anotherneil
Well-Known Member
Here's how I determined, for myself, what the origins of the belief in supernatural beings like God and an afterlife in heaven actually are.
Basically it comes from reading this book, specifically the section on Hasan bin Sabah and the sect known as the Assassins, who existed about 1,000 years ago (in the Iranian and Levant region):
(pages 279-284)
Wikipedia article about them: Order of Assassins - Wikipedia
To summarize specifically what it was in this section, it talks about how Hasan would send people to befriend strangers in "drinking places" to drug them; these victims would then wake up in a different place, full of palaces, "landscaped gardens", exotic animals, beautiful women, etc. This was in a hidden valley that Hasan had created, in order to trick his victims that he's recruiting into believe that they're in a paradise afterlife, to then get them to do things like kill his adversaries, and to sacrifice themselves. These victims would be drugged again to bring them back to their town or homes, with the promise to bring them back permanently to this paradise afterlife after completing their mission.
This reminds me of the type of plot in stories where the main character dies, goes to heaven, meets St. Peter or God (or whoever the receptionist is in heaven), and is told that they've died and gone to heaven, but it's not their time yet to go there; they're told that they have to be taken back to Earth to accomplish a good dead & upon completion of that good deed, they are taken back to heaven to remain there for eternity.
Let's put this into perspective from Hasan's victim's point of view. They're in a pub, lose consciousness or whatever, regain consciousness or wake up, find themselves to be present in some other place that doesn't look like their home or town or whatever, find that this place to be far more desirable than their homes with its palaces, beautiful women, exotic plants & animals, delicious food and drinks, or whatever. These victims are basically convinced, with the help of the people or "beings" there, that they've died and this place is a heavenly afterlife.
To these victims, when these people tell them that they have to be sent back to Earth to complete some sort of task (kill someone or whatever) and can return to stay if they complete it, these victims see it as a good deed - whatever it is.
These victims aren't going to care if they kill someone important then get killed by their bodyguards, because that (in their belief) just sends them back to heaven to remain there.
I don't remember how exactly I picked up the idea of the Assassin's agents being individuals who would kill themselves after killing their victims, but I think that would be generally consistent with the kind of thing that could happen from brainwashing and victimizing them. Supposedly it's just a legend, but one thing for sure, these suicide bombings that happen today certainly are not just legends.
Up to this point, this doesn't provide a possible explanation for why there's a propensity or tendency for some people today to believe in God and a paradise afterlife commonly referred to as heaven, but I think I have an answer or explanation for this.
What I think can explain this has to do with these victims telling their friends, family, neighbors, etc. about their experience from being in what they believe was a visit to a paradise afterlife. Being someone these friends, family, neighbors, etc. know, they likely knew that they were being honest and serious about their experience, so they passed on this story to others. These stories, in turn, got passed on from one generation to the next, which became religion of today.
Another part that I think may play a role that might be important, harder to explain, and probably more challenging to support, is the idea that this experience can be genetically passed on from these victims to their children, to be inherited as some form of innate knowledge or instinct. What I'm referring to here would be analogous to, or like the same concept involved in passing on the information from one generation to the next on how to weave a web for spiders, or how to build a nest for birds.
This also explains to me what this so-called "God part of the brain" is all about:
Some might be wondering how something that happened about 1,000 years ago can explain religion going back thousands of years prior to that. I'm not trying to suggest that religion started after Hasan's Order of Assassins, from that era; I think that these techniques used by this sect was their "esoteric" knowledge and techniques that were developed and existed for thousands of years prior to the existence of the Hasan sect; I think Hasan's sect was merely the one that got caught red-handed using such esoteric knowledge and techniques, essentially leading to the exposure of the sect and what they were doing.
God is (or "was") actually Hasan, and others like him (his predecessors, etc.). Heaven is actually this hidden place that Hasan & others like him created that was in a hidden valley full of palaces, beautiful women, etc.
Regardless of any little nit-picky and inconsequential mistakes I may have made here or there with historical details of my explanation, or what anyone thinks of these books I reference, or their authors, I'm personally perfectly content with this as the explanation for the belief in God and heaven.
I don't expect that this will change everyone's mind about what God and heaven are; this is just to show where I stand & where I'm settled with the issue.
Basically it comes from reading this book, specifically the section on Hasan bin Sabah and the sect known as the Assassins, who existed about 1,000 years ago (in the Iranian and Levant region):
(pages 279-284)
Wikipedia article about them: Order of Assassins - Wikipedia
To summarize specifically what it was in this section, it talks about how Hasan would send people to befriend strangers in "drinking places" to drug them; these victims would then wake up in a different place, full of palaces, "landscaped gardens", exotic animals, beautiful women, etc. This was in a hidden valley that Hasan had created, in order to trick his victims that he's recruiting into believe that they're in a paradise afterlife, to then get them to do things like kill his adversaries, and to sacrifice themselves. These victims would be drugged again to bring them back to their town or homes, with the promise to bring them back permanently to this paradise afterlife after completing their mission.
This reminds me of the type of plot in stories where the main character dies, goes to heaven, meets St. Peter or God (or whoever the receptionist is in heaven), and is told that they've died and gone to heaven, but it's not their time yet to go there; they're told that they have to be taken back to Earth to accomplish a good dead & upon completion of that good deed, they are taken back to heaven to remain there for eternity.
Let's put this into perspective from Hasan's victim's point of view. They're in a pub, lose consciousness or whatever, regain consciousness or wake up, find themselves to be present in some other place that doesn't look like their home or town or whatever, find that this place to be far more desirable than their homes with its palaces, beautiful women, exotic plants & animals, delicious food and drinks, or whatever. These victims are basically convinced, with the help of the people or "beings" there, that they've died and this place is a heavenly afterlife.
To these victims, when these people tell them that they have to be sent back to Earth to complete some sort of task (kill someone or whatever) and can return to stay if they complete it, these victims see it as a good deed - whatever it is.
These victims aren't going to care if they kill someone important then get killed by their bodyguards, because that (in their belief) just sends them back to heaven to remain there.
I don't remember how exactly I picked up the idea of the Assassin's agents being individuals who would kill themselves after killing their victims, but I think that would be generally consistent with the kind of thing that could happen from brainwashing and victimizing them. Supposedly it's just a legend, but one thing for sure, these suicide bombings that happen today certainly are not just legends.
Up to this point, this doesn't provide a possible explanation for why there's a propensity or tendency for some people today to believe in God and a paradise afterlife commonly referred to as heaven, but I think I have an answer or explanation for this.
What I think can explain this has to do with these victims telling their friends, family, neighbors, etc. about their experience from being in what they believe was a visit to a paradise afterlife. Being someone these friends, family, neighbors, etc. know, they likely knew that they were being honest and serious about their experience, so they passed on this story to others. These stories, in turn, got passed on from one generation to the next, which became religion of today.
Another part that I think may play a role that might be important, harder to explain, and probably more challenging to support, is the idea that this experience can be genetically passed on from these victims to their children, to be inherited as some form of innate knowledge or instinct. What I'm referring to here would be analogous to, or like the same concept involved in passing on the information from one generation to the next on how to weave a web for spiders, or how to build a nest for birds.
This also explains to me what this so-called "God part of the brain" is all about:
Some might be wondering how something that happened about 1,000 years ago can explain religion going back thousands of years prior to that. I'm not trying to suggest that religion started after Hasan's Order of Assassins, from that era; I think that these techniques used by this sect was their "esoteric" knowledge and techniques that were developed and existed for thousands of years prior to the existence of the Hasan sect; I think Hasan's sect was merely the one that got caught red-handed using such esoteric knowledge and techniques, essentially leading to the exposure of the sect and what they were doing.
God is (or "was") actually Hasan, and others like him (his predecessors, etc.). Heaven is actually this hidden place that Hasan & others like him created that was in a hidden valley full of palaces, beautiful women, etc.
Regardless of any little nit-picky and inconsequential mistakes I may have made here or there with historical details of my explanation, or what anyone thinks of these books I reference, or their authors, I'm personally perfectly content with this as the explanation for the belief in God and heaven.
I don't expect that this will change everyone's mind about what God and heaven are; this is just to show where I stand & where I'm settled with the issue.
