The Myth of Spirituality

The Myth of Spirituality


Spirituality is very popular in our culture today and probably the reason religion persists in spite of counter arguments based on Astronomy, Evolution and Biblical Studies that cast doubts on the veracity and origin of writings deemed to be divinely inspired. Spirituality could be described is the feeling most people have that some unseen person is watching out for them and that they can communicate with beings in the unseen realm. It’s the “Imaginary Friend” way of life. For the Christian the friend is often Jesus. They believe they have a personal relationship with Jesus and constantly talk to him. Or the friend may be a saint. Catholics especially talk to and pray to the Blessed Mother. Moslems believe they are talking to Allah and for others more ill defined spirits rule their lives.
Spirituality is universal to humans and can become a dominating habitual way of thinking. But, can it be based on anything true? There are several reasons to think it’s a myth. Since for different religions the imaginary friends are different, they can’t be communicating with the same persons. For example Moslems and Christians talk to different spirits using different formula. The effect of this communication would be more believable if there were more evidence for the efficacy of prayer. Some studies purport beneficial effects of prayer, but are always based on weak statistical evidence and debunked when further studied. Evidence that prayer does no good can be seen by considering the death rate over the ages. The death rate was especially high through out the Age of Faith and world population barely grew for hundreds of years. All the prayers offered to cure the sick did no good. The death rate only fell to the present level as a result of the advances in knowledge. So, it’s all an illusion and a myth to think that one is communicating with spirits who are helping them.
There is no evidence for any spiritual realm indicated by paranormal events. The work of CSICOP (Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal) has debunked all claims of proof of the paranormal. If we could influence events by our minds, by prayer or in a paranormal way, then scientific research would be impossible and casino gambling would not be the successful industry it is today.
We may have feelings of a spiritual realm since our consciousness seems to transcend the material and we can contemplate abstract ideas. But, there is no evidence that our mental states can exist independent of our brains. Studies of stroke victims show that consciousness is fragmented and fragile. No one has ever proven to see a ghost. If consciousness could exist independent of the brain then general anesthetic would not put us out completely with the complete absence of time. A computer that’s turned on comes on because all the circuitry is intact. If the computer were smashed, it would not come on. There is good evidence to think the near death experience, often written about, is due to lack of oxygen. The brain revives consciousness if the damage is not too great.
Spirituality is probably due to a feeling that someone is watching out for us from memories of our infancy when our mothers were constantly watching and caring for us. It’s comforting to create an imaginary friend who is all-powerful and watching out for our welfare. It probably helps us feel better, but does it do any harm? It certainly did harm to those who died prematurely due to reliance on prayer and suppression of Science and Medicine. What happens when people in power think they are making good decisions based on feelings derived from spirituality. How about 9/11? The terrorists were motivated by spiritual promises of paradise. The future of the World is threatened by spiritual thinking.
Is there anything that can be done? Understanding that Spirituality is the problem, and keep up the pressure by deriding the “Imaginary Friend” might make progress

Earth's Nuclear war

Earth’s Nuclear Future

Look around and weep. All that you see is in terrible danger. All the people you have ever known, your family, institutions, towns, cities; all are going to be blown away. It may happen in the next minute, hour, day or year. But it will happen unless we demand our leaders do something soon. We thought when the cold war ended we were safe from the nightmare of nuclear war. We were wrong. Nothing has changed. Both the U.S. and Russia still have nuclear arsenals still on a hair trigger alert. The signal to attack will come electronically and the president will 30 seconds to decide to unleash thousands of bombs. Other countries also have many bombs and who knows about terrorists.
The signal to unleash the arsenals could be real or a mistake. The mistake could be Russia’s or ours. It could be due to computer hacking by terrorists or maybe initiated by a terrorist bomb.
Check out the Center for Defense web site at www.cdi.org and let your leaders know the urgency.

Is Christianity True and Good?