Fictional abstractions as social contracts: Part 2

Robin Michael -

Second fictional abstraction used by humans on a daily basis that are completely fabricated abstractions of any physical traits or requirements i.e. they were created by humans as a representations of implicit social contracts for cohesion and cooperation that then became explicit and codified.

Abstraction 2: Religion

Religion is one of the first abstractions that humans codified for social activities, perhaps even before language, but it has been use a long time although it changes in importance and use over time.

To be clear religion (precisely supernatural) is an idea and has no physical proof or verifiable experiment presented over time even though innumerable attempts have and will continue to be made to find the existence of it.

How is this constructed to function long term?

Indoctrination of the youth

Take those that are young, unaware, and dependent on you and force them to accept this social construct as immutable and omnipresent as the gravity that is experienced between bodies or the process of breathing air a natural element of our environment.

Control of critical resources given to those that swear loyalty to the system for those older than youths

Proof

At one point there was no religion as this concept does not exist for bacteria and or even higher 0rder animals and plants and then the idea was posited forth and accepted as abstraction to be adopted.  As in my previous post with money, it is a whole cloth fictional representation of something that does not exist.  Today religion as a concept is accepted and tomorrow it is thrown out no change will be observable.  The planets will spin, the universe will expand, gravity will continue to work, plants will continue to grow, etc.

Why is this abstraction codified and used by the vast majority of humans presently? It provides social cohesion by providing and abstraction to place doubts, purpose, and your role as an individual in the larger group without having to build these agreements and thoughts up by yourself and with your peers.

  • If I am in doubt over the meaning of my work or toil I can find a projected reason for my suffering or purpose in this catch all abstraction for social activities.
  • If I am scared and can't explain a concept or action I can reliably transcribe it to supernatural events which my religion will accept and others will believe as we can subscribed to the same messaging and meaning.
  • If I am traveling into an area where I do not know others and have no social contracts with I can identify myself as a member of an extended group by claiming a religion to shortcut introductions and expectations.
  • If I disagree with others I do not have to empathize and construct a mental model of their reasoning behind their behaviors if I ascribe them to another religion or a component of my own religion which may be classified as rogue and out of bounds.