JUNE 27, 2022 – (Cont.) A feeling that was at once alluring and discomfiting rose among my thoughts. Was I, a non-believer—advancing an argument of sorts for some kind of belief? But what was the premise of the argument? The irrepressible power of acculturation? The mere march of time and with it, the closing proximity of my own demise? Or was it some inherent truth floating through the atmosphere—truth that in sufficient accumulation within one’s worldview eventually leads to belief? But what, exactly is belief? Is that too nothing but a wholly human construct?
As I popped a whole, powdered, crescent almond cookie into my mouth—and crunched away—I realized I was standing on the precipice of the biggest rabbit hole since “rabbit hole” came into full vogue. I gazed at the neighbors’ garage on the other side of our alley, then turned my sight to the alien, still perched on the table top. Its glowing aspect hadn’t changed, but it was now humming again—at a barely audible level. I decided it was best to continue but not down the rabbit hole of belief; down some other rabbit hole, perhaps, but not one that I knew would be fathomless.
“There’s another aspect of religion,” I started up again, “an aspect of religious belief, actually, as ineffable as that is, that I would characterize as, well . . . soothing.”
“Soothing?”
“Yeah, soothing. You see, we humans are easily troubled—troubled by fear of the unknown and anxiety over what we can’t control, and we all experience pain. Religion affords us peace, order, language, ritual, reassurance with which to conquer pain, fear, and anxiety. The catch is that the demarcation between relief and toxication is razor thin. I personally would never deprive another human being of whatever relief that human can derive from religion, but I’d run from the person whose religious worship and belief morph into an obsessive compulsion to impose religious dogma and practices on me or others.
“Like so many things of human creation,” everything with an upside is accompanied by a downside. We haven’t yet evolved sufficiently to isolate reliably the positive from the negative.”
“I’m realizing,” said the alien, “that there’s a whole lot going on with you humans that can’t be explained by the laws of physics.”
“Well, that’s the consensus among us humans too, but I should tell you—a math and science entity—that given our own proclivity in those areas, we’ve engaged in extensive research and understanding of neuro-science, psychiatry, and psychology. Although the results of that work are not widely grasped, a sizable subset of our species now better comprehends the human condition thanks to knowledge of the electrical and chemical activity and psychological influences affecting human brain. Whether this research will one day develop into a fuller grasp of religion and religious behavior remains to be seen, but come back to earth in five, 10, 50, 100 years, and you’ll surely be impressed by how much better some of us understand all of us—that is, if we haven’t first put ourselves out of business.”
“I’ll be bach,” said the alien, mimicking the accent of Arnold Schwarzenegger in the movie, Terminator. I just about fell off my porch chair.
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© 2022 by Eric Nilsson
