Add... religion to your list of anti-inflammatories

[Perspicuo]

Add nature, art and religion to life's best anti-inflammatories
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/02/150203133237.htm

Date: February 3, 2015
Source: University of California - Berkeley
Summary: Taking in such spine-tingling wonders as the Grand Canyon, Sistine Chapel ceiling or Schubert's 'Ave Maria' may give a boost to the body's defense system. Researchers have linked positive emotions -- especially the awe we feel when touched by the beauty of nature, art and spirituality -- with lower levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines.

 

[Keith&Co.]

But for how many people is religion producing negative emotions?

I mean, the hate and the bile shown in the comments on any story with either a religious theme or based on a religious hot-button topic...

Fuck u bastard! Jesus is a man that's why they call him the son of god and the son of man! He can die because his mama was human. you are a stupid atheist and your going to hell

 

[Shadowy Man]

So, if we add just art and nature we're most of the way there.

 

[Keith&Co.]

So, if we add just art and nature we're most of the way there.

Oh, not Nature, though.
right now, i've got a 101 foot driveway covered with 8 inches of snow, not counting what the snowplows have shoveled onto the opening as they clear the roads....
Not bringing positive emotions to me about nature, or towards my fellow man like the sonovva beyotch driving the plow and, i'm sure, cackling as he sees the way of gray sludge arc over onto my driveway....

 

[Perspicuo]

So, if we add just art and nature we're most of the way there.

Oh, not Nature, though.
right now, i've got a 101 foot driveway covered with 8 inches of snow, not counting what the snowplows have shoveled onto the opening as they clear the roads....
Not bringing positive emotions to me about nature, or towards my fellow man like the sonovva beyotch driving the plow and, i'm sure, cackling as he sees the way of gray sludge arc over onto my driveway....

Actually, that's the exact opposite of what was intended. If some snow is going to throw you off your inner peace, you will get nothing from the attitudes suggested: admiration, love, awe, benevolence. Even if the snow will make you some minutes late for work.

In order to stave off stress, a.k.a to live your life to the fullest, you need a sense of wonderment and gratitude for the little things and at the little things.

Which brings us to the reason why I posted this here. When I read it I immediately thought this would generate a discussion about if "we" really need religion. By 'we' I mean us atheists and agnostics, and also us humanity at large.

 

[Keith&Co.]

If some snow is going to throw you off your inner peace, you will get nothing from the attitudes suggested: admiration, love, awe, benevolence.

Well, if we don't perceive that nature is intelligent, or the product of intelligent design, then can we really expect to feel 'admiration' for the random accumulation of material, or the undirected efforts of a river to carve out the Grand Canyon? Or benevolence towards the principles of hydrodynamics, friction and gravity that hollowed the canyon out?

There seems to be a lot of presupposition in the claims, here.

 

[Shadowy Man]

So, if we add just art and nature we're most of the way there.

Oh, not Nature, though.
right now, i've got a 101 foot driveway covered with 8 inches of snow, not counting what the snowplows have shoveled onto the opening as they clear the roads....
Not bringing positive emotions to me about nature, or towards my fellow man like the sonovva beyotch driving the plow and, i'm sure, cackling as he sees the way of gray sludge arc over onto my driveway....

It's not nature's fault you didn't choose to live in one of nature's more beautiful places.

 

[Keith&Co.]

Oh, not Nature, though.
right now, i've got a 101 foot driveway covered with 8 inches of snow, not counting what the snowplows have shoveled onto the opening as they clear the roads....
Not bringing positive emotions to me about nature, or towards my fellow man like the sonovva beyotch driving the plow and, i'm sure, cackling as he sees the way of gray sludge arc over onto my driveway....

It's not nature's fault you didn't choose to live in one of nature's more beautiful places.

Not assigning blame. just saying that the contemplation of nature is not necessarily a path to stress reduction.

I figure the same could be said for anyone who's lived where a hurricane made landfall, or earthquake country, brush-fire zones, downwind from Mount St. Helens.... Some strikingly beautiful areas where nature still bites the big kahuna root.

 

[Perspicuo]

If some snow is going to throw you off your inner peace, you will get nothing from the attitudes suggested: admiration, love, awe, benevolence.

Well, if we don't perceive that nature is intelligent, or the product of intelligent design, then can we really expect to feel 'admiration' for the random accumulation of material, or the undirected efforts of a river to carve out the Grand Canyon? Or benevolence towards the principles of hydrodynamics, friction and gravity that hollowed the canyon out?

There seems to be a lot of presupposition in the claims, here.

Actually you are citing the reason why its so awesome.

In some respects, science has far surpassed religion in delivering awe. How is it that hardly any major religion has looked at science and concluded, "This is better than we thought! The universe is much bigger than out prophets said, grander, more subtle, more elegant. God must be even greater than we dreamed"? Instead they say, "No, no, no! My god is a little god, and I want him to stay that way."

-Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot

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There seems to be a lot of presupposition in the claims, here.

Innecessario.

Show

Behold her Majesty:

ETC.

There's a psychological fork in the road right where you decide whether the glass is half full or half empty. It's not math, it's attutude, where you become aware that oh it's a wonderful world. It's what makes life worth living. (And before you go on to say it's a naive way of living, let me tell you I have devoted my life to facing the ugly things and life and making them better, so I'm far from naive and have a stronger stomach than most people, just by facing what's dark in order to draw it closer to the light.)

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

The thought of my ancestors gives me peace, as does many other things. Religion is not one of those things. The thought of religion gives me just the opposite feeling, like they and I have been cheated and betrayed.