Why Religion is a Product of Human Imagination | Neil Van Leeuwen 

Exactly. Also pp

You left out the middle step: if a *small* group of adults has an imaginary friend it's called a cult.

If Mark Twain didn't say that, he should have.😊❤

And to those who say its all harmless. I have two words..Heavens gate. And thats just one event.

@@jursamaj It's all fun and games until a government gets involved

Then they conflate knowledge with absolute truth -me

@@guitarizard knowledge is generally recognized as belief that has been reasonably demonstrated to be true, such that you can have belief without knowledge, i.e., knowledge is a subset of belief

Gnostic theists don't believe; they know God exists.

"My own opinion is enough for me, and I claim the right to have it defended against any consensus, any majority, anywhere, any place, any time. And anyone who disagrees with this can pick a number, get in line, and kiss my ass.” Also Hitch

@@michaelmoore7975 , when in reality, most of the people in his everyday life have no interest in his beliefs and opinions. That's just rhetoric to boost weak self-image.

They are wrong to those who sit there believing they are wrong.. but to those who actually go to God and repent of their sinful nature and put aside their former self, they become born again as if through a Spiritual Awakening. Believing in God while Born Again then leads to you seeing God work through you and others with at times physical proof as well as Supernatural miracles in your midst and in others. But unless you go by the Faith you are given Romans12v3 to God you will never know God or see God work through you or anyone else.

​@davidrexford586 I don't suppose it occurred to you that some of us have the sense of decency and fortitude to "turn away from our former selves" on our own? Yes, I've done things in my life I'm not proud of but I made the conscious decision to stop. Why? Because I was offending God? No! I decided I'm better than that. I had a choice to make, I made it and stuck to it. That's why we have brains, to think and choose for ourselves. "God" can take care of his own business and I'll take care of mine.

Religious gibberish ​@@davidrexford586

@@deedeskin2439 ?? And did you go to God the correct way? Did You know there is a correct way ? It’s why I still believe after 40 plus years and don’t plan on going back to pretending God doesn’t exist.

@@davidrexford586 There is a "correct way"?

Upon humans, or as Justin Trudeau would say peoplekind.

Religion can be fine, but it's very easy to be manipulated for control and exploitation. I'm not religious myself, but the vanishingly few genuine Christians are wonderful, curious, non-judgemental people who do a lot of good for their communities without trying change or deny the reality of anyone

What Group of people Or who came up with religion?

As soon as humans began settling down in communities, they began idolizing nature and other forms.

​@@perryanderson5642, Early humans most likely developed advanced thinking including imagination after we became more advanced.

Welcome to enlightenment Dulce, Cheers! 🥂

Sentientist! Brilliant. I did always think that humanism was a bit needlessly parochial. Though, of course, it's entirely to be expected that our instincts would tend to favor the wellbeing of our own species, our survival in fact depends on the wellbeing of the entire biosystem. So it's not even sentientism, but something still more inclusive.

In pantheism we see the universe as God prima facie. The signature of life, amino acids, is found in the interstellar medium. We're made by the stars, the element carbon. The universe is a giant organism, a chemical laboratory, neither good nor evil. It makes people, it makes pathogens. The BBC science unit conducted an experiment using the microwave background radiation once to see whether the universe is unbounded or bounded in the four dimensions. The result was indeed a cosmos unbounded in the three dimensions of space and one of time. It did not begin and has no edge they said. Werner Heisenberg the scientist who lived about a hundred years ago said in effect it can't be understood. Religion is a belief system used to control the masses. Look at the Catholic Church which ruled Europe until the Reform. Both no much happened without its approval. Power. That's what people crave.

What’s most factual of all is that your happy with your choice 🤙

It's their little fake make-believe bubble. They are SO preposterously deluded, they've convinced themselves we live after death!!! Dead is dead. Dead is FINAL. There is life before death not after death.

You are persecuting Christians by disagreeing with their spurious claims and not obaying their orders. You big meanie.

If you know it's make believe then why do you feel like telling people this? Do you also tell people that the tooth fairy is not real?

@@Antony-bp2yh Are people coming around demanding that we structure society according to the dictates of the Tooth Fairy?

Because everyone, obviously, knows the tooth fairy is fantasy but billions still believe in religion.

Religion: The most “delusional-scam” ever invented via ignorant men “making shit up,” attempting to control the simple- minded, while ripping-off billions of tax- free dollars from the gullible; through an immoral, divisive, hypocritical, bullshit, theology w/o ever having to be accountable for one shred of verifiable, data or empirical, science based evidence of “magical sky fairies!”

"Religion is wonderful stuff for keeping the peasants in check!" (Napoleon Bonaparte)

@@williamwilson6499 I agree .. religion is designed for the simple-minded and gullible. Delusional bullshit wrapped up in an immoral, divisive, hypocritical theology!

Some religions, Christianity does not teach such behaviours

@@user-nz8uy1zm3z Whether it teaches them or not doesn't seem to stop Christians from engaging in them. Just sayin'...

That's not why you don't believe. That's what you tell yourself, however. You want that to be the reason for your unbelief, but it is not

Although I've been an atheist since finding out Santa isn't real I still had fun growing up Catholic and still go to church sometimes because I like organ music and the acoustics in the church.

It doesn't have to be something that promotes anti-intellectualism and close-mindedness. Depends on the church I guess. If you strip away all the metaphors and manipulative interpretations, there are good messages that can be useful to anyone

Thanks--I'm glad I could help explain it!

🤣🤣🤣

OMG!! Why didn't I think of that!

This is art. You have a wonderfully cutting mind and sense of humor.

It is a ManClub..like the Masons..that the Founder of Mormons belonged to..Joe Smith. 😊❤

Brilliant! I'll have to mention that and give you credit in future talks :)

I don't think it is voluntary. Life is hard for a lot of people and they need superstitions to cope. It is like a mental illness that is triggered by stress.

If you voluntarily choose religious beliefs without evidence to build your beliefs, then you beliefs are not supported by evidence. If you make decisions without evidence and use those decisions to carry out actions, it is highly probably that your actions will be flawed. Imaginary play, or faith are not a path to truth. Beliefs that are built upon solid verifiable, demonstrable and repeatable evidence will allow you to make decisions that reflect reality. The actions that follow, that are based upon your decisions, have a much higher probability of being true and providing an accurate outcome in reality.

fear motivates them to do so

" There will come a time where the wise will be deemed insane and when the insane will be viewed as the righteous"- Thoth. Damned if Thoth wasn't right because we're there now somebody believing in a sky daddy is viewed as competent while the atheists are the ones who are ostracized. We're there Thoth were here now you were right.

@@JewelsofPersephone Isn't Thoth an egyptian god?

Exactly, I say the same about the lgbqt community.

@@user-kq7gi7eh1s are they trying to turn you gay?

@@user-kq7gi7eh1s Are the lgbqt community trying to force their "beliefs" and/or their morals on to you ...? Do they want everybody to be like them, gay or what ever they stand for when it comes to sex, feelings or gender ...? I'm pretty sure if you leave them alone, not harass or in any other way harm them, they will not do anything to harm you. I wish I could say the same about ALL religious people, but unfortunately, many of them have these ideas that they have the right to tell and even force their BS to others. And that is SOME of the problems lgbqt are fighting against.

@@user-kq7gi7eh1s I'm just wondering cause I've never had anyone in the LGBTQ community try to force any of their opinions or beliefs on me. I just mind my own business and let others decide what's best for their lives. As long as the decisions they make don't affect my life, we're all good 👍

I agree but at least these days they don’t go around with suicide belts blowing people up!!

Exactly. Pp

👍❤️

They should've just created a system that makes sense but then again they don't want the masses to be smart. All about power

Man, exactly. Woman wouldn’t be such fools.

And their brains 😂

There is much evidence, just because you don't accept it doesn't make it invalid

@@user-nz8uy1zm3z Please, give your evidence.

@@user-nz8uy1zm3z ok ok,, calm down. if there was evidence you would have provided it instead of just complaining. the second thing you have to do is prove you have an understanding of the definition of evidence.

@@Andre-qo5ek I'm not going to spend 15 minutes detailing evidence on a first comment bud, and you wouldn't either

@@user-nz8uy1zm3zIf you had evidence of god, you’d be bringing it in for verification and to collect your Nobel prize.

Good quote

Closest thing to enlightenment than anything I've ever seen in scripture. Man was "closer to God" than any denominational preacher these days

Now THAT is something worthy of being posted in classrooms everywhere!

Stoicism.

It helps some people make sense of an absurd world.

Life is only absurd when you are.

I agree that it can be a way to process potentially traumatic experiences. But to wallow in imaginary play cannot be healthy for the individual. Consider video games. I used to love playing video games. And when I was playing, I felt tension and anger sometimes and adventure. I mean.. who hasn't freaked out when the song has sped up and you have seconds to get to the end? But what do we call people who rely on videogames all the time and their lives revolve around that video game? I think the word addict might be applicable. Besides, religion is a poor man's form of therapy. that's why there are so many traumatized believers and why the religious inflict so much trauma on members and non-members. We can realize, by observing the members, that the structure of religion is centered around ensuring the religion survives and is not interested in the mental or physical or social well being of its members and definitely not the well-being of non-members. religion is not a net positive. It is a crutch because it has no mechanism to allow the believer to grow up. Instead, it just promises a heaven or a miracle one day. The religious exchange this one life for some unproven heaven. What a waste.

I really don't get the assertion that religion somehow helps people to "make sense" of life's most complex and painful issues given that the proposed "explanation" is even more absurd and utterly nonsensical.

@@martin2289 I agree. But I think it helps people who want a pat answer, and want to stop thinking about it.

You haven't been to the evolution videos, then. But I'm sure it's the same trolls there aswell

I make fun of him with my Mum and say "that man who has his own multi million dollar plane and own personal airport". Just like a lot of the profit preachers.

If god exist he can manifest his existence in a trillion ways, one maybe he can change the color of the sun into different color or maybe he can put a ring on the moon and a million ways actually but I haven't seen a single one actually. I pray to the one god it is actually the universe because the god and the universe is one and the same and it's nevers give a commandment to follow.

@@Grandeur-n9q that’s what you wish to believe. Nothing less but most certainly nothing more. And as long as you don’t try to impose your particular belief onto others, that’s fine by me.

@@walterdaems57 We have freedom of religion so it's their choice, why should I interpere.

@@Grandeur-n9q that’s always very reassuring to hear :)

@@Grandeur-n9qWe don’t have Freedom of Religion. Christianity is forced into our lives through laws. In God We Trust is even on our money.

Thank you and thanks for sharing. And I'm sorry but not surprised to hear about Calvin's treatment of your friend. I hope he's doing okay.

They're a little different, in good ways and bad. Mostly in terms of purpose. But definitely employ the same psychological mechanisms. Fascinating what the human mind is capable of.

Thanks--you summarize the view well!

Which line. Welfare line.

@@Eric-ej3oy To keep them submissive to the elites...

everyone uses faith bud, get off your high horse

@@user-nz8uy1zm3z What kind of faith are you talking about bruh?

@@zachio69 There are not different kinds of faith

​@@user-nz8uy1zm3z Sure there is. I'm talking about religious faith. What are you talking about?

@@zachio69 There's only one type of faith, and that the one I'm talking about

The closest I ever got was “I just know it”, “I can feel him”.

Look up on the Bolzano's proof of God. Bolzano was a catholic priest, but also a great mathematician, one of the greatest in the 19th century.

@@stepanremes987 @VeganWithAraygun wrote; "Use your own words and don't plagiarize any scripture or anyone else's writings." Your answer; "Look up on the Bolzano's proof of God. Bolzano was a catholic priest, but also a great mathematician, one of the greatest in the 19th century." 🤦

@@cyoul8trallygatr549 so what? It's an interesting proof

​@@cyoul8trallygatr549 Here's an interesting, though different, argument... Do you believe that numbers exist? You cannot see numbers, only the things they represent. You cannot touch, smell or hear them either. Now we all believe that numbers are real. Then why shouldn't God also be real? He is invisible, ever-present, has been since before the Universe, MADE the universe, just as how laws of physics written in the language of mathematics define what is and what isn't possibe. We see two objects with very similar properties yet you choose to believive in one while dismissing the other, odd.

Well done, you were a smart youngster who thought for himself and came to the logical conclusions very early on.

Thanks for sharing!

Thank you!

Are you sure.

@@Eric-ej3oy absolutely It’s a no-brainer

@@Eric-ej3oy obviously I’m sure it’s a no-brainer man has created thousands of gods everyone’s an atheist even if you believe in God just that I’m an atheist for one more God than you are

thats not a valid argument in any way

Same thing by different names as I see it. Most people really aren't aware of external social and emotional pressures and how they affect us

Thank you and thanks for watching!

Thanks!

"But there is Something within that talks to me prompts me and helps me get through my life. I have no explanation..but it is There for Good! "You mean god.

@@andrewchristian6466 Actually..I mean Jesus.

Religion seeks money

i mean... governments have used religions... but they are separate entities from government. unless you means they are a system of governance? that they are.

You’re not speaking of western world , religion is not a function of government in most western countries

@@paddy654 Religion is a function of the US government since it is not taxed because it keeps the sheep under control with stories of gods, ghosts, and goblins.

Sounds pretty human to me

you can not have ever read the Bible and still come away with that interpretation

@@user-nz8uy1zm3z The Bible and other such old or ancient man-contrived Abrahamic tribalist proprietary foundational books such as the Jewish Bible, the New Testament, the Quran, and the Book of Mormon have been interpreted, rewritten, changed and reinterpreted in countless numbers of ways. Perhaps THIS is the most cogent one. A more LOGICAL one.

@@raycaster4398 The book of Mormon is not ancient, and the Torah at parts is more than a thousand years older than the Quran. The quran is a copy-paste of the Bible, the book of mormom is literally a grift, and the Bible is a historical text. They are not comparable, you clearly lack an understanding of religious history

@@user-nz8uy1zm3z I have deep knowledge of the Abrahamic religions. I believe you are a lightweight. But let's begin with reading comprehension in which you are deficit. I said "old or ancient" and a book started by Joseph Smith in 1823 is old! Besides, I am absolutely correct in referring to the Book of Mormon as "ancient." Here is a quote from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints website: "The coming forth of the Book of Mormon, foretold by ancient prophets, began with an angelic visitation in 1823 to 17-year-old Joseph Smith. Seven years later, in 1830, this scriptural canon of the Latter-day Saints was published for the world. “The Book of Mormon [is] the most correct of any book on earth,” Joseph Smith stated, “and the keystone of our religion.”These scriptures testify of Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, His mission, and His ministry. The Prophet Joseph received these ancient metal records written in “reformed Egyptian” from the heavenly messenger Moroni and translated them by “the gift and power of God” into the Book of Mormon. The sacred writings chronicle God’s dealings with his people in the Western Hemisphere centuries ago ...." So ancient prophets, angels, 'Egyptian,' and Jesus Christ. All ancient. So my conclusion you are a noob in matters of religion, but in desperation project your ignorance outward. You are not qualified to comment here. But I'm not done with you....

Thank you and thanks for sharing!

"... the priest’s words actually turned the bread and wine into Jesus" As I remember, we were not supposed to chomp it. (what are these funny noise when I chomp it?)

@@physnoct 😂. Some denominations, and Catholics in the past, aren’t allowed to touch, rather, receive the host on the lips. Ugh! Hygienic much? I use to prefer denominations that saw the body and blood as symbols, metaphors. At least that’s a bit more honest. Less magic involved.

"it always felt like a low key insane asylum." That would be a perfect sentence from a book about growing up in religion 😀

I've never like church, even when I was a believer

Bible study- the longest running book club in history. Gone on for millenia...

Thanks for sharing, Dennis--I'd say better late than never!

Thanks for sharing! I get your point but want to focus on one part: "at least that's the ideal." I would say the fact that people have to *try* to be more than once-a-week Christians (even if they succeed to some extent) shows that their default is not in line with the supposed ideal, which is reason to think their "belief" state is religious credence and not factual belief (consider for contrast: do you have to make it an "ideal" to behave everyday as though electricity exists?).

@@NeilVanLeeuwen Ok. Thanks. I understand what you're saying.

Thank you!

Psychologists understands the huge difference between Santa Claus which no adult believes exist from God which the majority of our ancestors were theist. Isaac Newton is still considered one of the smartest men in history. “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”- Isaac Newton "Atheism is so senseless and odious to mankind that it never had many professors." - Isaac Newton

Who's us you didn't write the book multiple people did and changed the book over a course of alot book's to change it to religion to explain what the earth is 2000 years ago 😂

True, but unhelpful.

It might not be helpful but its funny.

Yes it is. Humans have intelligence and can choose to override false beliefs with facts. If people couldn't do that, scientific progression would have been impossible. Claiming something like this isn't a choice is frequently a way of avoiding responsibility for your decisions and actions. It is somewhat similar to romantic attraction. I don't choose who I find attractive, it just happens because it is a purely instinctive/emotional act. When I do find someone attractive it is my choice how I act on that feeling. I don't rape someone when I feel sexual attraction because I can override feeling with logic and morality.

Just a very hard choice for some, when their whole life is centered on these beliefs.

@ToxicBottledOstrichNostrils what a waste of life 😪

@@adamlea6339 agree to disagree with respect to your irrelevant word salad.

How is it _not_ a choice, to choose to believe what you choose to believe? Time for some critical thinking remedial classes.

I know what you mean. How many "righteous" people would be surprised by where they actually ended up?

I don't wish hell on anyone depending on what kind of hell it is, since eternal torment for any finite evil done on earth is infinitely unjust

@@lilarrin1220 - What we wish or not doesn't really matter. It's what they choose and what they do.

Experience is comfort.

Exactly. If someone actually thought (factually believed) there was a heaven and a hell and a God who determines which way you go, it would be rational for them to go to church twice a day and to pray and read the Bible constantly (among many other things). The fact that such extensive behavior is labeled "fanatical" even by most professed "believers" suggests that those "believers" don't factually believe what they profess...

Thank you!

I hope you enjoy!

Thanks!

Thank you!

Thanks!

Thanks!

Perhaps...... 🤦🏽‍♀️

Thanks @patriciawinter8613!

Bro wrote a whole paragraph on mushrooms while on mushrooms

How?

@@jhonvoyage2564 Think of it like an intentional placebo effect. When you do a ritual for something, what you're really doing is performing thematic steps that focus the intention behind what you're seeking to accomplish. It's just a performance really, but you're allowing yourself to become immersed in it using whatever symbolism you like. You're using make believe to empower your intentions with your imagination, to plant the seed of your desire into your subconscious so that it works in the background towards your goals. This can effect your mood, influence your actions and reactions, and subtly push you in directions related to what you wanted to accomplish, to be more receptive to things and opportunities related to it. It can also be a way to let go of things, to process and express emotions. Making a wish on a candle and blowing it out could be considered a spell, as can writing down an unwanted attachment on a piece of paper and burning it to help you let go of it, as some very simple yet no less potentially effective examples. You could make offerings to or seek guidance from a deity related to your concerns, not because you genuinely believe they exist, but because focusing on what that deity represents as a concept can help you work through whatever it is you're dealing with, to personify your own understanding of it and interact with it. And when you honor and respect a deity, you're really honoring and respecting the part of yourself reflected by them. Most deities represent some part of the human condition or natural world, after all. It interacts with a lot of psychological processes when you dig into it. You learn to wield your mind in creative ways using metaphor and symbolism, unbound by any particular dogma or framework. It can introduce whimsy back into the mundane, to be playful in your own personal way. What makes a spell powerful is how focused your intentions are and how much of your emotion you put into it and meaning you assign to it, all things that immersive ritual and imagination can help channel. This, to me, is using both objectivity and subjectivity. You use the subjective power of your imagination and mental/emotional state to manifest objective change through your actions. And it works better when you do it and move on, fire and forget. The more you dwell on and question it after the fact, the less it can work on your subconscious. It involves having control, and letting go of it. Declaring an intention, and surrendering to the many possibilities in the world of it being fulfilled both in and out of your control. I don't think there's any major difference between this and organized religion, other than one is free and personal while the other is beholden to some rigid doctrine. One flourishes your imagination individuality and agency, while the other hijacks it which can lead to not thinking for yourself. Maybe that's why the church doesn't like witches. You do have to be careful with it though, you can definitely harm yourself unintentionally if you're reckless about it, putting mental and emotional energy into an ill conceived idea. Many things could be considered witch/spellcraft when you start looking for it. The way we talk to ourselves, the things we believe in, the routines we engage in, the information we consume, the music we listen to, the effects of our actions on our mental state, self affirmations, mantras, social/cultural norms, gender roles, language, art, peer pressure, ideologies, money. Most of these things have no tangible objective roots in reality, and yet they have power and influence because of the meaning and value we assign to them individually and collectively. Some are more negotiable than others. You can decide to engage in a piece of music or give weight to the words of your friends, while money is made up yet it's so integral to our lives that in most circumstances it cannot be ignored. And even then, we can decide for ourselves what things are more important than money. All in all it's just a way of applying our thoughts that could be explained in many different ways, but it's one I find very interesting engaging and freeing. And if you hear witchcraft and think of strange nonsensical old world rituals involving herbs and animals, consider how many of those things were later proved by science and refined into potent applications, like penicillin. They didn't know why it worked, they just knew that it did something through experimentation and coincidence.

@@jhonvoyage2564 Oh, and if you were asking me how children playing have anything to do with it, when they do so they are actively engaged in their imaginations. It's loose, unconcerned with reality, coming up with new ideas. adapting to those of their peers, using a fantasy to interact and create stories to bond and explore concepts. It's not weighed down by the mundane baggage we become all too familiar with as adults. And most importantly, they're having fun. We don't have to grow out of fun or relegate it to certain activities, we can find it in any activity with the right mental flair. We could be just doing the dishes, or we could be decontaminating an alien slime off of recovered extra terrestrial artifacts, y'know?

@@Measure02 What I mean't is how can you prove that witchcraft is real in any way?

@@jhonvoyage2564 Good question. How can you prove that your thoughts are real? That anything truly exists outside of your mind? That the world didn't come into being last Tuesday? Technically you can't, at least not yet, but if you just look around yourself it's rather intuitive that those suggestions are silly. How do you explain the way immersion can make the world slip away and make you feel engrossed, make you care about a character that doesn't exist? You could describe the psychology behind how our mind produces this effect, but it won't convey what the experience is really like. It's the same principle as I see it. It's not something I consider real in the same way that a rock or a chair is real, it's just a frame of mind that accounts for how our imagination interacts with our cognition. How make believe is a tool built into our minds that we can actually use with direction, the same way fictional stories can make us think about new things or make us feel things. Psychology explores these same concepts, just with different scientific language and methodical experimentation models that seek to establish consistency. I see Witchcraft as a more metaphorically driven practical application of psychology for daily life. Like I said, in a really simplified way, what I'm talking about is the placebo effect, but used intentionally through imagination symbols and abstraction. What is the difference between a sugar pill you're told is medicine that will reduce stress, and a cross you are told is a blessed symbol that will keep you safe? Neither are really what they are claimed to be, but they both have the potential to affect you based on the expectations you place on them, and that's how spells work. Cognitive, Behavioral, Abnormal, Social Psychology, they all study how our minds work in different circumstances and how perception and experience interacts with our nature and nurture and how that effects our lived reality. As an aside, when you do a psychological experiment, you can never reach 100% certainty of a hypothesis. It's never as concrete as 1+1=2, because minds deviate and we don't exist in a vacuum. Instead, when doing an experiment, a hypothesis is only considered "acceptably probable" when the results are as close as possible to 100% consistency, around 95% or so, that it happens exceedingly more often than it doesn't and is replicable in a controlled environment that removes as many confounding variables as possible, accounts for those it can't, with a large and diverse sample size that minimizes but cannot eliminate observer and participant bias. All things that improve it's validity and predictability, but still cannot prove it as natural law. So it can't be proven with 100% certainty, the same way psychological theories can't, the same way meteorology can't make weather predictions with 100% accuracy and become less accurate with a longer timeline. But there is enough to work with, and plenty more to study. You might not encounter many self proclaimed witches who would agree with this analysis, but I would argue these are nonetheless the mechanisms they are using in their practice, and the same mechanisms used in any religious practice. And I don't consider them false, as faith is a real mental process that amplifies immersion, which gives the imagination more influence on our cognition and perceptions, for better or worse. It is a mental tool, not "The Truth," though it can alter what is personally perceived as real and therefore true to us. You can see it in religious types who insist their God is real, and using facts to disprove it or calling them delusional often does nothing to change their minds. The subjective reality of that belief is stronger, and there are real mental processes that established that, and they behave accordingly. Its all made up, and it's all real at the same time. If it wasn't, you wouldn't see so many actions carried out in the name of God. In a similar way, Santa Clause isn't really real, but we still do things in his name, motivated by the fiction and values he represents. In this way, he is objectively fake but subjectively real. The idea of him influences real behavior. Personally, I look for the validity and relationship between cold hard objective science, and the subjective experiences natural to us by virtue of being a consciousness contained within a single isolated mind that perceives and relates to things in a limited way using our narrow senses, and for me Witchcraft provides an inclusive framework to explore and utilize that, and incorporate new scientific discoveries. Reality is so much more than what we see in front of us or could fully comprehend, and I find that humbling and beautifully human. And as the delightfully curious creatures we are, we'll keep trying to learn more and expand our understandings. Whether you find this convincing or not, doesn't really matter to me, I'm not trying to change your mind or make you believe in Witchcraft. That's not really the point of the practice. I just find these things fascinating to think and talk about. And if it got you thinking, to consider a new perspective or reaffirm your own stances, all the better.

Thanks!