Thoughts on the Origin of our "God" Ideas - A Discussion with Stefan Molyneux

I had the opportunity recently to talk with Stefan Molyneux during one of his "Sunday Morning Call-in Shows".  You can find that discussion here starting at 34:20. 

I know that what I cover in this discussion may challenge the beliefs of many of my family and friends with respect to our ideas about "heaven" and about "God". Furthermore, there are implications for those who are more oriented towards "spiritual" experiences or practices, although I do not go into that with this particular discussion.

Nevertheless, in the past year or so I have come to question all of this. I have become more focused on who and what we are as Human Beings "only"; i.e. as highly evolved biological organisms on this planet.  At the root of my feelings surrounding all of this is that As Long as We Keep Comparing Ourselves to some "Spiritual Ideal" that may only be a remnant of our early developmental experience, and we put ourselves down or allow ourselves to be diminished in a myriad of ways - if we keep feeling "condemned" by the "problematic nature of human existence", then we will not completely Own, Honor, and, most importantly, Be Completely Responsible For our overall functioning and relating here with Each Other, On This Planet and in This World. In other words, if we keep "meditating on ourselves" as "falling short" then we will not be as motivated to continue to strive to reach our full potential as Ordinary Human Beings, who, in my mind, happen to be Truly Extraordinary biological organisms - capable of both amazing and terrible things! 

For anyone who persists in the ideas that, as human beings, we are "inherently sinful" or "born of sin", or even secularists who have a generally negative view of human beings, I'm offering something to counter all of that by suggesting a possible source of where each of us as individuals got those ideas into our heads in the Very First Place. As I discuss with Stefan, those ideas could have arisen spontaneously in the hearts and minds of every human being who has ever lived, who has ever been in the womb and then been born, and experienced the biochemical patterns associated with all of those experiences. I am coming to the conclusion that the "latent memories" the "intuitions" that are the expression of those biochemical patterns are what we then "project" into the outer world as gods, and demons, and stories of heaven. Furthermore, I would offer that it is even tied to our "projection" of anthropomorphic consciousness onto other living (or even non-living) beings, whether plant or animal, which is the source of animistic religions.

It is not easy for me to stand in place with what I am saying, knowing, that if people really pay attention, they will realize I'm challenging a huge, huge, entrenched history of religious and "spiritual" dogma and dharma, and anthropology, even across all past and present cultures. Some people may think I'm just "trying to be confrontational or controversial." I assure you, that is not the case. I am sharing what I feel are the insights that have come to me fairly spontaneously, and if you thoroughly review the previous posts in this blog, you will see where some of the tendrils of the roots of these ideas first took hold.

There is another reason why I am sharing all of this though, in spite of the reactions it might provoke from some.  Almost all of my life, up until the last year or so, I have been a "believer" myself. From my early Christian upbringing to my more recently becoming a formal devotee of "spiritual master" Adi Da Samraj. In between, I moved around the "metaphysical" communities and drew many ideas from the scientific principles of quantum physics, etc., etc. I have probably been more inclined to believe in reincarnation through all of this than I have in "heaven" and/or "hell" and Adi Da's Wisdom-Teaching on these subjects continued to reinforce and elaborate on many of those ideas.

However, in a very passionate discussion I had with Paul K. Chappell, many months ago, he posed a simple question to me: "But, Lori...What if this is it?  What if human beings only have one life to live here and that's it?" In other words, for all the human beings who suffer abuse, depravity, etc., etc., that's It for them. That is all they will know of what it is like to be a human being. There is no coming back. No getting it better next time. No heaven after they die. As Paul pointed out, it still makes sense to do everything each of us can both individually and collectively to make this the very best experience of being human any of us can have, and that means doing whatever we can to make the world, This Incredible World we live in a better place for current and future generations, in part because, as the Incredible Biological Organisms that we are...we Can Do That.

Alternatively, we can also keep going down the path we are on, more or less consciously (usually less) seeking romantic and spiritual biochemical highs that are generated internally, or we can seek chemical highs from all kinds of other external sources of drugs or experiences that stimulate or modulate our internal biochemistry. We can continue to let our lower biological functioning as it relates to our drives for eating, mating, protecting territory, etc. continue to rule the higher levels of our functioning that allow us to become "self-aware", or we can more consciously develop and use the tools that our more developed brains give us to more effectively, consciously, and rationally manage all of our lower impulses and learn better how to voluntarily cooperate with rather than compete with everyone around us.

But, I am growing more convinced, if we persist in "projecting" from our own experience a necessarily naive point of view, of some "ideal" state that is Not that of being an ordinary human being, based in our most infantile experience and misinterpretation of our lives As human beings; if we do not Get Over That, then we will also be trapped there, individually and culturally, never able to move ahead in our otherwise TRULY INCREDIBLE CAPACITIES as VERY HIGHLY EVOLVED ORGANISMS on this planet.

I do agree with many from all camps, that there is a necessary Shift that needs to take place, and, in many ways, I feel it already is. I know it has with me. However, I do not necessarily agree with all in terms of the Direction of that "shift". Where some may think we need to better develop our (religious) "morality" or our (metaphysical) "spirituality" - I would say we need to focus more on our Humanity and our (biologically unique?) Capacity for Self-awareness and Rationality. Everything else has brought us to where we are now, but I do not believe retreating to a prior state, the state of infantile "oneness with everything" or even further to the "heaven" of the womb where "all of our needs are met with no effort of our own" is going to Move Us Forward in our evolution as Biological Organisms on this planet.

Follow-up - 12-14-2013

Through comments posted in response to the original YouTube video of this discussion, no longer available, I have been made aware that Ken Wilbur has some things to add to this consideration with his description of what he calls "The Pre-Trans Fallacy".  This is a short video where he talks about it.

Although I was not familiar with these particular elements of Ken Wilbur's work before, I can see where there is definitely some overlap with my own ideas, and I really appreciate the person who brought this to my attention in the comments. Such is the power of the internet in helping to tie all of our minds and thoughts together.

The Biology of "Heaven"

It's been about six years now since I first watched "What the 'Bleep' Do We Know?" My housemate at the time brought a copy home with her and shared it with me. There were some ideas in the movie that were already familiar to me, but what was new, and most interesting of all, was the information about how our hypothalamus makes biochemicals that are essentially biological analogs of every type of emotion we experience. In other words there are distinct biochemicals for anxiety, or joy, or anger, or happiness, etc., etc., and whenever we are "feeling" those emotions, it is in part because those emotional-biochemicals are racing through our bodies, having all kinds of various effects on all of our cells. In addition, just as it is possible to get addicted to chemicals we take in from outside the body, it is also possible to get addicted to chemicals that have been internally generated.

Over the course of the next several months, I became much, much more sensitive to my "patterns of desire." What I had learned from the film was that such desires, or compulsions, to use a stronger word, were probably being driven by early-life experiences, early-life biochemical conditioning. There were certain emotions, and therefore, certain patterns of biochemicals that my body had experienced in the past and that it wanted to keep on experiencing now, and in the future. More than that it was longing to have those experiences. Recognizing a pattern in the present, made me wonder what the original pattern had been in the past - the pattern that left an "imprint" biochemically to which my body was now "addicted."

The first pattern I looked at more closely was my "longing to 'fall in love'", but I will save further discussion of that for another blog. Instead, as the title of this blog suggests, I'd like to look at our "longing for heaven".

As for me, I was raised in the Christian tradition. Although my mother said I was the one who told her about "reincarnation" from about the age of four or so, saying something like "You know, Mommy, we've all been born lots of times"; like other Christian believers, I had some idea that heaven would be a lot like earth only better, "perfect", in fact. There would be no pain or suffering, no bodily imperfections, etc., etc. As an adult, I have realized that one of the key elements of this fantasy of heaven is that there is no "work" in heaven, at least, not in the sense that we experience it from day to day here. And yet, even without "work", everything just gets taken care of, I guess, by "God" and/or his "Angels". In summary, this idea of heaven is a place where everything gets taken care of, all of our physiological (or spiritual) needs are met with no effort of our own.

As I considered this from a biochemical patterning point of view, I got to thinking: Where have we ever experienced that before? Where in our early human existence was there a situation where "all of our needs were being met with no effort of our own", and so there was a biochemical patterning associated with that, something we (i.e. our bodies) would want to experience again?

It didn't take too long for me to figure it out: It's while we are still in our mother's womb.

Think about it: There you are surrounded by warm fluid that stays at more or less constant temperature (i.e. around 98.6 degrees). All of your physiological needs are being met as nutrients from you mother's body are being pumped into your bloodstream through your umbilical cord. It is all happening pretty automatically. And "you" or, at least, the physiological part of "you", gets to experience that kind of "bliss" for about nine months or so.

Then, all of a sudden, things go "terribly wrong" and you are forthwith "Cast Out of the Garden of Eden" and it is your Mother's (i.e. the Woman's) "fault". From that point on, it is all about Work, Work, Work to get your needs met. You have to cry and squirm, and eventually you learn language to help communicate your needs. Maybe your parents respond appropriately, maybe they don't. Then you have to go to school and there's all kinds of "homework", and then there's college, which is even more work. Maybe you'll work while you are going to college, and then there's more work to follow that. It's just work, work, work, work, work.

And, maybe, if you are like many people in the world today, you will continue to carry that latent memory of "heaven" in the back of your mind, in the depths of your body. Through all the work and struggle, there will be a part of you that is still clinging to that memory of "heaven" which has now become a "dream of heaven" - some future place and time where you can finally "relax" again, where somehow, all of your needs will be met with no effort of your own , or, at least, a LOT LESS effort, say when you "retire". Or maybe, you'll create a whole socio-political ideology that has as its underlying theme "everyone should be taken care of by the State"!

Or maybe, when you die, you will be longing for "heaven" so much, that you will choose another physical incarnation just so you can experience it again...at least for nine months. Nine months of "heaven" in exchange for 80 years of "hell"...? Hmmm? Not so sure that's a fair trade???

So, what's the alternative?

Pretty simple really, not unlike my previous communication in the last couple of blogs: Understand where your "longing" is really coming from and Let It Go! Honestly, if you want to at least increase your chances of Not Doing This Trip Again (the "80 years of 'hell'" part), then stop longing to crawl back into the womb. Let go of your fantasies of "heaven" and accept the reality of life as an independent human being. Be prepared to work, because it does take a lot of work to get through one lifetime, and especially in modern society. Even if you manage to find more efficient ways to live, there is still going to be work involved. But, it will be so much easier when you Stop Resisting - At All! You will be amazed at how much more Life Energy becomes available to you when you let go of your Longing for "Heaven", when you let go of even the inkling of desire for someone else to "take care of you."

Evolution has not happened because the fish decided to crawl back into the water! (At least in most cases. : )) No, evolution has always moved in the direction of more and more opportunity for personal ACTION, creative ACTION, dynamic ACTION and dynamic INTER-ACTION with one's environment. You see, that is the problem with "being in the womb" - You have no opportunity for dynamic Action and Interaction with your environment. In truth, you have no Freedom. And if you look around you, the orientation of Life Itself is towards more and more complex and dynamic forms of action and interaction, with each individual Playing Their Part.

I will leave you with a story about alf-alfa sprouts. (! : )) When I was growing them, I started out just putting them in a jar, hiding them in a dark cupboard somewhere. Eventually, I'd have this big tangled mass of leaves and roots all going in different directions. However, when I started putting weight in the form of damp paper towels or cloths on top of the seeds, surprise, surprise, they started Growing Up Straight. Furthermore, as I considered this phenomenon more broadly, I realized Most Seeds need some "dirt on top" in order to grow properly. It is as if they need to have something to "push up against" in order to know where to sink their roots in and where to spread their leaves.

And really, that is all that "work" is in a human life. It is like a weight we have to lift in order to grow stronger. If there is no "work" necessary, if there is no "weight" to lift, if "all of one's needs are met with no effort of one's own", then there will be no growth of the individual, no development, no realization of anything meaningful. It will certainly not be "heaven", individually or collectively.

It is not the work itself you need to worry about. It is your own Resistance to Work that will forever hold you back. Better to Get On With It, in your current life-time, whatever form it takes for you, Embrace It! Appreciate that work simply represents an opportunity for growth, and you might be really amazed at what you will grow into, and what a difference you can make in the Real World when you simply let go of your fantasy of "heaven".

Speaking from personal experience, it may never be "heaven" here, but with a little work, (okay, sometimes a Lot of work), it can be a whole lot less like "hell". And if Everyone Gives up their "longing for heaven" - if Everyone stops expecting others to "take care of them", or "make things easier for them" (including the "poor" people AND the "rich" people), imagine how much more Life Energy will be Freed Up to "work" on making this world a better place for Everyone to live, and work, and grow, and realize their Full Potential as Dynamic Human Beings! Just Imagine... : )) ... and then Get to Work!!! : ))