[Argus]

If I understand you correctly, you seem to be arguing for obscurantism as some kind of safeguard against "danger and self-delusion". You prefer not to think about cosmic questions such as the meaning of life or the origin of the universe, which necessarily lead to pondering the role of God, religion and so on in how we lead our lives and what our ultimate purpose is. If this works for you, okay, but you must be aware that, if widely practiced, such mental self-castration is a dead end and makes any kind of human progress impossible.

[mindprism.com]

You prefer not to think about cosmic questions such as the meaning of life or the origin of the universe, which necessarily lead to pondering the role of God, religion and so on in how we lead our lives and what our ultimate purpose is.

I am not a celestrial mechanic, I am a man. It puzzles me why some claim 'knowlege of God' is neccessary to live a meaningful life, one that is congruent with the idea of 'good'. The way I see it, 'God' gave me the means to do this by providing me with mind, heart and conciousness.

I defy anyone religious to illustrate how thier 'purpose in life', their goals, are fundamentally different than mine... or to be more specific: What can be achieved via religion that cannot be achieved through ethics and compassion?

I see religion as the historical forerunner of philosophy -- that does not mean however that religion is the BASIS of philosophy, but rather the PATH that man had to walk in order to learn.

Once man takes on the more refined philosophical system, does it really make sense to hold onto a crude precursor?

Ethics/philosophy/love is just religion without the epic drama, diminution, and neurotic boogeymen.

Some precepts of religion I consider outright dangerous; for instance, the idea of a promised hereafter and a judge of man seems to me to inculcate a strategy of simple refraining from 'evil' while spawning a reluctance to truly 'fight the good fight' by attacking things that WE-THINK-but-are-not-quite-sure-are-bad. It is an ideology that erodes confidence in ourselves, in our CAPABILITY to JUDGE. To BE, to LEAD and EXEMPLIFY.

It neuters what I consider to be our true soul -- the WAKE we make on the minds of our fellows, on the mind of man, in our lifetime. Instead we sit like passive babies, behaving but not LIVING, waiting to be fed our promised heaven. The pilot light in the breast is cold, and your soul is always 'on the other side' of death.

That light is your soul, ignite it now, let it spark the furnace of passion -- and LIVE!