I’m not sure if you would agree, but are morals, ethics and laws not essentially just cultural beliefs? They vary from culture to culture much like religion and what is seen as perfectly fine in one culture (Homosexuality as an example) is a crime punishable by death in others. They are also a necessity because without morals, ethics and law society could collapse into a nihilist-like state. Obviously it is hard to say what humanity would be like if they had never existed however.

A very interesting and thought provoking post Doug, thank you.

One good thing that I’ve noticed and this is possibly due to the spread of Communications Tech, is that I’m seeing more and more stories of people questioning those cultural beliefs, such as homosexuality being forbidden certain countries.
Unfortunately, the “nanny state” that Britain has turned into, has taken acceptability to such a huge degree now that it appears that the very core of the culture of Britain is being destroyed. In fact, on Sky News this morning, there was an item of discussion about how the English are losing qualities such as politness. Yob Culture is a topic of constant discussion in England and I personally often feel quite intimidated by the gangs of “hoodies” I see walking about in the street.
It is possible to argue that we need to enforce these long established cultural beliefs or face that nihilistic future state you mentioned.

I am not sure that I entirely agree that religion gives a person a reason to live but I follow your reasoning with interest. I have always felt that religion was a means to understanding life.

You ask
Did humanity subconsciously invent religion out of necessity? And if we did, what other human cultural beliefs have we developed out of necessity?

I wonder, have you found any answers to this?

I think you may have hit the nail on the head. I’ve been wondering for a long time why everyone hoots at me so much. It always annoys me, because I’m trying to philosophize!!

Well, I’ve been wondering about the belief in the super natural and aliens. Possibly these two have been sub-consciously brought into existence so as to stop us from feeling lonely.
There are other topics though that I’m thinking about, around racism, business and sexual behavior that I’m exploring too.

Possibly racism is socially inherited as a sub-conscious cultural and societal need to preserve our own gene-pool and possibly therefor shouldn’t be attacked at the personal level as it is done nowadays, but instead should be addressed to an entire society.

Is religion something to comfort us and ease our fear of death, or do we need to be reminded of our spiritual existence before this physical realm.

My job is to inspire people with the beauty all around us, and to look deeply at all that is around us. I believe there is more than just my physical body, but I have no solid proof.

I am enjoying your blog.

Nick Grimshawe