Diminishing Controlling Factors: Church and State

(from notebook)
Religion is a great distraction for mankind. It offers other worldly rewards and answers. Its mysticism robs us of happiness by diverting our attention from our true condition. It is no wonder humanity struggles with poverty, violence, ill health, and overpopulation when two major institutions of control-church and state-work to draw individuals' attention away from their lives and towards the minutia of political and heavenly affairs. Of course, the greatest controllers in life are deeply ingrained and personal (instinct and culture) and it is in dealing with these things that government and religion leave us ill equipped.

Both institutions, in many significant examples, have indeed worked to arm people with the knowledge and tools needed to find greater happiness. Modern religions' moral codes are better than no moral codes at all, I'm inclined to say. I think that someone who has adopted many unnecessary moral rules and is highly restrained will likely be a happier person than someone who is so immoral and out of control that he harms himself and others, and likely finds himself so out of sync with society that he is ultimately imprisoned. Some measure of law, order, and equality imposed by a state seems to me to be preferable to complete anarchy.

Yes, I admit that there have been responsible, intelligent rules of conduct implemented by both Church and State. It is the seemingly arbitrary, unreasonable, dogmatic rules that are offensive to me. Most unacceptable are these institutions tendency to offer up fears and concerns which fill our minds, hearts, and time...offering excuses or justifications for neglecting our own enjoyment, our own sense of freedom. It is difficult enough maintaining our preferred lifestyles and soothing our own natural fears and insecurities in order to experience perfect moments of enjoyment without having to suffer additional fears and insecurities propogated by these two monstrous institutions.

I advocate the transformation of religion based upon vague, empty messages from the self-declared divine of ancient times into a sort of humanist "religion", based on goodwill, empathy, mutual concern & benefit, and desire for personal freedom. This transformation began hundreds if not thousands of years ago, but has sputtered forward, or progressed, at a snails pace, only to see periods of great hope crushed on a routine basis in this last century by the evil and chaos of the great wars. Public education should involve not just the assimilation of knowledge, but the strengthening of character primarily in accordance with this progressive humanist "religion"-instilling respect and love for others and oneself.

I also advocate "hero-governments" which provide security, health, and emergency assistance to nations. You might imagine these governments resembling a local government in function-providing police, emergency, and medical services. Policy would by and large be domestic. A hero-government would only be concerned with securing a society in which happiness can be freely sought by individuals in whatever manner they chose, as long as they did not compromise this society, or do injustice to others. The judicial branch of government would be quite large. It would be bound by a measure of justice based largely on science, and subject to numerous checks by independent, unbiased organizations.

So I may be lacking the details and logistics to start writing constitutions and begin nation building. More than anything, I digress. Returning to the subject of happiness, with this last entry I've come to realize that the ingredients for happiness which are most deserving of my attention are what proactive system of morals shall we adopt, and in what ways can we manipulate, destroy, or harmonize with the primary controlling factors in our lives--instinct, culture, and personality--to best serve our pursuit of happiness.