If one intends to understand religion, how important is it for them to understand philosophy?
If one intends to understand philosophy, how important is it for them to understand religion?
I know a lot about religion and next to nothing about philosophy.
Plato and Aristotle, the OG philosophers, didn't they use philosophy to argue for the existence of god? Was that their purpose with their philosophy?
Historically, how intertwined are religion and philosophy?
The human brain has two centers of consciousness; inner self and ego. The unconscious and conscious minds are similar concepts; two separate neural processing areas; relative to the ego, with the inner self and ego the centers of each area, respectively.
Religion is more about the needs of the inner self and the collective unconscious; faith, while philosophy is about the needs of the unique ego; personal sensory. Both religion and philosophy formed side-by side so a balance could be achieved for the needs of both centers.
The supernatural and higher human potential that is often discussed by religions is about the inner self and personality firmware which are common to all humans and define humans as a species; collective unconscious. Philosophy is more about practical needs of the ego, based on the the more limited neural priority of the ego and its role in civilization.
The inner self came first and is the same center that is behind the consciousness of animals. Their inner self gives them their instinctive center and exceptional abilities; strength of the lion, the tracking scent of the dog, eyes of an eagle, ferocity of the badger; etc. It is connected to natural selection. The ego is more limited but through external learning can compensate with technology; weapons and tools; human selection.
The ego is only common to humans. Although many domesticated animals; cat, dog, horse, etc. appear to develop a virtual secondary when conditioned by humans; pet friends. The human ego appears to have formed in the more recent past, finally consolidating at about the rise of civilization; 6000 year ago. Before that it would ebb and flow; loss of soul. Being a self standing secondary center of consciousness, the ego has will and choice, in the context of being able to chose apart from the natural instincts of the inner self.
The ego, via will and choice can be used to both advance and regress the inner self. Religions appeared as a way strike a balance, keeping the inner self and natural firmware conscious, so it would not become totally unnatural, but could be updated by the ego. As mythology appeared and changed with time, this marked updates in both.
One of the wild cards is the human imagination, which both the inner self and ego are able to access and share. However, each often uses and interprets this matrix in different ways which can create confusion for the ego; inner self symbolism versus ego literalism. Symbols from the inner self are more like integral or 3-D concepts, whereas such inner self data output, are often interpreted by the ego as literal or differential data points, thereby dividing the two; spherical versus flat earth POV.
For example, Jesus spoke of the kingdom of God being similar to the mustard seed. It is the smallest of seeds in the garden, but once rooted it grows to a very large plant; small start but large ending. This is 3-D concept that helps link the ego to the processing ways of the inner self. The ego may not see this as that; 3-D, but will assume Jesus was talking about a literal tiny seed; cause and affect; 2-D, thereby interpreting this parable based on DNA, which is microscopic data. Philosophy appeared as a way for the ego to orient itself with its more literal interpretation of integral living, based on its more limited cause and affect, instead of the natural integral awareness of the inner self.
