Belief
Belief + rules =?
There's a saying in Vietnamese to indicate nearly impossible things: in the belief. For example, “I didn't do well in the exam, I guess I can pass only in the belief.” As there is no other reason or motivation for anything else, what we rely on is our belief. It's the belief that explains lots of irrational things I did: just merely because I believed I should.
The strength of belief has been widely optimized by rulers. When belief is attached to rules, it becomes a religion. In my opinion, there are no such things as gods, and all the nice things and lessons were created by human. They are nice because they were supposed to be believed by millions or even billions of people. My point is that to gain more followers, rulers were to create a beautiful vision. So gods were created. I would like to think about god as a manmade product and those rulers are the business owners. They earn power from their customers, or their followers, in this case.
My opinion is against the common opinion that it is humans who ruin the genuine ideology of these religions. It might violate the belief of lots of religious people that gods exist and we need to follow them to have a better future. However, looking at the psychological matter, my opinion explains why people start fights: my religion is superior.
The thing about belief is that it is a matter of choice. When you choose to believe in something, you'll at the same time have to give up others. Rulers, or the product owners of those religions, understand best about their product, their customers' pain points and how to market their products to gain more market share. That's why wars happen.
Also, I believe it applies to also the wars we see every day in the comment section: people defence themselves, or their belief. That's why I never take part in any war knowing that it isn't worth spending my time changing a stranger's belief. Kpop fan's comment wars are the same. Those idol groups are just products of the industry who are functioned to deliver the belief that their music can create a better future. Okay, it's good but when that belief reaches its extreme, fans do everything to “superiorize” their idols and bash others.
Different from the Kpop industry, religions have co-existed for thousands of years and influence major wars in human's history in the past, and at the present. Political games looked through the lens of belief are a lot easier to understand. That's why as someone who used to be a 'politics enthusiast', I now tend to look at those events as to how business owners try to expand their market share and maximize their profit, i.e. power.
Communism is also a religion. It has the same formula as others do: a nice delusive future as the product and communist rulers who can foresee the future and consider themselves as the guides (Marx sounds a lot like Muhammad in Islam ;D) that lead us to that future. The difference is that in this religion, there is no god, only the delusion.
The world is gonna evolve to a different form, but I'm convinced that it will be out of our human-made beliefs. In other words, not a single religion's gonna win in this oligopolist market; neither Christianity, nor Islam, nor communism is able to turn this world into a monopoly market to become the ultimate rulers.
(While I may seem to offence a lot of people with their religions, I do see the benefit of belief, it leads people to do marvellous things. I do enjoy learning about different cultures, especially art and architecture, which are usually influenced by one or more religions. I'm really into religions, in this particular aspect.)
Among the religious beliefs, Buddhism seems to be the most decent one to me. However, it's again, my belief. I don't wanna dismiss anyone's belief as much as I don't wanna have to choose a side when it comes to debating. I think it's our rights to choose what to believe or to not. Just let people believe in whatever they believe if it's their motivations to do nice things :D
-Phuong 🐯