Martian Sandy®

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"It was always like this, so that's best"

 

"This book, this event, this person is the beginning and basis of our culture."

 

"He has the same ideas and religious behavior, so I trust him."

 

These viewpoints are true and have merit, because inherently they give every group something beautiful: a sense of belonging and purpose, through which real goals are sought and accomplished. This counts for every group based on either religion, ideology, culture or society changing goal. The people in the group need someone to trust, or something that can be named to trust in order to feel safe and comfortable in the live or world they inhabit

 

That world, that life can be beautiful.

 

It's beautiful because our minds work through frames, both cultural and biological, through which we recognize the things in life that are beautiful. This is a loop, but one that happens within the (religious) group or community that people inhabit: they are born in the group, seeing the images about their groups'gods or history and participating in remembrance events; they become a grown up in the same group, being advised to do similar careers and life paths; they get children, advising them with the same stories; and so even after their death the loop continues.

 

And in every instance of that loop, during all the stages of our lives, we encounter the images and stories told to us. These images and stories are part of a larger framework set up through years of collaboration between people, but also conflict, strife and new innovations and discoveries within the group. Only some parts of all these tumultuous events are remembered and eventually become part of the stories that are communicated through generations.

 

That process is why you can see similar plotlines in movies, but also recognize statues in different churches around the world and talk with members of your group that have come to know your ideology or religion in a different country: part of the stories told to them were similar to yours. That kind of recognition feels good and comfortable, but it is also beautiful: you make new friends far away through talking about similar topics that you both know, love the same music/movies/life struggles, support each other's conflicts and together recognize the same images and stories those images tell. That's beautiful through the fact that, if you want to change something in the world, you need others to explain your ideas, which can be burdensome. But if there's recognition through these interactions with others and their similar interests, this whole process continues. The religion/ ideology stays alive through this process, and I think that's beautiful.

 

Whether that's beautiful for everyone remains the question. Not everyone's world is liked by others, or maybe not everyone understands the good or bad aspects of other's life world's? And sometimes one's desired life world negatively impacts those of others. How could we change that?