Irrationality

Our civilisation has become so complex that our ancestors from ten thousand years' back when time travelled to the 21st century would baffle at the trajectory that civilisation took. But even then one thing that never changed is the belief in myths and stories. Even now the majority are forced to think that the universe is a creation of God. Since there are thousands of gods each attributed to different religions, there are thousands of stories about the beginning of the universe. But one thing in common to all the stories is that 'their god' is the hero in it.

I remember reading a quote from Rousseau which says “Man is born free but everywhere is in chains.” We can't refute the statement since it's unfortunately true. We all are born free but we cannot survive alone. We aren't self-sufficient. We need the help of other human beings in almost everything we do. Almost in every constitution of the world, we consider 18 as the age someone is considered an adult. So we humans have the longest childhood. The rest of the animals start looking for food a few months after the birth. But when it comes to human beings it's 18 years which is quite a long period. So mentally and emotionally we are dependent.  In the modern technological age, we are getting separated from each other and forcing ourselves to enjoy solitude. Hence mental problems like depression and loneliness are pretty high these days. So relying on a supernatural concept like a god for mental peace and escaping loneliness is understandable. God as a way for escapism and beating loneliness is justifiable. Humans constantly need to pour their hearts out to someone. Hence choosing God as a way to pour someone's heart out for mental peace is normal. But beyond that need, everything humans do in the name of God beats rationality and "common sense". In the name of God, we are doing preposterous things that are beyond reasoning and rationality. We fall victim to pseudoscience. We pollute the environment in the name of God. The earth witnessed so many communal fights which sprouted from intolerance. We believe in so many myths that it's almost difficult for the majority to come out of it. Falling for pseudoscience has become a norm recently. We tend to believe anything without a second thought when it says it comes straight out of religious texts. It's sad to see people losing their ability to critically think and filter things using their reasoning abilities and as a result, people fall for astrology and zodiac signs and participate in the mass cultural delusion that the apparent position of the celestial bodies at the time of their birth would somehow affect their personality. Blaming a celestial body for your stupid personality is the lamest excuse that I have heard. Even the corporates entered the astrology business and are squeezing people dry. How on earth can someone think that their palm lines decide their future and personality and the age they get married, etc? People are loving each other after matching horoscopes, caste, religion etc etc etc. How on earth can we call that love?

The myths were useful for the ancient sapiens to have a sense of togetherness and unity which helped them immensely in fighting other species of the genus homo. The unity among the people who collectively believed in a myth is more than the unity of the people who had nothing collectively to believe in. That is one of the reasons why homo sapiens decimated other homo species and emerged victorious. But right now, we do not need them. We no longer have 'enemies' or existential threats from any species apart from various viruses. Hypothetically, even if humans are attacked by aliens, the collective thought of 'we are all humans' is enough to unite and defend humanity from an extra-terrestrial attack. Even when the technology grew immeasurably to a point where it equips us to be an interplanetary species, many are fighting for religious supremacy. How pity and silly it sounds, right?