A thought on God and Religion (God is good, heaven is on earth)

‘If God did not exist, it would be necessary to invent Him’
-Voltaire

Please take note when reading, The following piece of writing contains only a theory. I do not claim it to be original, unique or true. For the purposes of this piece, it is assumed that the existence of a higher power/powers and religion are all concepts which were invented, for all intents and purposes, by humanity. I am prepared to admit this is may not be the case and the existence of such a higher power or creator could have been revealed to humanity by the creator/higher power itself, however, as there does not seem to be conclusive proof of this, I say theorise away!

For thousands of years, we humans have strived to understand what our own life is, and why it exists. Many conclusions have been made, and the two that have the most prevalence are either the universe exists by accident, and life has no meaning other than what we, ourselves give it (of course this still doesn’t explain how the universe came to be but then again, neither really does any other argument). The other conclusion we have generally come to is that the universe was created by some higher power(s). The latter is of course what I wish to discuss. The creation of a God or Gods is of course something that is fairly easy to understand. When humans had little or no scientific understanding, how else can you explain creation, the laws of nature and natural phenomena such as earthquakes, volcanoes and storms. It seems only logical to explain the world around you by saying it was made by some higher intelligence. It is now widely (but not wholly) thought that Zeus, Thor, Jupiter and countless other alternative incarnations of higher powers do not exist, (the three mentioned were mentioned simply as they are some of the more well known examples) but there has been thousands other ideas and beliefs about our creators that have been forgotten or thought to be untrue, so where do the religions of today differ? And what do they really mean?

It is often argued that most mainstream religions, chiefly Judaism, Christianity and Islam, but not excluding Hinduism or Sikhism. Are trying to get the same point across. Firstly, all these religions agree that there is one God, and that He (as much as I dislike referring to God as ‘He’ I will as many religions do and it does make referring to ‘him’ a lot easier) is eternal, omnipotent e.t.c. For those of you who are not very informed on the Hinduism front, most common branches do believe that there is just the one God, and use the several deities they worship to represent different aspects of him, as it is beyond humanities capabilities to imagine him as a whole. Many religions teach many of the same values, and states if you live by these values you will go to heaven. Islam even names Moses and Jesus ‘prophets’, messengers of God just like Muhammad was, but say that their teachings were corrupted over time and so don’t contain the whole truth.

So where do I believe religion has come from? I believe modern religions were brought to this world by humans, and humans alone, people like Muhammad or Jesus, who were able to see the flaws in the way we were living, people who I believe to have been enlightened, not by some all powerful entity, but through their own observation and thought. They saw what was wrong with the world, and they felt the need to change it, and so they began to teach how they believed you should live your life to get the most out of it, but to do so they needed a way to make people listen, as otherwise very few people would. How many people would pay attention to someone if they simply were told the way that they are living is wrong, and they need to change? Most ignorant people would respond with something along the lines of, ‘how would you know?’ Or ‘I’m perfectly happy as I am thanks’. Of course a few may listen, and could, following the teachings of the already enlightened individuals, become enlightened themselves. But this was not enough for these men, and so they all arrived at the same conclusion, belief in a higher power or powers was quite common at the times when modern religions began, for example in Jesus’ time and place in the world the Roman gods were the main source of faith, Forms of Idol worship was common in Muhammad’s era and geographical area, both of these ‘religions’ were reportedly immoral by new religions standards but for most people the concept of a God or Gods was not new and was generally believed in my many. Therefore, all the religious leaders had to do was to give their teachings, but saying they are from the creator of the world rather than just being their opinion. They also provides an incentive to live their lives in the way they thought and this was the concept of life after death and heaven and hell.

I imagine if you are reading this and considering this idea, quite a number of questions would have come into your head. ‘Surely if what you say is true these religious leaders were just liars and therefore also immoral?’ Is one I imagine a few people might be thinking. The truth is, if what I am saying is indeed true, they were undoubtedly lying, they were doing so with completely pure intentions, they were not doing it for power or fame, they were doing it for what they believed to be the good of humanity, why would they teach selflessness if they had selfish intentions?

If you still don’t see this, or think that this lie must have corrupted what religious leaders taught, consider this arguably far fetched extension of the theory. Perhaps God and heaven is not an outright lie, but more of an extended metaphor. If you put an extra ‘o’ in the word ‘god’ then you of course get the word ‘good’ and this is, at its core, what I believe God to represent. So what holy books may be really saying is good is within us all, good is what you should follow, and if you do follow good, you will get to heaven. Heaven, I believe, can be interpreted to mean happiness or contentment, which is what heaven basically is shown to represent, so what the Bible, the Quran, the Torah and more are really teaching is, if you follow good (God/Allah), you will reach happiness (heaven/paradise), the rest of the teachings are simply what good is and isn’t. Hell of course, is where you end up if you don’t live your life following God or good and so represents unhappiness, Hell is seen as a place of evil, a place where God isn’t, the suffering which religions speak of isn’t actually an eternity of fire, brimstone and physical pain, but this represents the mental suffering which you go through when you don’t let God (or good) into your life. This can be related to today, as people who live their life without reasonable morals, or frequently commit, for example, the seven deadly sins, are not happy. Though as an onlooker this can sometimes be hard to tell, it can even be hard to tell for the person in question, who does not know any different feeling and so what they are feeling does not occur to them, this is the Hell that religion warns about.

The teachings of many religions are simply similar because the teachers came to the same conclusions, most likely because these are actually the correct conclusions although I will leave that for you to decide. Of course, the teachings are not always completely clear and so are open to corruption, mistranslation and misinterpretation, which is where using this higher power as a method of getting people to listen can go wrong, people can use the misinterpreted teachings of the supposed creator of the universe to justify just about anything, war, slavery, oppression, you name it, religion has probably been used as an excuse for it. This is unfortunate byproduct of religion and it is questionable whether the founders or teachers would have seen this coming. But religion in itself is not evil, and I truly believe the key founders and teachers had the best intentions, Unfortunately, once they died, no one could ask for clarification or additional guidance so the system is imperfect and I unfortunately don’t think it’s possible that any religion will ever get it completely right. I however do have a lot of respect for people who do commit themselves to following a religion properly and I think these people are some of the happiest in the world.

If you have read all the way through and found this interesting, please consider leaving a posotive comment or a question, which we will try our best to answer. If you do disagree or just didn’t find the piece particularly interesting, please do leave some argument or constructive criticism, we are fully prepared to change our views if we agree with what has been said, and will debate with what we don’t agree with. Thank you for taking an interest.

if you want to request a topic or have written or something you think we would appreciate or find interesting, please email thephantombox@gmail.com.

The difference between animals and humans and what it means for us

It is a fairly well known concept that in order to be happy in life, you must know and understand yourself, but people rarely think to look at themselves not just as an isolated being, but to step back once in a while and to put themselves into context. To understand yourself on the most intricate of levels, we must first look at the bigger picture, we must understand humans, and humanity.

‘What is the difference between humans and animals?’ it is a question that has plagued many a great mind over many a century, but it came to me about a year ago, when a friend of mine asked me this very question. I found myself desperately trying to find one definitive reason. It is clear that humans are different to other animals, no other living organism has put such a mark on the world, no animals can be seen building skyscrapers or talking on smartphones or teaching in schools. We are different, but what makes us so? I believe I found what I was looking for later that day, and have stuck with the same theory ever since. But before I tell you mine, let me outline some other ideas to give you a slightly more well rounded perspective if you don’t already have one.

Language is one feature that many would argue defines us from animals, as the variety of our expressions through sounds (and of course writing) appears to be completely unique to us. It can be argued that is only our advanced forms of communication that have allowed us to share ideas and work together in such a way that we can create villages and towns, trade something we have for something we don’t, and have disagreements so large we fight wars over it. However, humans weren’t created with language imbedded into their brain, they learnt how to use and develop it over thousands of years, it was not simply language that allowed humans to get to where we are today, it was our ability to use language, which came from something else within us, which goes far beyond just language on its own.

Some say it is our ability to use tools and to construct large or complex things that gives us our uniqueness over animals. But anyone who has witnessed a beavers dam, or a termite mound would surely argue otherwise. It has now also been shown that tool use is also not hugely uncommon from animals. From birds using rocks to smash open snail shells or eggs to primates even making their own tools by stripping leaves off of sticks and in some cases sharpening them with their teeth for multiple uses including digging food sources out of hard to reach places to actually using them to hunt with. Elephants even use heavy objects to drop on electric fences to short them out so that they can pass freely over boundaries made by humans.

All this is very interesting, and I could continue on and on, with various theory’s or what I believe to be misconceptions and why, but that is not the purpose of this piece. All these theory’s being disproved makes us realise that maybe we aren’t so different from animals after all, but we still know we must be that somehow, humanity must be different from the rest. There is a theory, which I do not believe to be wrong, that states the very thing that has made us so different from other animals is that humans have the capability to ask themselves this very question, we have the ability to recognise ourselves and our own existence, in a way which animals cannot. And inquire into the truth of our existence. Questions like ‘who am I?’, ‘why am I here?’ and of course ‘what makes me different to other animals?’ are exclusive to humanity, this is certainly a strong argument which cannot at this moment in time be disproved.

But it is a variation of this theory that I, myself believe. Yes we have a complex languages and a complex way of using tools and build complex structures, but that is not the reason why we are different to animals. These complex actions are a byproduct of our difference. So what enabled us to do all of these things to a much more complex degree than animals, what i think makes humans human, is questions. questions are, to my understanding at least, exclusive to humans, not just the big questions, but all questions. We are so advanced because we can ask ourself, ‘what if i picked up this stick?’, ‘what can it be used for?’, and not forgetting, ‘what can I do to improve it?’

Animals find things by accident, or are taught by other animals after observing repetitive actions which they then mimic. They do not have the ability to ask themselves why, what if or how, animals do not think of ways to improve their situation, they are impulsive, acting mainly on instinct, unable to question what the consequences of their actions will be for the future past a few second. Humans consider the future, and they are able to ask themselves about new things, they have the mental capacity to think of what the effect of their actions will be, and this is why tool use and construction comes so easily to us. of course it could be argued that animals consider their actions and what they mean for the future, as birds migrating, salmon returning to the same point to lay their eggs and squirrels hoarding for the winter appear to be evidence of this. However i would argue that this seemingly complex behaviour has come from a mixture of observation of other creatures behaviour and evolution, the behaviour is instinctual, ‘programmed’ into them by millions of years of trial and error, and those that did not behave like this simply died, never to pass these traits along. I’ve heard more than one person say that humans are different to animals because they always want more, and are never content. However, I do not believe this to be true, as some, admittedly an exceedingly small number, are truly content. But I believe the only reason why we have this thirst for more is not because we are inherently selfish, but because we are the only ones who have the ability to imagine this concept of ‘better’, and have the ability to ask ourselves how to achieve it.

So then, everything that is seen to make us human, from our spiritual awareness, to our desire to make things’ better’ for ourselves (and sometimes others), our use of tools, our cities and factories, our abilities to record and communicate complex thoughts, document the past, predict the future, fantasise about what might be and what might have been, consider our position in the universe, all of it, I believe, has come from questions, or whatever has given us the ability to ask them.

So why am I writing this? What does it mean for us? It means, that once we recognise this, we can embrace it. We should use this exclusive ability to take a step back and consider our position. We can use this knowledge to achieve true happiness, because we now know, that questions are your answer. It is more than likely that you, the reader, are not completely content, whether you suffer from a form of depression, get sudden bursts of sadness, or just don’t feel that happy very often. I believe this is the body’s way of telling you that you are not living live to its full potential, and if you are to achieve this, questions must be asked, for to satisfy this feeling of discontentment you must use this gift you have been given as a human. You need to determine what really makes you happy. Those who do not ask the correct questions often commit their life to making money, building muscle, making a family, becoming an expert in something (which isn’t always necessarily a bad thing) anything to fill the naturally occurring void that is produced by living in this shallow existence which most people choose today. It is often said that some of the richest, or most ‘successful’ people aren’t happy, and are often intact some of the the greediest people, this is because of this very reason, if you try and fill a void caused by a shallow and materialistic things, with more shallow and materialistic things, then will it not only make things worse?

So if you recognised any of these traits in yourself (and I commend you if you do, for most who have them are often too misguided to recognise it themselves), just feel like trying a new way of thinking, or for any other reason, ask yourself some questions, because without them the answer to your problems will not be found. Yes the big ones like ‘what is the meaning of life?’ Or ‘what is my purpose’ (both of which will be discussed at another time) are great, but smaller questions along side of this help as well. Like considering the reason why you are sad, or just not happy all the time, and how you could change, to help yourself, and of course others. It sounds extremely obvious, but the amount of people who feel terrible through parts of their life, but don’t consider properly why or think how to change their life or mindset to try and alleviate this sadness is huge and the amount living with these suppressed emotions is bigger.

If you have read all the way through and found this interesting, please consider leaving a positive comment or a question, which we will try our best to answer. If you do disagree or just didn’t find the piece particularly interesting, please do leave some argument or constructive criticism, we are fully prepared to change our views if we agree with what has been said, and will debate with what we don’t agree with. Thank you for taking an interest.

if you want to request a topic or have written or something you think we would appreciate or find interesting, please email thephantombox@gmail.com

What is the Phantom Box?

This new blog is designed to show people a new way of thinking, to help the overcome boundaries in your mind in order to find the truth, it will consider big ideas, such as why we are here, what purpose we have and whether or not the concept of any form of higher power was dreamed into reality by humans or whether some form of creator has actually made themselves known to the world. As well as these trails of thought, other, smaller concepts will be explored, from whether ignorance really can be bliss, to how words can restrict how we think, act and of course communicate. Of course, there will be many a comment on society, and both the positive and negative aspects of the western society in Which this blog finds its home. Whatever your intention is when reading this blog, whether to widen your view on certain aspects of this world, to find new original thoughts that you haven’t come across before, to seek help or solace in the knowledge that you are not the only one who feels a certain way about life or to contribute to and engage in the interesting discussions which we hope to set up. We can honestly say we think you will find something which this blog has or has yet to produce interesting and thought provoking.

But first, what does ‘the Phantom Box’ mean, the idea of this concept takes its inspiration from the well known phrase ‘think outside the box’, a phrase while it’s intention is laudable enough, has been cliched and overused until it at last has lost most of the meaning that it once had. The idea behind ‘the Phantom Box’ is simply that the ‘box’ is not actually real. If the box symbolises the restrictions on the way we act, think and even feel, once you look close enough, it becomes apparent that it does not exist. The restrictions which prevent us from thinking in a certain way were not in place at birth, but developed afterwards, as you grew, so did the overall impression, made on you by society of how to think, how to act, what is wrong and what is right, until it is ingrained so far into your personality, that it’s extremely difficult to even think to challenge the surrounding crowds ideas and ideals, you think like them, as it has never been shown to you how to think differently, you are born with completely free will but it is suppressed and subdued by the people who constantly surround you, until most will think, for 99% of their lives in more or less the same ways everyone else does.

And so what this blog is really about is shattering that illusion of this ‘box’ that will otherwise restrict our free way of thinking, and tap into another, purer form of wisdom, which holds the truth for us all.