From: dgraham@bmers30.bnr.ca (Douglas Graham)
Subject: Re: The origin of Religion
Organization: Bell-Northern Research, Ottawa, Canada
Date: Fri, 06 Nov 92 09:46:08 GMT

In article <1992Nov4.150144.24070@spectrum.xerox.com> eradm@brahms.Berkeley.EDU (Erik Radmall) writes:
>In article <1992Nov04.111929.318@bmerh85.bnr.ca>, dgraham@bmers30.bnr.ca (Douglas Graham) writes:
>|> In article <1992Nov3.143652.21335@spectrum.xerox.com> eradm@brahms.Berkeley.EDU (Erik Radmall) writes:
>|> >My opinion is that man has an innate mythic consciousness. It is composed
>|> >of archetypical symbols that are deep rooted in man's psyche. Though the
>|> >precise nature of these symbols differ from person to person, they are
>|> >similar enough to allow some kind of a canonical form via religion.
>|> 
>|> This sounds like something Jung might have written.  It's always sounded
>|> very fishy to me.  Where does this mythic consciousness come from?  Do
>|> apes have it?
>
>Yup, it is Jungian -- the depths of the subconscious have yet to be plumbed.
>For example, tests were done with freshly hatched chicks. A cardboard cutout
>of a bird was pulled on a wire above the chicks to cast a shadow the chicks
>could see. If the cutout was pulled in one direction, the "wings" seemed to
>be toward the back of the "bird", so that it resembled a goose in flight.
>This had no effect whatsoever on the chicks. However, when the cutout was
>pulled in the other direction, the shadow resembled that of a hawk. The
>chicks scattered to the four winds whenever this shadow passed over them.
>Somewhere in their fresh little brains was a program that responded
>predictably to this goose/hawk shadow.

I guess what throws me is that religious belief seems come in such variety
that there really doesn't seem to be any common denominator other than
the satisfying of some basic emotions.  For example, the specific beliefs
of Scientology don't appear to have much in common with those of Christianity,
yet they both appear to be quite successful in infecting the brains of
their hosts.  The only similarity that I can detect is that they both
promise immortality of one sort or another.  If religious belief really
did stem from a preprogrammed unconscious, I would expect to see more
similarities.  I do believe that humans do come preprogrammed with some
instinctual reactions similar to that of the chicks (such as a fear of
snakes), but I would expect those reactions to be more directly related
to the business of survival than some fuzzy belief in gods.

To me, the puzzling aspect of religion is not the specifics of what
is believed, but rather the ability of people to maintain those beliefs
in face of overwhelming contradictory evidence.  It seems that all that's
needed is to provide a set of completely arbitrary beliefs so that
people don't have to think for themselves, possibly a promise of immortality,
and some innoculation against skepticism (eg. promote faith as a virtue).
If this is roughly true, where do the archetypes fit into this scheme?
--
Should the human race not be extinguished by a nuclear war, it will degenerate
into a flock of stupid, dumb creatures under the tyranny of dictators who rule
them with the help of machines and electronic computers.  This is no prophecy,
just a nightmare.  -- Max Born.   **** dgraham@bnr.ca    My own opinions. ****
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