MushroomTrip said:

God being, of course, a fictional character.

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scienceguy said:

Now we're getting somewhere!

Life is pretty hard, so it only makes sense that people want answers to certain questions.  The more I think about it though, I think people want the answers to the wrong questions.  "Where do we go when we die?" and "Where did we come from?" seem irrelevant to me if you haven't already answered "How do I become happy in this very moment?"

I think most of the dogmatic religions seek to control behavior rather than bring life and love into the world.  In this way, their inherent morality is lost, and they cease doing divine work.

The other myth I think religion wants us to believe is that only certain people are worthy of being happy.  This denies the only true path to happiness - one's own mind.  It is only through training the mind to see beyond the illusion of the separateness of the world and things around us that we can realize the dependent origination, and in turn the truly empty and unfulfilling nature of all things, and the peace that can be reached by quieting one's desire for them.

True happiness is found not by explaining the unexplainable.  The world is vastly larger than we will ever know.  What's important is realizing your connectedness with it.

"The search for reality is the most dangerous of all undertakings, for it will destroy the world you live in. But if your motive is love of truth and life, you need not be afraid."

Sri Nisargadatta

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I completely agree!