Harvard psychologist and bestselling author Daniel Gilbert has teamed up with Vulcan Productions and the NOVA/WGBH Science Unit to create …
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Oh wow they have read way too much into things. It very simple…religion is referred to as the opiate of the masses for a very good reason. Happiness is the ability to “forget” pains and struggles that happened throughout ones life. Religion allows people ignore the very real pain and struggles in their life.
If there is a key ingredient it would have to be faith…it doesn’t matter what you have faith in just that you have faith. Faith is the illogical belief that something will happen and in the case of religion it can mean many things. But that fact that we have faith allows to ignore so many truths.
Kenneth,
With all due respect, I believe you are giving both happiness and religion very narrow definitions. I do not consider happiness as forgetting. That is called denial. I do not put true science and faith at odds. As a matter of fact, there is a religion of the worship of the intellect/reason. Despite the great limitations of the intellect and the tricks and games it can play on us, some put it on the pedestal of God. That is going to be a disappointment ultimately. In my personal opinion, it has the tendency to lead the believer of such into extreme narcissism, i.e, the worship of self/ego. People have a name for such. They call that person an A??h?le. There are many things scientists take on faith, but let us not fall into the lie that there is no religion in science (scientism).
Samuel Lopez De Victoria, Ph.D.
http://www.DrSam.tv
Samuel,
A truly fulfilling life requires faith. Whether it is the educated guess of the scientist or the blind faith of the religious. This faith is what allows us to continue and lead a “happy” life. Narcissism is just as likely to occur in either situation as the person starts to feel superior to the other people because of their faith/logic/reason.
Having said that I don’t see narcissism as necessarily a bad thing. It is what drives us to strive for a better life or promotion. Narcissism is simply faith in oneself whether it be in ability or adherence to faith. Without the narcissist we would not have art or music or even religious leaders. I know that many people like to pretend that preachers are not narcissistic but to be able to stand deliver their sermons requires a certain degree enjoying the sound of your own voice.
Next their is no need to to post your credentials because I don’t care and it won’t any sway the argument because I am classic narcissistic who believes that education means nothing by itself and that my experience plus my research makes me more qualified that many licenses professionals.
I apologize for the writing errors. My brain sometimes moves faster than my hands.
I cannot speak with authority about whether or not studies that show religious people have more happiness are reputable, but based on my own experience and that of my clients, that has been the case more often than not.
Given that there are many non-religious people who are happy and also that many religious people are unhappy and/or make other people unhappy, the statement that religions make people happy needs to be qualified by what kind of or what aspects of religion one is talking about.
Certain every religion has the potential for making its adherents, happy, contended, caring, and compassionate. But religions also have the capacity to make people miserable and cruel and fanatical and bigoted.
Like Science, Religion has both positive and ominous potential.
V. V. Raman
Author of:
Truth and Tension in Science and Religion
January 7, 2010
My issue with the program, “This Emotional Life,” which in my view is well done is that it’s presented through the lens of science and psychology. Just because something can’t be measured doesn’t mean that it isn’t valid.
A spiritual lens would be another way of looking at happiness. There’s a difference between religion, which is authority based and spirituality, which isn’t. As far as I can tell, all wisdom traditions say that the ultimate source of happiness is coming to the realization that the “I” (identity, ego) that human beings refer to is a myth. There is no separation between “I,you, them and it.”
For different perspectives on happiness as it relates to aging you may want to visit happiness-after-midlife.com
Kenneth, You say, “‘Religion is referred to as the opiate of the masses’ for a very good reason. Happiness is the ability to “forget” pains and struggles…”
Do you know who said “religion is the opiate of the masses” (or more commonly translated, “Religion is the opium of the people”)? Karl Marx.
It is odd that you pick a cliche and base your philosophy of religion on it. It is no more authoritative than my saying, “it is said ‘the end justifies the means’ for a good reason…” and then expounding on situational ethics with my cliche as my source of truth.
Like others, I too differ with your explanation of religion’s role, and your definitions of happiness and faith. In my experience, religion or spirituality (in my case Christianity) is quite the opposite of ignoring pains and struggles. And faith doesn’t allow us to ignore truths, it always operates within truth, as we best know it. “Blind faith” is another cliche or idiom that doesn’t have anything to do with real faith.
I believe that religion provides answers to unexplained events. These events that occur in our lives for no apparent reason, to some, are “acts of God.” I believe that people placed God in heaven instead of God placing us on earth. God was created to explain these unexplainable events and when you have a collaboration of people with the same belief in “God” then you have a religion. There is an answer to every question, we as humans just haven’t found them yet.
Spirituality is one thing, religion is another. We can have “faith” in ourselves without being narcissists. Narcissism is having more faith in yourself than you should.
Religion’s superficial outer story — taken as a literal historical narrative — makes some people happy sometimes. But it’s so silly when compared to science. But this outer exoteric story is not the real point, and this has been lost in the modern western world. All of the Bible’s inner teaching is aimed at preparing the Soul to see the world in a new way, to open an inner ‘eye’ (not the outer ones), so that something sacred can enter and we will be able to perceive it. This actual preparation, however, is precisely what is missing from all modern versions of religion. “With a truly tragic delusion,” Carl Jung noted, “these theologians fail to see that it is not a matter of proving the existence of the light, but of blind people who do not know that their eyes could see. It is high time we realized that it is pointless to praise the light and preach it if nobody can see it. It is much more needful to teach people the art of seeing.”
To all the people who commented above:
I feel that in the larger picture of things, poverty, wars, and conflict, religion has done more harm to the human race than good.
I am a HUGE fan of inner work. Whether you do it as a Christian, a Muslim, or a Jew, I could care less. I feel that all too often people use religion as an excuse to never take personal responsibility for what they do to themselves and to others.
YOU change your life. Don’t expect some Santa Claus in the sky to send you presents because ultimately, you have the power to have anything you want in life. Don’t you ever wonder why we love the underdogs in movies? Because they made it happen through faith. And with faith, came inspired action. Not faith in a God, faith in themselves. Faith in what life had to offer them.
I see it as God is an ocean and I am but a tiny droplet of water. Let me find my inner bliss/God in any form I can find it in whether that be in religion or spinning around in circles (try it, you’ll feel great!) Therefore, let me find my own inner God. My own divinity. And love me for who I am, not what I claim to know.
And if anyone is wondering what race/gender/religion/class I fall under, I would tell them this:
I am only human like each and everyone of you, and I am proud to be one.
There’s a lot of deep thinking going on around here. I agree that religion is supposed to make you feel good, but the “practice” of religion can do the exact opposite. Personally, practicing religion has always seemed like a chore. The communion with something greater than ourselves gives me that happy feeling you spoke of, but not so much from having to act a certain way or “feel” a certain way. All I get from that was guilt that maybe I’m doing something wrong since I didn’t feel what I was supposed to feel.
I enjoy the dialog. Keep it up. Chris Carter
I feel that religion takes us away from focusing on idolizing each other, which there’s nothing wrong with doing! So many people don’t know the outrageous experience of loving a person we think highly of and then really being with them… hint -you won’t need Viagra! A man who said he loved me, causing me to fall in love with him, suddenly tells me religion is more important to him, then gradually becomes more and more distant from me as I painfully endure many perfectly wonderful days and nights slip by without enjoying each other! Religion makes people happy in a negative way as it turns them away from reality, and deprives those who love them of getting close to them! So in my opinion, religion is a cop-out for cowards afraid to get attached to a real live human being, and settle for ‘marrying’ an imaginary spirit!
I appreciate psychology. Toxoplasmosis would not be the Pandora’s box it is without it.
Occam’s razor- Ignorance is bliss.
Please break it down for yourselves, I have no stomach for theology nor existentialism. (this makes me happy
)
Thanks! Great site.