Morality and Religion

Some people claim that they don't need religion in order to be moral beings, and they would be right in saying so if religion was confined to institutional religion, focusing on rituals and a belief in the hereafter. However, religion is more than buildings and men dressing up in fancy costumes. Religion is the belief that there is something beyond the purely physical.

I've argued that the existence of our free will implies that there's something beyond physics. There's a will in the universe, and we're born with this built into us so that we can make decisions that change the outcome of events; not due to physics, but due to our will.

This will that we're all equipped with is something we see everywhere around us, even in the tiniest of insects, and according to Schopenhauer, to some extent in plants and minerals as well. This will is beyond physics, and hence something supernatural, yet known to all of us. It's everywhere, and of vital important when it comes to our efforts to live good lives in the company of others.

This is where morality meets religion, because morality has to take into account the will of the universe, and this will is a supernatural entity. Those who see themselves as atheist must also account for this will, so they do in fact acknowledge the supernatural, even if they don't realize it themselves.

Schopenhauer was clear on his views on the will, yet claimed to be an atheist. The Tao is supposedly a type of atheist religion, yet it's all about the will of the universe, and how to live with it. Similarly, we have Christianity and other theist religions where the will of the universe is represented as god and deities.

All of these differences in opinion are in the end academic. What's important is the fact that they all acknowledge the fact that we need to understand the will of the universe in order to live moral lives that lead to desired outcomes for ourselves and others.

Religious texts can in this way aid us in making good decisions, provided we're resorting to texts that have a proven track record. Religious texts that have shown themselves ineffective in promoting prosperity for its followers are suspect, and should be avoided. This is why I'd advice people to follow Christian doctrine and to stay away from Islam.

The purpose of religion is to promote morals that yield desirable results for everyone, and a quick look at the world around us tells us that Christian doctrine has been supremely successful in this respect. But religion is in the end a personal matter. There's no need to pick any one religion, and our relationship to our own will is private. No-one knows precisely how things hang together.

Life is an experiment, as Emerson pointed out. We have no choice but to try our luck in the world. But it's folly to ignore advice from our forefathers just because we have to make our own decisions. We don't have to re-discover everything for ourselves.

A proper understanding of the will of the universe reveals to us that it's something we can't go against or ignore. There's Karma in the world. There's also the need to be meek; to bend with the current when it storms around us, but to stand our ground and not give into risk taking that is likely to come back to us when the current resumes its normal flow. This is all explained in the Bible and the Tao.

Most importantly, we must never let others dictate moral decisions on our behalf. That would serve us no purpose. To yield control of our will is the greatest moral danger, and can very well kill us, because there's no lack of people willing to sacrifice others to the benefit of themselves.

Creation of Adam

By Michelangelo - See below., Public Domain, Link