The sources of pleasure and meaning derived from religious practice

¶ … Religious Motivation

The Origin of Modern Religion

Religion in some form or another probably predates recorded human history as evidenced by ancient cave drawings and ritualistic artefacts associated with some of the oldest burial sites ever excavated by modern archaeologists. While it is unknown precisely what the earliest religious beliefs might have been, anthropologists theorize that they likely provided many of the same functions as modern religious traditions (Armstrong, 1993).

In the millennia since the dawn of modern religions, they have served the role of establishing moral guidance, psychological comfort, in addition to filling in for gaps in human understanding of life and the world we inhabit. On the other hand, religion, and religious differences in particular, have also been the source of tremendous antagonism and outright persecution and brutality perpetrated in the name of religion (Armstrong, 1993).

In contemporary society, religion often provides the basis of social structure, community, and moral values and rules. Religious institutions are frequently the source of local unity within human communities and they have been a source of informal confidential social counseling and spiritual advice.

The Source of Pleasure in Religion

Religion is undeniable a source of pleasure in human life of a variety that depends only on the precise definition of what pleasure is. Religion provides a valuable source of spiritual meaning for those who might feel lost psychologically without a larger purpose to their lives. Religion contributes a comprehensive moral framework for human social interactions that generates a motivation for ethical conduct in the human community.

One of the most profound benefits of religion is the extent to which it allows some people to negotiate emotionally trying circumstances, especially in relation to the loss of loved ones. Irrespective of whether or not religious beliefs about the afterlife and the continuous existence of the human soul after physical death are true, they undoubtedly help countless people cope with emotional loss.

Religious traditions enable the efficient passage of social culture from one generation to the next and serve to connect the current generation to those in the past in a manner that also allows entire communities to maintain a unified social system and a shared heritage of values. At the more superficial level, religious institutions in modern societies are often the center of social services, charitable efforts in the community, and help make the most productive and beneficial use of the desire of individual community members to contribute to the welfare of others.

In that regard, one of the most striking indications of the universal value of religion in the human community is precisely its pervasiveness throughout the world, even among the most diverse cultures.