Friday 19 July 2013

"It isn't hard to do..."

Fransico Goya's "Witches Sabbath"
What if there really was no religion? Would we gain a new level of understanding or all go to hell in a handcart?

‘Imagine’ by John Lennon is one of the 'go-to' songs for those wishing to convey a message of world peace. You can hear it as the backdrop to ceremonial occasions the world over, it’s ever present, becoming almost as ubiquitous as the releasing of a white dove.

It's a little strange given that it asks us to imagine a world with no religion. How many heads of state and other notable dignitaries have unconsciously endorsed the striking of religion from our lives?

But what if we did live in a religion free world? Many would think us destined to descend into an irreversible chaos.

One of the most influential books I read whilst at school was "Introducing Marxism: A Graphic Guide". It was probably my first step towards political awareness (ably assisted by cartoon illustrations).

I remember an early chapter on the symbiotic relationship of the ruling class and religious belief. How Marx believed religion, particularly the fear of God, was a bourgeois tool with which to control the populous and maintain a stranglehold on power.

By instilling the belief that reward would come only in death, and only to those who had lived by the ethical code of a religious doctrine, the elite could quash the desire for rebellion in the working class, rendering the populous placid, docile and compliant to the whims of the bourgeoisie.

As Marx himself put it, "Religion is the opium of the people".

Nothing I have read before or since has been so damaging to my personal belief in the divine and although I can appreciate the many merits of religious community, the premise on which they are founded has long been beyond my acceptance.

On the contrary, the French philosopher of the Enlightenment period, Voltaire, argues that if God didn't exist, it would be necessary to invent him, that people need to believe in a higher power for comfort, to give their lives meaning, to rationalise or form a narrative of why things are.

But wouldn't it be nice to think that humans could make do without? Could accept this finite lifetime for all its natural beauty and absurdity, to be moral, ethical and just without the dangling carrot of a heavenly reward or the looming stick of a hellish comeuppance?

Biologist and primatologist Frans de Waal certainly thinks so, suggesting most of northern Europe, where the vast majority of people are now non-religious, is currently undergoing a form of organic social experiment to see whether a society in which religion isn't the dominant force can still remain a moral one.

de Waal refutes what, he suggests, is the oft held belief that religion was the birth of moral behaviour, claiming that religious morality was somewhat 'tacked on' to pre-existing moral codes, perhaps to "sway morality in a direction that we might prefer".

It does seem to chime with Marx's idea of religion as a primary means to control, and certainly the proliferation of secular societies and charities aiming to better humanity's plight suggests the desire to 'do good' doesn't solely rely on a religious belief.

Morality covered then, but what of the other great pillar of religious purpose - meaning?

Whilst at university in 2001, I remember sitting down with a friend and watching the Sam Mendes film American Beauty on VHS, borrowed from the campus library. Kevin Spacey plays Lester Burnham, a middle aged, middle class man fed up with modern life.

By quitting his insufferable job, taking up a strict fitness regime, smoking marijuana, buying a fast car and listening to loud rock music, he begins to free himself from the prison of his own disillusionment. A mid-life crisis it may be but by the end of the film his pursuit of happiness seems, almost by happenstance, to have reached an end. In fact, the point is, it wasn't really a 'pursuit' at all. More accurately, he has come to an acceptance of his own existence...

It's a sentiment easy to mock, yet another article, again from the endlessly excellent BigThink website, takes up this idea in the context of the Samuel Beckett play 'Waiting for Godot'...

"Like most postmodern literature it’s unclear what, exactly, Waiting for Godot is about. But that’s the point. You create meaning for yourself ... In other words, we’re spending our lives searching for meaning – waiting for our Godot – and failing. The problem, paradoxically, is just that: we’re searching....we know that the search for happiness and meaning is self-defeating: if you’re looking for either, you’ve already failed."

Perhaps one day we'll live in a global society where morality and meaning are intrinsically woven into the very fabric of our existence, hardwired into the minutiae of our everyday lives without us having to seek the approval of a higher being or the validation of a higher reason.

It may seem twee, but there is surely enough beauty and wonder in even the most seemingly insignificant aspect of existence to make us grateful for every single moment of our "stupid, little" lives.

At the end of American Beauty, Lester is somewhat flippantly asked "How are you?". Perhaps we too will be able to pause for a moment, consider the reality of the question and answer, truthfully, "I feel great".

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