Sociology Talk

Roger Johansson · Guest

Religions and political programs are both combinations of rules and
views, the organisation of the society and an ideology which justifiy
and explain the rules.

A lot of people see only the theoretical ideology and do not see the
social rules connected with the ideology.

Every religion has rules for how to treat others, children, members of
the same community, non-members, recently married or "re-born" people.

For a thousand years the pope and catholicism ruled Europe and those
years were filled of slavery and torture.

For example the astronomer Giordano Bruno told the world that
according to his measurements the earth was not the center of the
world. The earth is just one of many planets circling around the sun.
He was burned to death, tied to a stake, because he said something
which he was not allowed to say.

There was no freedom of speech under catholicism, no democracy, no
science, no technology. Religion is a way to organize the society,
just like a political program.

Even in a fairly secularized country today old religious traditions
are still alive, often secretly, because the modern society does not
allow violence to be used to create men out of boys, for example.

--
Roger J.

Roger Johansson · Guest

Individual Freedom

1 Individual Freedom
2 The Problem
3 The Solution
4 Individual Freedom
5 How do we want our society to work?
6 Old social traditions
7 Theoretical versus practical religion
8 Economical and political program
9 Social and psychological program
10 Stone age tribal traditions
11 God divided the social world into heaven and earth.
12 The social mind, and the biological mind
13 Initiation rites, rites of passage and bullying

Individual Freedom

A system of beliefs integrating democracy, equality, and, most
important of all, individual freedom.

The Problem

There is a big problem in the world today. It is not a new problem, it
has been going on for thousands of years. The problem causes a lot of
human suffering, violence and during the 20th century alone it caused
the death of at least 100 million people. This problem also causes
child abuse, bullying, robberies, murders, terrorist attacks and wars.
It also causes a lot of confusion and theoretical problems.

The problem consists of old social traditions from the stone age which
are still influencing a lot of people although we officially have
stopped these old tribal traditions, and even made main parts of the
traditions illegal. Child abuse and bullying, for example is illegal
today. But a lot of members of this international terrorist movement
still justify their violence with old ideas like "spare the rod and
you will spoil the child" or "that is a weak guy, let's kick him
around some, to make him tougher and more manly".

The Solution

Take the weapons out of the hands of the opressors, bullies, child
abusers, terrorists, etc.. Their weapons are machine guns, capital,
ideologies, social domination, violence, bullying, property rights,
control of media channels and the ideologies which are spread through
movies, comic books, tv-shows and newspapers. Changing the political
and economic rules we can make all individuals free and equals, not
enslaved by chattel slavery, wage slavery, lack of food and other
resources so each person is allowed to think for him/herself and
decide for him/herself what to do.

Explain in clear language all the secrets in the social culture which
cause all these problems. The secret social manipulation and abuse of
weak or poor people is based on secrets, lies and confusion. The old
tribal traditions, often called religions, can only survive as long as
the secrets are kept secret. By revealing the secrets of these old
systems for ideological, social and economic dominance we are
liberating people from these ideologies and stone age social system.
The violence used by these traditions can then no longer be justified
by these ideologies and people will understand that we can live more
natural and peaceful lives.

Individual Freedom

Individual freedom means that if you do not want to go to work you can
sleep all day, and you can decide for yourself what kind of product
you want to produce, and if you don't want to work at all that is okay
too.

Everybody should be free to think and decide for themselves. Only then
can the human mind be free and healthy. And the world becomes a lot
more stable and peaceful. It is not very likely that millions of
autonomous minds would suddenly decide to start a war or become
terrorists, but in a system where a few people, generals, capitalists,
religious leaders rule and control the media channels, they can decide
and order millions of people to go to war. When the power is divided
equally between all people everybody will be free to do what he or she
wants to do.

We want a world where nobody dominates another, by violence, by
monetary power, by property rights, by social weight based on anger
and strong convictions or by being member of a gang, or any other
means. Spiritual and intellectual freedom is the result of individual
freedom.

There should be no way to change somebody's mind or actions except
through peaceful negotiations and good arguments.

How do we want our society to work?

That is the most important issue to discuss. We already have democracy
in most countries, democracy means that the people rules itself. But
most people still vote for old elites, who own the big media
channels.

These media channels pump out large amounts of justifications and
explanations for the stone age rules and ideology, with a lot of
violence as the main ingredience. The businessmen who took over the
power from old religious elites needed new rules, that is the main
reason why the theoretical humanists had so much success and could
lessen the power of the church.

That opened up for science and technology, and ideas about democracy
instead of dictaturship, freedom of expression, etc..

But the businessmen kept the old social system, which keeps the people
occupied and confused over social and economic issues, so they are
unable to think clearly. The old elites, priests, kings and
capitalists cooperate to preserve and reinforce the old tribal
traditions, to keep the people under control.

But we can change the rules, peacefully and through democratic
elections.

We can have whatever kind of world we like, we just have to discuss,
come to an agreement and vote for that program. Here is a suitable
political and economical program which allows individual freedom and
combines it with a non-authoritarian, transparent and participative
form of democracy.
http://wikihost.org/wikis/program/wiki/start

Old social traditions

A lot of people are still strongly influenced by old traditions and
let these traditions rule their actions, and how they treat people.
Some think boys need to be trained and hardened to become grown men,
and this is done with the help of violence. Tough men are created from
soft nice boys. Women are created out of little girls. Gender roles
and violence is used to create the eternal love and the holy
matrimony. This creates a dualistic society of dominating and
dominated minds, and none of them are really free, they are locked in
a traditional society and do not have individual freedom, other than
as an illusion created by strong convictions.

Modern media and communication tools makes the situation acute, as the
old tribal traditions have gotten a lot of power to distribute that
cultural pattern, so we need to raise the awareness about this old
social traditions problem.

Otherwise the media will only communicate the old patterns with more
and more communication power.

The best way to dissolve these old traditions is to explain them in
clear language, because they can only survive if backed up by secrecy,
lies and misunderstandings.

Theoretical versus practical religion

A lot of people treat religions as purely theoretical ideologies,
ignoring the social practices which are justified and explained by the
ideologies.

The reality, the old traditional ways in practical social life are
kept secret and hidden behind ideologies. But the reality is much more
important than the ideologies which are used to justify the way
children are trained, how gender roles are formed, the way people are
bullied and manipulated in real social life. It matters very little if
the people who are mistreating others find their justifications from
the Bible or movies or comic books like Superman or other books or
newspapers or tv-programs.

We need to change the social practices which cause so much violence
and human suffering, bullying, terrorism and wars.

Economical and political program

The social inequality also caused economic inequality, or you could
say that social power caused economic power to develop. That's why we
need a political and economical program to create a more peaceful and
modern society, where individual freedom is the most important goal.
More about the program:
http://wikihost.org/wikis/program/wiki/start

Social and psychological program

We have been born into an old system of social traditions where
violence and strong convictions have hindered individual freedom and a
life in a peaceful and nice world.

The age of enlightenment spread the new ideals of humanism (atheism,
secularism) and most countries have accepted the new ideas about
democracy, freedom of speech, unhindered development of science and
technology. As a contrast we can remember Giordano Bruno burned at a
stake for saying that the earth is moving around the sun a few hundred
years before humanism, democracy, secularism and freedom of speech
changed our world. Humanism showed up around the year 1500. The era of
enlightenment is said to have happened during the 18th century. But it
changed our world mainly on the surface, a lot of people still try to
uphold and defend the old traditions. So the era of enlightenment has
barely started.

To explain how the old traditions work and what negative consequences
come with them is not easy, because people have very different levels
of knowledge and insight into the secrets of informal social
structures.

So the explanation necessarily has to take up a lot of points and few
readers will understand all points. But we can explain the most
obvious and most well known traditions and hope that the average
reader understands the main points.

Humanism means that we should stop playing the social game of
dominance, stop creating very mindstrong people. That old system meant
that we were all living for God, and under the power of God. God is
the state of mind which has inspired this old system of social
traditions.

The old system meant that there were only two kinds of people, those
who lived in God and those who did not. The socially dominant God-
people had all the right in the world to punish and manipulate the non-
members, so they could come to God too one day, or die.

The rule about the excluded third is today seen as a theoretical logic
rule but it began as a social rule. You had to be a member of the
sacred community, the bully gang, or not. A third option was not
allowed.

A practical example of this rule is a school yard controlled by a
bully gang. If a new person enters the school yard he has to be
classified quickly and treated accordingly. If he is a strongminded
and tough bully he is welcomed into the gang. If he is not he must be
dominated and bullied. A third possibility is not allowed. The bullies
usually do not see themselves as bullies or terrorists. They think
they are the real people, the compassinate and loving people.

That led to a world full of pain and stress, and very strongly
convinced minds. People took this religion thing very seriously, and
they took the social traditions very seriously. This resulted in a
very violent society. Scientists have investigated the correlation
between religion and violence, and found a strong correlation. The
most religious areas in the world are also the most violent areas,
while the most secular areas are the least violent.

Humanism means that we must change our world, to live a social life
based on individuals, humans, each with his/her personal mental and
social setup and state of mind.

We can live with people for the moment, not manipulate them for a
supposed salvation in the future. The big problem is all the people
who think they are so intelligent and they know everything in social
matters, they often mistreat people knowingly, because they think it
is good for them. Example from Paulus: "The good I want to do, I do
not do. The evil I do not want to do, I do." (closely related to
"spare the rod and you will spoil the child")

To become such a God-like creature you must be very mistreated, so you
become very strong later, filled of anger and determination, when and
if you get to the salvation, the strong conviction you get from women
who have been trained all their lives to become very strongminded.
This system has raised the stress level of our world to a maximum and
it has made normal social life impossible, as all social activity is
directed towards creation. It is often the ideological basis for
mistreatment of children, (don't spare the rod, you'll destroy the
child) and bullying and violence in the society in general.

Intelligence often fools itself, especially when it is trusted.
Inexperienced people believe in their own ability to think clearly and
logically. A wise man knows that language and logic are just tools for
persuading others. One must mistrust one's own intelligence very much,
and especially when it is exalted, by love, drugs, anger, etc..

Stone age tribal traditions

Social rules suitable for the stone age, (the law of the jungle), are
not compatible with a modern society, where we must live peacefully
side by side. The manly power and aggression useful to gain respect
from the other males and to impress on females in jungle life are
causing serious problems with violence and mental problems in the
modern society.

The social practices of the stone age needed an ideological support.
Tribal traditions and traditional religions gave that support earlier.
Today these practices are supported by rock music, movies, tv shows,
cartoons like Superman, etc..

The old social traditions were based on the idea of an infallable
intellect, the allknowing allseeing God state of mind. It makes people
think they are geniuses, but it is just a state of mind, a lovely
concussion.

That state of mind, when conserved, leads to the big mistake in
judging our own mental capacity. The social world around us makes it
necessary to have a strong mind, so it is fortified even more.

Building a mental fortress is not good, as it blocks free fantasy and
is detrimental to both the person who carries his head with him and
the people he beats up with his head. The old system was built upon
the idea of a mental fortress, a love that lasts forever, a superior
state of mind which is hardened by years of mental training, and
fulfilled by a strong conviction, also known as love.

The belief in "truth" is a consequence of the old system, the belief
in God as infallable and almighty.

Instead of trusting God and the God-system for a society we have to
build a new world, based on the individual, with a mind which is very
much prone to making mistakes, so we have to help each other, and do
as good as we can in every situation.

The school system in USA teaches kids to "prove" this and that. And we
often read americans saying "Prove it!" in a debate. The whole idea of
absolute truth and proving things is coming from religion, and from
the social traditions religion is based on.

The old system was based on a certain kind of logic, a logic people
trusted so much that they did horrible things in the name of truth and
intelligence. They still do, actually. In our daily life we often see
people hurting other people on purpose, to "make them stronger", to
"develop their personality", to make them ready to go into the God
state of mind.

Humanism is to see each person for what he is, not what we could make
out of him. To let people develop naturally instead of being forced
into social situations and relations, and mental states of mind.

I am talking about practically the whole world, which is socially
organized to "create" men, in the shape of God. The creation myths,
explaining initiation rites in a symbolic manner, existed in most
cultural traditions long before these modern religions were invented.

The religious system in the whole world is based upon a certain
organization of the social life. This social structure and the rules
for social behaviour are virtually the same all over the world. How we
arrange marriages, for example. How men and women should be and
behave.

It is that system we need to change, because it is built upon
violence. But a lot of people think it is a good system, because it
gave them a form of positive stress, a lovely concussion, also known
as Love or the eternal bliss.

God divided the social world into heaven and earth.

The creationist religion divides the world into heaven and hell
(earth, water), and individuals are treated according to their
membership or non-membership in heaven. In the social life of today
people are judged and treated differently, based on how streetsmart
they are, you are either a nerd of a really cool guy. The girls
despise nerds and love the tough and cool guys.

So we are all pressed hard to become really cool and tough. The media
amplifies this idea by producing movies and tv-programs about really
tough guys, who kill and fight like we still lived in the stone age.
That is the problem we have inherited from the creation-religions and
the stone age tribal traditions which these religions are based on.

The social mind, and the biological mind

The whole world is on a very high stress level. To think clearly you
must be extremely strong mentally, which defeats the purpose because
that means you are extremely convinced about yourself, your ego, your
intelligence.

Or you have to become a hermit or monk and live outside the society.
That is why most really new ideas have been thought out outside the
society, like when Buddha walked around in the countryside of India,
when Moses walked up on a mountain to think clearly, when Jesus walked
out into the desert land to think, etc..

In the society people need strong minds, but that has negative
consequences, like fanaticism, alcoholism, violence, etc.. If you live
isolated for some time your mind is cooling off and you get closer to
your biologically natural state of mind.

The newer religions are modifications of the older traditions, to
incorporate newer ideas, which often were directed against the social
system to begin with, but the society twisted the story so it would
fit into the old tribal traditions.

The old traditions are still alive and cause a lot of unnecessary
violence and suffering. Bullying in schools and workplaces is one
example. Drug use and violence in media, mental blockings and
fanaticism are other consequences.

"Religion is an insult to human dignity. With or without it, you'd
have good people doing good things and evil people doing bad things,
but for good people to do bad things, it takes religion." Steven
Weinberg, Nobel Laureate.

Initiation rites, rites of passage and bullying

Initiation rites from all over the world can also be described as acts
of creation. The creation of men out of boys, the creation of
mindstrong women out of little girls, the creation of a dualistic
social world, divided into heaven and hell, or bullies and their
victims, masters and slaves, gods and mere mortals.

When the elders in a tribe talked to the tribe, sitting around the
camp fire, they needed to use a symbolic language, so that those who
were supposed to understand could understand and the others, children
and uninitiated persons, did not understand what was said. This, of
course lead to a lot of misunderstandings, which the world still
suffers from. For example: Some religious extremists murder doctors
who perform abortions because they do not understand that the bible
talks about spiritual life, not biological life.

The transformation of boys to men was described in symbolic language
in many creation myths. Taking soft clay from the ground, shaping it
and burning it produced a ceramic figure hard as stone. That was a
natural symbolism in the stone age for making a soft and natural boy
into a tough and hard man. This is the symbolism used in many creation
myths describing the creation of men. For example, the greek creation
myth talks about how the gods took soft clay from the ground, shaped
it after themselves and made it hard as stone. Then a female godess
came and blew spiritual life into the created man. A creation myth
from Nairobi is practically the same but the female godess poured
blood into the created hard man to give him the spirit.

--
Roger J.