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Feb. 24, 2006 Scholars have occasionally said that we humans have an instinct to be religious. A recent book about that is "Religion As A Natural Phenomenon," by Daniel C. Dennett (Viking, February 2006), for which you can see both pro and con reviews at amazon.com. For many years, I have been saying something similar, but not exactly the same. My thought is that we are born with a weak (that is, easily overcome) instinct to belong to a "tribe." I think that the earliest humans survived wars, deadly fights with animals, and famines much better if they belonged to tribes, similar to the behavior of wolves, sheep, and fishes. Some survival benefit came from just having a stable family, because the mother was needed for milk, and the father for protection, and an extended family or big clan was even better. Of course, we are descendents the survivors, not from the people who died out before having children. Once people developed the ability to think in abstract terms (in other words, in generalities such as "all dogs bark, but all cats meow"), then people began to think of the "tribe" as something bigger, such as the "nation." Then the whole country would go to war together, or share food during a famine, which could offer even better survival terms if successful. In more advanced civilizations, there were professions and guilds, and people began to get similar vibes from belonging to those. As soon as writing was perfected, one could get a sense of what I call "almost immortality" from the feeling that what you created could still have benefits for other people, long after you died. But even without writing, you could still invent some concept that other people would use and appreciate after you died. And your tribe would still exist, continuing to nurture your grandchildren (who it could be hoped would still have memories of your personality). Most (if not all) tribes had their own religions. The concept of God would explain all sorts of things like flowers and thunder, and it can be a great comfort when people think about eventual death. Evidently the early Hebrews were both a religion and a tribe, although those two things can now exist separately. Other religions have spead beyond their original tribal boundaries. In my own case, I think there can be many benefits from religion, such as ethics, and great comfort when relatives die, and even the social part of going to church. (That is, "benefits," provided you are not encouraged to be a suicide bomber!) Again, in my own case, I get pleasure out of belonging to the super-creative United States Of America, where almost all great inventions and new entertainment concepts arise. (And with one of the world's lowest unemployment rates!) I have some degree of "tribal membership" feeling from my college and from my professional societies, and I get some almost-immortality feeling from my books and patents. Some people get it from intense participation in various clubs or political groups, and although I don't, I can at least understand this and imagine it. A lot of young people nowadays are too rebelious (or just independent) for any of this. I guess that's OK, as long as their employer doesn't go bankrupt, and that big brown mole on the forearm doesn't turn out to be melanoma. But most of us will live long enough to retire from daily activities, and eventually get pretty sick. I would recommend that, while one is still young enough, it would be good idea to find a clan or tribe to join, or one of the variations of that concept. ------------ About the author: Dan Shanefield is a retired engineering prof, who worked at Bell Labs and then at Rutgers University. He wrote the book "Industrial Electronics for Engineers, Chemists, and Technicians". Visit his website or email: shanefield@ieee.org Comment on this article here! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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