Religion
Up there with hurricanes and nuclear weapons as one of the most destructive forces on earth, from the earliest days of mankind, worship and belief in a superhuman controlling power has wrecked havock on our planet in incontestably devastating ways.
Religion continues to destroy, today. Its power to impair human potential while being used as a tool by those in charge is well documented. However, it is the willingness, in fact the deep desire by the victims of this exploit, to partake in religion, that is both the key and the paradox in this curious mechanism.
Religion is responsible for; self righteousness, hate, murder, war, oppression, persecution, prejudice, and really weird people. Religion turns seemingly well adjusted people into single minded, judgmental, obnoxious individuals. The mere act of worship seems to be a cheap excuse against grabbing hold of our own intellect to make happen what needs to happen.
There are so many opposing religions divided into so many different versions, countless systems, philosophies, ceremonial customs, and historical underpinnings, most of them claiming to be the one true thing. How can anyone have confidence in any of these?...
Why would someone want to suffer for, and be ruled by an Invisible Maybe?...
Why would someone devote their life to a set of ideas whose source is both unprovable and an adversary to freedom? Why is this our reality?
Is it possible that there is any reality behind the complex veil that is belief in a God? Can any of these gods be The God?
The Manifest Certainty
Our inadequacy lies not in the desire of our quest to worship, but in our obstinate fancy that we are to do it our way. Every culture in history has clamored in one way or another to the heavens in search for answers and meaning. This points to a common breach in our deepest being. This want, this desire that is exhibited within all of us, whether we realize it or not, is not a flaw in the 'system', just as thirst is not a flaw. This yearning is a reaction to a need. A need that can and must be filled.