The case against Elves

[Faust]

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And this is where I am torn. I believe my brain is quite split on the matter. My left side agrees with burnt. We are self concious machines. It's what makes sense, it can be tested. And I conciously believe that religion and belief in the afterlife is a sort of survival mechanism combine with our capacity for abstract thought. I mean it real is brilliant. Our brain has found a way to satisfy it number one instinct, survival. I mean, how can we ever die if we are living eternally with the father, the son, and holy spirit. That is my logical side talking.

My right side says differently. It has feelings of universal conciousness. That everything shares the same life. That we are all vessel for the universal conciousness to gain experience. These are thoughts and feeling that are still being explored. But I cannot deny that my logical side is winning out and is my excepted belief as of now. I'm really leaning toward the thought that religion and belief in god and the afterlife are just tools of rationalization and ways to satisfy our nature. To me it is just the explination that makes sense.

...snip...

You know the truth of your words is so stinging and in the same sense cauterizing that 6 centuries ago you would be burned at the stake. I think it's not a dichotomy though, you can believe in both if you want -- that's why god's (???) evolution gave us 2 separate but equal parts of the brain. It is, much more efficient to pick a side, which is why you see so many people doing it.

Also, is it possible that some religions and/or spiritual practices were in some way used to describe trips made by shamans taking these chemicals, to describe realities on ancient psychadellics and entheogens? I dunno, just musing here... it's fun to ponder what could have started these traditions. Near Death Experience's [NDE's]?