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scarlettina's recent post got me thinking again about a story I intend to write.What would happen if the world were suddenly infected with a virus, say, that destroyed the part of our brains which provided the religous impulse? That is, suddenly all fundamentalists became simple freaks, because the drive to believe in God were no longer something our biology responded to?
Chris
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bio-god
Didn't Orson Scott Card write a story about a colony of folks with a mental illness (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder) that made them *think* they were talking to God?
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Re: bio-god
What was that book? I recall reading it... Something last year, about a boy who was talking with an AI satellite he thought was a god...?
Chris
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Re: bio-god
It's also the same kind of thing that happens when we're falling asleep.
Along with those changes in brain waves, there are chemical and other changes, however, they're not significantly different to the changes that occur "normally" to every human during the lighter levels of sleep. Scientists who study this sorts of stuff have messed about (waking people up, etc) with people either meditating or trying to sleep, and what they've found is that it interrupts the brain wave activity for several hours afterward, and also prevents the brain from being able to reach deeper levels of sleep (which are absolutely required for humans for proper mental and physical functioning) -- the interesting part is that the people who meditate are able to rectify the imbalance more quickly than the people who are "just sleepers". There's something about training the mind to access certain kinds of brain activity that appears to be beneficial, if only in the sense of being able to go back to 'norm' more quickly after there's a disruption.
This is one reason why researchers believe that relaxation/meditation are so beneficial in stress reduction. As stress (biophysically) creates all sorts of changes in hormone levels and alters brain wave patters, they think that the act of meditation helps the body return to normal and therefore better mental and physical health.
Some really interesting research.
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Re: bio-god
I think the book when the kid was talking to the orbiting AI was The Memory of Earth, first book of the Homecoming series. That series is a SFnal retelling of the Book of Mormon. (Which is itself fantasy, of course.)
Card is a strange religious case -- often wise as a fabulist, often odious as an essayist.
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Re: bio-god
Best,
Chris
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Re: bio-god
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I would differentiate Fundamentalists from "all people with a religious impulse", as my idea of "religion" has to do with personal connection with things outside of myself. (Whether it be with God, a neighbor, my cat, or a rock.) That idea of "connection" is basically the operational definition that I use for "religiosity". It may not be a correct definition in a scholarly sense.
I think that if no one had any sense to want to be connected to anyone else, the world would be madness. I think it's the thing that makes us human not animal. Which I think again relates to our discussion last night with Kij about monkeys vs. humans.
We wouldn't reproduce, or have any value for human life. It is precisely those connections that keep us functioning as a society.
So, I think it would definitely be an interesting concept no matter which way you took it, but I know that I would personally have a hard time suspending my disbelief. Much as I did with 28 days later....
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Re: people with a religious impulse
Chris
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Re: people with a religious impulse
The question I would then ask is this...
Is it *really* their "Fundamentalism" in a religious sense that drives their actions, or are they using that as a convenient excuse to do horrible things?
I've met a few Fundamentalists in my time (was raised by one), and my leading thought is that their motives aren't driven by a deep seated love of God or even their particular brand of religion. They seem more driven by being "right" and feeling "justified" by their religion to commit whatever atrocities they're doing.
Now, *that* thought I think would be an absolutely fascinating read:
What if no one ever had to be right or wrong?
Heh. Yeah, that's an interesting thought indeed. A world full of open-minded people!
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To really pull that off, you need to convince the reader that there is nothing outside of the material. Justice has a weight. Love has a length. God can be measured.
On other notes, the reports that I have seen suggest there isn't so much a drive to believe in God as there is a drive and a means to break down the barriers of self. People have there most religous experience when those areas of the brain most connected to "self" are the least active.
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Re: measuring God
Right, as I mentioned re:
So the world would become a colder place, because even atheists must draw this kind of pleasure from something. Would it be a worthy trade-off to eliminate the root of most hatreds and wars?
Chris
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Re: measuring God
The world would be a colder place, but we wouldn't know it. The part of people you are suggesting getting rid of is most likely the part of them that makes them search for any kind of Truth, religious, scientific, or philisophical (or a combination of the three). Without Truth, there is no meaning. Without meaning, we are animals. As animals, we succomb to nature. There is part of nature that drives self-preservation of a species, but there would still be war for survival and war for resources and war for the sheer fun of it.
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Re: measuring God
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But, as the lead idea for a story, it works--sorta in that Vonnegut vein. :) Could be a lot of fun.
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I think that captures my idea of people finding their flavour of religion to some how justify the reason that they're "right" and everyone else is "wrong" (and therefore righteously subjecting the "sinners" to the tyranny of evil men, making justifications for their evilness by quoting scripture)
Bah!
Can't we all just get along?
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The best thing (although it would make for a very boring story) would be for a virus to remove the stupid need for some people to Right About Everything.
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Hmm...
Chris
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Yes, I agree. I don't think that Fundamentalism comes from religiousness. I think religiousness as a whole is a good thing.
I think Fundamentalists use their religion to justify the sense that they are Right About Everything (and everyone else is, by extension, Wrong About Everything). The ones who have the Answer about being Right then go kill and maim the ones who are Wrong.
Except the Buddhists. They don't kill. They don't maim. They love. Mmmm. I like Buddhists.
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