I think many atheists by merely reading the title of this blog post already know what it will be about. I suppose this post is more oriented towards those believers that claim to believe because of certain sensation/feelings.
Believers often claim that there is proof of a god's existence because they can feel its presence! They believe that because they feel a presence, there must be some outside force causing this to happen. This isn't exclusive to God/gods; many other examples of sensations that are perceived as being caused by an outside force are really caused by certain cognitive behavior.
This of course is perfectly understandable, given the way the mind processes reality. It is not obvious to all that the way in which the body reacts to certain external stimuli can also be generated by the imagination. It is common knowledge that the mind on a subconscious level cannot make the distinction between reality and fantasy (or imagination vs. external input). In other words, a person using their mind's eye to imagine a god existing will cause their body and subconscious mind will react as if there was actual sensory input. Here are a few examples...
There was a girl named Jessica, she was 5 years old. She was terrified of the dark, and obviously, as well as going to sleep.
Why was she afraid?
Well, because she believed..
no....
she KNEW there was a boogie-man in her closet!
Why did she believe this?
Her big brother told her all about this fictitious creature (he left out the 'fictitious' part of course). Being that she looked up to her brother, she naturally believed everything he said. Every time she would lay down in bed, the boogie-man would enter her mind, and she would feel as if this monster was in the room with her.
We all have been around people/animals that make us feel uneasy, we associate certain sensations with certain experiences. Being that the sensations and the supposed cause of the sensations are often linked subconsciously and consciously, they are often perceived as being the same. This is why some people, when they feel a presence, believe the feeling is caused by some external force (they are unaware that the imagination can cause these "feelings" as well).
Another example of this can be done very easily. Imagine in your mind's eye that you are holding an orange.
Imagine peeling the orange, and while doing this, experiencing the sweet, citrusy smell. Now imagine taking a single slice, and slowly chewing it; imagine all the texture, taste, sounds, etc. By now your mouth should be filling up with saliva.
This example should be very straight forward, and it is similar to what happens when a person imagines a god-like being is there with them (protecting, loving, and guiding).
My last example is about the clouds, and more importantly, those that look for faces in them. If a person stares hard enough into the clouds (assuming there are some in the sky), they will probably be able to find something that resembles a face fairly easily. Obviously the faces are not really there, and that is the point.
Humans are wired to look for faces in things in the same way we look for the sensations associated with being loved, protected, and under guidance. Being that people look to experience those things, it is the sensation that is important to them, not the evolutionary purpose. God is probably as intended as the invention of contraceptives from the perspective of evolution; i.e. humans cheating the reward system by going around the reason for it.
If you got this far, thanks for reading my post :)
This understanding is very important to atheists that wish to debate the whole "feeling a presence" thing that believers often bring up.
Believers often claim that there is proof of a god's existence because they can feel its presence! They believe that because they feel a presence, there must be some outside force causing this to happen. This isn't exclusive to God/gods; many other examples of sensations that are perceived as being caused by an outside force are really caused by certain cognitive behavior.
This of course is perfectly understandable, given the way the mind processes reality. It is not obvious to all that the way in which the body reacts to certain external stimuli can also be generated by the imagination. It is common knowledge that the mind on a subconscious level cannot make the distinction between reality and fantasy (or imagination vs. external input). In other words, a person using their mind's eye to imagine a god existing will cause their body and subconscious mind will react as if there was actual sensory input. Here are a few examples...
There was a girl named Jessica, she was 5 years old. She was terrified of the dark, and obviously, as well as going to sleep.Why was she afraid?
Well, because she believed..
no....
she KNEW there was a boogie-man in her closet!
Why did she believe this?
Her big brother told her all about this fictitious creature (he left out the 'fictitious' part of course). Being that she looked up to her brother, she naturally believed everything he said. Every time she would lay down in bed, the boogie-man would enter her mind, and she would feel as if this monster was in the room with her.
We all have been around people/animals that make us feel uneasy, we associate certain sensations with certain experiences. Being that the sensations and the supposed cause of the sensations are often linked subconsciously and consciously, they are often perceived as being the same. This is why some people, when they feel a presence, believe the feeling is caused by some external force (they are unaware that the imagination can cause these "feelings" as well).
Another example of this can be done very easily. Imagine in your mind's eye that you are holding an orange.Imagine peeling the orange, and while doing this, experiencing the sweet, citrusy smell. Now imagine taking a single slice, and slowly chewing it; imagine all the texture, taste, sounds, etc. By now your mouth should be filling up with saliva.
This example should be very straight forward, and it is similar to what happens when a person imagines a god-like being is there with them (protecting, loving, and guiding).
My last example is about the clouds, and more importantly, those that look for faces in them. If a person stares hard enough into the clouds (assuming there are some in the sky), they will probably be able to find something that resembles a face fairly easily. Obviously the faces are not really there, and that is the point.Humans are wired to look for faces in things in the same way we look for the sensations associated with being loved, protected, and under guidance. Being that people look to experience those things, it is the sensation that is important to them, not the evolutionary purpose. God is probably as intended as the invention of contraceptives from the perspective of evolution; i.e. humans cheating the reward system by going around the reason for it.
If you got this far, thanks for reading my post :)
This understanding is very important to atheists that wish to debate the whole "feeling a presence" thing that believers often bring up.
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