Motivation doesn’t come mainly from fear of eternal damnation, or even from meeting with people that have a common cause (although that is closer to the truth). I think the main reason people are religious is because they have a desire to live in integrity, rather than caving in to the insticts of the reptilian and paleomammalian parts of our brain, instincts which are usually conter-productive in our current social environment. Of course, religious people don’t talk like this. They call it “sinning” instead. But it means the same thing. People are especially concerned that their children join a group that encourages the avoidance of counter-productive reptilian and paleomammalian behavior (a.k.a. sin). In almost any church, there’s always a significant number of new members who have children that have just reached Sunday School age. Prior to that, they were unchurched since graduating from High School.
How can rationality help people achieve their desire to live with more integrity, and have their children live with more integrity? That’s the question we need to be asking. Reading blogs and books isn’t going to do it. Integrity is not a solo sport. It takes strong support from other human beings to overcome our sinful instincts.
Rather than ourselves making the drastic cultural changes that Eli talks about, perhaps it would be more efficient to piggyback on to another movement which is further down that path of culture change, so long as that movement isn’t irrational. See this URL:
http://www.thankgodforevolution.com/node/1711
Check out the rest of the web site if you have time, or better yet, buy and read the book the web site is promoting. As you can see from the URL above, cooperation is an important value in the group.
I have been observing the spiritual practices promoted by this web site for just a few weeks, and already it’s been giving me tremendous personal benefit. My relationship with my wife and kids is better, I have more enthusiasm for life when I get up in the morning, I no longer find doing chores so onerous, it’s much easier for me to refrain from my vices, and I just generally feel more satisfied with the way things are. That’s quite a bit for just a few weeks, and I sense the benefits are going to continue to grow with time so long as I adhere to the spiritual practices.
Even though I support Eli’s non-profit (that can’t be named), I have a very strong urge to give 10-fold as much money to the group that makes such an immediate and real difference in my life.
The really cool thing, though, is that the group is completely compatible with what Eli is trying to do, and should be able to help the cause rather than hinder it, unless we dismiss the group out of hand because their culture is more like a religion than a group of rationalists.
If you think the material on the web site URL I posted above is in any way irrational, please let me know about it. I’d like to hear what you’re thinking.