Religion as self improvement
What's the use of following religion unless it makes you a better person? Pretty small, in my opinion. Yet, religion has a tendency to make many people worse. Moreover, what does it mean to be a better person? Views differ. And, social norms often conflict with religious ideals.
Question one: should religion make you a better person? It clearly aims to. Jesus stressed the value of his teachings in earthly life, but people often see religion as a form of self-sacrifice. The focus becomes the afterlife, not the temporal life, for those who follow religion think they forgo pleasure now because doing so improves the afterlife. Suffering becomes purgation. Good deeds become an investment.
But doing good makes one feel good. How many people can honestly say that they enjoy cheating people out of happiness? Relish causing misery? Few. As good as money may be, who would honestly say that they enjoy ripping it from needy hands for self-reward? Again, few. One of the foundational comforts of Buddhism is to do good for its own sake. Why not? Be proud of good deeds.
Question two: why does religion make people do cruel things? Absolutism seems to be the main cause, as far as I've noticed and read about. When one stops questioning his or her actions, submitting blindly to a label, immoral deeds come much more easily. That's how extremists inspire genocides, how Hitler orchestrated the Holocaust. He placed a domineering thought in his people's heads and forbade questions. That's what many psychologists argue, anyway, including Philip Zambardo, author of the Lucifer Effect. In his mind, environment drives evil, and a religion can be a potent environment.
Question three: What does it mean to do good, to be a better person? There's no answer. Socrates uses the example of the raft. Imagine you build a raft with the best philosophy you know. You set sail, and it sinks the moment you meet a contrary argument. You rebuild and set to work with a more-refined philosophy. Again, it sinks. You rebuild. You sail. Eventually, you realize that no raft can weather the storm of every argument, so you make the best one you can and recognize the leaks. C'est la vie.
I can't get into ethics in so brief a space, but I think I'll point out the obvious: values differ drastically. The individual your school may want you to be may differ from your church's ideal, your parent's ideal, your society's ideal--your ideal. You must make the final call what values you keep or lose, what raft you build, what you think makes a good person.
Religion as self-improvement seems alien. But, it's not. It should help you build the raft, but you must investigate why you believe the things you do. Don't just accept or you run the risk of extremism.
For example, I refrain from stealing because stealing--as seen by most--is bad. Why? It causes suffering. I would hate to be robbed. It's frowned upon by society. It causes more unhappiness than happiness. God said not to. A tail of reasons follow every stance. Analyze them and find the one that feels best for you, that will bring the most happiness to the world, that makes the strongest raft. Then, keep an open mind for other reasons.
One may say the ultimate aim of morality is Heavenly Bliss in Catholicism, but the aim does not effect the result. A good person is a good person regardless of the afterlife. You can't cheat you own feelings for yourself, and if you don't like who you are, you'll never be happy. In this way, religion can help with self improvement. It's like a mirror.
Question one: should religion make you a better person? It clearly aims to. Jesus stressed the value of his teachings in earthly life, but people often see religion as a form of self-sacrifice. The focus becomes the afterlife, not the temporal life, for those who follow religion think they forgo pleasure now because doing so improves the afterlife. Suffering becomes purgation. Good deeds become an investment.
But doing good makes one feel good. How many people can honestly say that they enjoy cheating people out of happiness? Relish causing misery? Few. As good as money may be, who would honestly say that they enjoy ripping it from needy hands for self-reward? Again, few. One of the foundational comforts of Buddhism is to do good for its own sake. Why not? Be proud of good deeds.
Question two: why does religion make people do cruel things? Absolutism seems to be the main cause, as far as I've noticed and read about. When one stops questioning his or her actions, submitting blindly to a label, immoral deeds come much more easily. That's how extremists inspire genocides, how Hitler orchestrated the Holocaust. He placed a domineering thought in his people's heads and forbade questions. That's what many psychologists argue, anyway, including Philip Zambardo, author of the Lucifer Effect. In his mind, environment drives evil, and a religion can be a potent environment.
Question three: What does it mean to do good, to be a better person? There's no answer. Socrates uses the example of the raft. Imagine you build a raft with the best philosophy you know. You set sail, and it sinks the moment you meet a contrary argument. You rebuild and set to work with a more-refined philosophy. Again, it sinks. You rebuild. You sail. Eventually, you realize that no raft can weather the storm of every argument, so you make the best one you can and recognize the leaks. C'est la vie.
I can't get into ethics in so brief a space, but I think I'll point out the obvious: values differ drastically. The individual your school may want you to be may differ from your church's ideal, your parent's ideal, your society's ideal--your ideal. You must make the final call what values you keep or lose, what raft you build, what you think makes a good person.
Religion as self-improvement seems alien. But, it's not. It should help you build the raft, but you must investigate why you believe the things you do. Don't just accept or you run the risk of extremism.
For example, I refrain from stealing because stealing--as seen by most--is bad. Why? It causes suffering. I would hate to be robbed. It's frowned upon by society. It causes more unhappiness than happiness. God said not to. A tail of reasons follow every stance. Analyze them and find the one that feels best for you, that will bring the most happiness to the world, that makes the strongest raft. Then, keep an open mind for other reasons.
One may say the ultimate aim of morality is Heavenly Bliss in Catholicism, but the aim does not effect the result. A good person is a good person regardless of the afterlife. You can't cheat you own feelings for yourself, and if you don't like who you are, you'll never be happy. In this way, religion can help with self improvement. It's like a mirror.