the death of 'us & them'

both "religion" and "god" are concepts that can be so personal so as to encompass every possible paradox of its being. on the one hand, the belief in god causes someone to behave altruistically, but we will just as readily find someone who uses it to behave selfishly. and so we can trace all action to either ones belief or disbelief in god, if we so choose.

the concept of god that we tend to discuss is intertwined with human civilization. we often ask about the pragmatic merits of god concepts in societies. often those of us born into this civilization take on concepts of god and religion that are passed onto them. Faith is often forced upon someone without them simultaneously being encouraged to question that very concept they have faith in. questioning only brings you closer to truth.

Who are we to say that there should not be god? It is not god and it is not religion that is the cause of anything bad that is happening. So their demise taken alone will yield nothing. However the death of blind acceptance -- and instead being forced to form for yourself your own internal identity in relation to the external, your mortality in the face of the infinite, and an acceptance of your role in the midst of countless other beings on the same journey.. it's these things that let us grow, that let us care for one another no matter our differing backgrounds.

I believe most if not all religions and concepts of god do carry intrinsic value that we can all share in. i believe 'religion' and 'god' itself are just terms to describe our relation to each other and the universe, and these concepts predate the words themselves. they are so fundamental that it predates history. these concepts extend from the transition of ego to super-ego, in freudian terms of the human psyche, when we start to consider that there's more to reality than just 'me and my instincts'. but it suddenly started to really matter on a large scale with the advent of civilization.

One among the potentially infinite meanings of life is to find out for yourself what this relationship is. thats why we're all right and we're all wrong at the same time, why the good guys are also the bad guys. which is which simply stems from the belief system of the perceiver. I can be god, my laptop can be god, every living thing could be god, and nothingness may as well be too.

In the absence of absolute right and wrong, we try to build a framework that best helps our society. We just have an ever differing notion of what "our" and "society" mean. All that we want, in the end, is for each of us to use whatever definitions we decide on to do good for the world. Every single religion can agree on that, but many draw lines on the world and make it a little smaller.

We don't need god or religion to "die" to do good for one another - we need tired concepts like "us and them" to die. we need to be ready to evolve these seemingly static belief systems so as to still differ, but not incite conflict with proponents of other belief systems. We need to be able to love even if we feel hate. If god is going to be our answer, then we have to be ready to question. Maybe then all these different civilizations and societies and belief systems alive today will learn that each other one is just as absolutely necessary as their own, and also just as unnecessary. Its all there just to teach us to be good to each other.