by David Roberson

Created on: June 25, 2007

In asking about the purpose of religion, it is necessary to ask first if religion is not simply a product of our own search for purpose? The answer to the primary question depends on whether we perceive religion as having a divine origin or if we see it as the origin of divine thinking. Either way, religion comes to us through human agents, so we have to begin by looking at what it is to be human.

It is in our nature to form ideas about the world based upon our observations and experiences - and we all do it. In the world, and in our selves, we find things that are difficult to comprehend or explain. Sometimes these mysteries are profound and wonderful, and sometimes these mysteries are profane and terrifying. For any given time or culture there have been people who struggled to explain or define these mysteries, and the value and importance of those definitions and explanations comes from the usefulness of the perspective they create.

At the heart of every religion lies a common miracle, the human mind. An apprehension of that miracle, the containment of the world and the self within the mind, certainly plays a key part in the most basic "religious" experience or epiphany. In many respects, even if it is not clearly recognized or presented as such, religion struggles to account for the containment of the mind in the body and in the world. The result is the belief in a special context for existence, the spirit. This is on one hand a very important thing, because it demands recognition of the existence of the mind itself, which is essential to the experience of life - if not necessarily in order for life to exist - but which cannot be accounted for as part of the physical universe. It also proposes that the mind could be more than the light from a light bulb, a mere epiphenomenon of the brain; it gives us the concept of the soul.

The existence of the soul is something that can only be contemplated from the position of an individual mind. That is, the mind considers its own existence and the prospect of that existence terminating at death or continuing in another context after death. This is a question that cannot be answered experimentally. One cannot know if there is a continuity of consciousness and individuality after death unless one dies and experiences it. Even if someone dies and is revived, or miraculously resurrected, it is reasonable to question whether one has actually died or simply come very close to death.

The beliefs and traditions of indigenous people

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