Religion Explained

****/*****                                                                                                                                       Religion/Science

Religion Explained-The Human Instincts That Fashion Gods, Spirits & Ancestors

Pascal Boyer

Religion in some form is ubiquitous. Religious concepts across different cultures have similar broad framework, like the common skeletal architecture of all vertebrates. These facts prompt one to look for those peculiar propensities of human mind which favour provenance of religion in human society.

Pascal Boyer, an anthropologist, investigates the phenomenon of religion in this vastly interesting book. He looks for evidence in psychology, evolutionary biology, and anthropology, to advance his theories. He asserts that religion was not invented by mankind to answer the deep mysteries of human existence on earth: the origin of universe and life, the seemingly insurmountable human grief, the unending vicissitudes of earthly existence, the horrendous inequities afflicting mankind, consequences of our actions, human will or the lack of it, etc. Anthropologists have found that across majority of human societies, people do not look up to religion to answer these questions. Their religion is largely confined to the rituals surrounding ceremonies of birth, death and marriages; evil and good brought about by ancestors and spirits; spell and evil eye cast by enemies; and such concerns affecting everyday life. Boyer also believes that neither was religion necessitated by the need for enforcing morality in society. He convincingly proves that religion is a natural inhabitant of human mind. In considerable details he explains the process of knowledge acquisition by human beings and how religion parasitizes these mechanisms to home-in our minds. Circuits in brain which evolved and gave humans the unique ability to assimilate knowledge -a faculty not found in any other species- are the same which are used for perpetuation of religious belief. He discusses the concepts of gods and spirits; the preoccupation of all religions with death and rituals; and attempts to interpret these in the light of new knowledge of the working of mind that has emerged from cognitive and evolutionary psychology. In the last chapter, which is the best in the book, he discusses the reason why we ‘believe’.

Unlike most books of this genre, Pascal Boyer is not judgmental. He has not written a critique on religion but his is a critical study of the phenomenon of religion. He offers a deeply convincing psychological basis for the religious belief. Book is one more step in the direction of self-knowledge, an attempt to learn why we are the way we are. And like all such honest endeavours it brings unalloyed joy and freedom to one who attempts to understand its assertions. This book should be read by all who are interested in working of human mind, psychology and religion. For me reading this was a vastly rewarding experience that I will cherish for long.