled upon many theories over the years.

And I finally discovered a theory that made fun of it all. Its called the Flying Spaghetti Monster theory. Its an amazing parody of the irrational. Finally something to laugh about.

Brings me to the point on why the irrational still exist. Why do people even fall for them. Even the educated. Can the search for answers lead you to quickfix theories that explain everything. Is it something built into the psyche of humans that leads him to fill the void of knowledge in his mind with anything that'll fit.

Watching spiritual leaders and evangelists hypnotize their audience with what ever irrationality they wish, i am at loss. Why does it happen? And why isn't anything done about it?



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Daring to fly
http://icarus3k.blogspot.com"

 

[loseyourname]

I moved this to GD, since it seems to be inviting opinions more than a philosophical analysis of the nature of human belief.

 

[Hurkyl]

Funny, I thought the flying spaghetti monster was a parody of religon. You haven't bought into the irrational belief that religion is synonymous with irrationality, have you?

 

[PIT2]

I know another one: the "rocks evolve into humans" theory.

So just because something can be ridiculed, doesn't make that something irrational. Just because something is irrational, doesn't mean it isn't true (does the universe care whether it can be approached rationally?). And just because something is rational, doesn't mean it is true.

 

[EL]

It's irrational to talk about "thruth"...

 

[Kazza_765]

The flying spaghetti monster (FSM) wasn't a parody of religion, it was a parody of Intelligent Design. Very different.

 

[Schrodinger's Dog]

The invisible pink unicorn is a parody of religion.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invisible_Pink_Unicorn

All you have to do really is look at early primative societies to understand where religion comes from, then civilisiation to find out where organised religion evolved from more primative types of worship. Essentially I think religion was advantageous to humans from an evolutionary perspective, you have communities that need common boundaries, morals and belief systems to bring them together to co-operate and to benefit as many members of a small society as possible, I suspect that religion formed not long after language, as people began to discuss the world around them, natural phenomina such as wind rain the sun, natures cycles, death etc all gelled into a choesive structure which lead to a non scientific but consistent theory of how life worked. It's not hard to see the advantages religion would have brought to early societies. The problem came when we developed large primarily non nomadic societies, now we had the means to form solid organisation and control of religion, and to use it as an excuse for excersing our rights over others of more primative societies. I don't want to get into a long history of religion, but it's message has been seriously corrupted to fit in with human nature in the last few milenia, and it has somewhat lost it's way in the face of scientific discoveries making some of it's tennants a nonsense, at least with western religions. It's not hard to come down on religion as a bit of a sower of war and a divisive element, but that's just because people don't follow their religions even when the message is obvious. Would the world be a better place without it? Impossible to tell.

It's understandable how it arose, and how it now seems to be part of our genetic make up. It is possible to stimulate feelings of spirituality in people without reading the good book, in the laboratory, it appears reactions are highly varied, with some people feeling a deep sense of calm and a sense of an otherworldy presence, with others exposed to stimulous feeling virtually nothing at all. There is some scientific research into this field but it's impossible to track down on the internet, I saw the research being carried out on a TV documentary by some notable professors of psychology, but how reliable it is is anyones guess.

Anyway preachers tap into this natural wellspring of spirituality and, besides people prefer easy answers to difficult ones, being sheeplike to rational. That's human nature.

Anyway that's my 2 denari.