How Your Brain Creates God

the 'God' meme - may have begun with 'survival' to begin with...
but our collective idea of 'god' is that god believers/aspirants
declare an outward/social commitment to surmount a life driven by baser, animal drives,

instead reaching for higher human traits such as;
having a loving, caring, nurturing disposition
developing higher character such as not lying, stealing, etc
sharing with others, being generous & forgiving to others

'god' belief, is an outward sign to others that this individual or family or group can be trusted (within bounds), and is basically a 'group coding' that we 'social animals' really value for the 'coded' interaction it allows us to explore with strangers.

Originally posted by spiritwomyn
I find it interesting that you can accept Carl jung's theories on archtypes but not someone who actually experienced death.

Why? There is clinical evidence and (in my view) scientific support of a kind for the one, and nothing but an obviously unreliable personal testimony to support the other.

I was dead, flat lined, brain and body.

Funny how mystical folk like you are so willing to take modern technology at its word. You were dead according to a bunch of machines plugged into a wall. Clearly the machines didn't tell the whole story, because you are still alive and trying (pointlessly if rather endearingly) to make me believe that your delusions in extremis were real. Silly girl, you witnessed your own brain's shutdown routine - a routine that seems much the same for all human brains, since so many of them report the same experience and it seems to be culture-invariant (see references in the Bardo Thodol, etc.) - and took it for some deep, meaningful revelation.

We are greater then we appear

You learnt this in a few minutes while your vital signs were absent? Gosh, you're a quick study.

if we are just this physical self then why do we have the ability to think and create beyond what we presently know and have?

Have you noticed that Nature is unpredictable, and often slings unforeseen challenges our way? Brains that have evolved the ability to imagine what has not yet been tend to be attached to bodies that have grandchildren. By the way, this is a very boring question.

We can expand and grow, we see people with Spiritual abilities yet we discount them.

I always thought the obese must have some reason for their self-uglification, but I didn't know it was in order to see Beyond the Veil. Is it something in the ketchup, do you think?

Why do argue about this other option we call 'god'? We can accept aliens, government experiments, conspiracys...

What makes you think I believe in any of the rubbish that is discussed on ATS?

a creative being that is onmiscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, scares the hell out of us and causes us such arguments.

Maybe on your part; for my own, He simply bores the hell out of me.

You are the god you fear it is simply a greater access to a higher way of being.

Evidence, please.

[edit on 21/5/09 by Astyanax]

Originally posted by St Udio
'god' belief, is an outward sign to others that this individual or family or group can be trusted (within bounds), and is basically a 'group coding' that we 'social animals' really value for the 'coded' interaction it allows us to explore with strangers.

You stand the truth completely on its head.

Religious belief is a sign to others that this individual or group is dangerous to others, being on the one hand strongly unified or purpose-driven, and on the other incapable of any moral judgement that is not in its own interest.