Nietzsche has said that god is dead, which is quite unfortunate, but one might wonder if this means that religion is dead.
That he said that may have its advantages. People can no longer pass things off to a higher power but take more responsibility themselves. That the church is also losing its power I personally think is a good idea, although of course it has disadvantages. Worldwide, 8 out of 10 people are still affiliated with a religious group or denomination. I read a piece in the Volkskrant about the advantages of this.
Believing in god also appears to be something that makes people worldwide happier. There was once a study where 455,000 people from 150 different countries were asked about their feelings of happiness. What it turned out: people who believed were happier than those who didn't. No matter what we believe, whether you are Catholic, Christian, Buddhist or Muslim. The religious people are happier. The interesting thing is that there was a little side note. Only in the Netherlands does it not matter so much. This is because we are relatively rich. If everything goes well, it makes little difference. But if you come from a poor country and know poverty, then believing in god can make a difference in how happy you feel.
Believing in nothing is futile
Now you may think you don't believe in anything, but then your life probably feels pretty pointless. Doing something because it makes sense that makes me feel good.
Then you might ask, what's the point of believing? To do that?
The cool thing is, religion brings peace. There are many people who think religion is the main cause of war, but that's not true. Religion actually brings peace. Of the 35 armed conflicts in the world in 2019, 14 involved religion as a cause, but in those 14, it was certainly not the only cause. Corruption, political instability and things like that are more important as causes for war.
If you look at the most atheistic country, North Korea, you can find some of that too. That almost says it all. Well, religion is seemingly good for the economy. Belief in heaven, hell, life after death, are good predictors of economic growth, according to Barro and McCleary in 2009. When belief in heaven and hell increases in developed countries, economic growth increases. There is an advantage in that.
According to Barro and McLeary (2009), religion is good for the economy. In developed countries, economic growth increases when people believe more in heaven or hell.
Religion keeps you healthy, according to U.S. researchers. Thinking about god helps you resist junk food.
People who attend church regularly are happier than those who do not attend church regularly, especially people of the Protestant faith have this effect[1].
Regular churchgoers have lower blood pressure than non-churchgoers, a difference of 2 points on average.
Believing in god can also prevent you from doing the wrong things because you want to do something right for god. Thereby, it is helpful for social gatherings, because all like-minded people, and that also helps to reduce stress.
No matter what you believe
Science did destroy this advantage a bit by pointing out that god is a kind of hallucination of the brain. I disagree, because it is nice that faith does not have to be scientifically based.
But the great thing is that faith in science can also provide the positives of religion. Research shows that belief in science provides greater hope, optimism, self-confidence and happiness[2].
This also shows that you don't necessarily have to believe in god.
I believe all kinds of things and I don't necessarily draw my faith from god, but rather that you are here for a reason, that you have to go through some kind of growth. I see it as a kind of game. Your avatar, what you do, you play somewhere and you have to go through levels each time. Then each time you come to some kind of final boss, sometimes it can take you 30 years.
These are things you can believe. Then you also have scientists who say it's a hologram and is made up of bits.
But who is playing these holograms? I then sit and think. That it's some kind of Matrix-like reality. I may believe that and you may believe something else.
A belief, whether in God, Allah or Krishna, helps. It lowers your blood pressure, brings economic growth, peace and makes you happier.
So if you want to feel better or happier believe something. That could be anything, like the law of attraction, or belief in source, or in the universe itself. It all helps to have some kind of meaning anyway and to do it for something or someone.
When something transcends your own person you often see people achieve more.
If you find all this too floaty, you can also believe in a better world. For example, a world where you clean up plastic, or where you consider the environment or to be able to live a healthy life as drug-free as possible.
Believe in nature, for example. Or faith in the economy[3].
The main point is that what you believe makes you feel some form of control over your life. For example, the law of attraction does this very clearly, but also if you believe in nature, that also gives you control. You can then choose to eat organic, for example, or only meat or just plant-based, also a form of having control over your life. If you feel a form of control and freedom in how you want to feel that form of control or how you want to believe it works, this helps you to be happier[4].
It doesn't matter what you choose, because you have that freedom and that's nice. When you find something that transcends your personality, that you do something for something or someone. For example, you believe in the work you do, or the mission of your "boss." Then that is also something that can make you happier and what can give you meaning that allows you to have all those positive effects.
Science is pretty unanimous that believing makes you happier. So find for yourself some kind of religion and commit to it.
Also listen to this podcast
https://www.buzzsprout.com/195236/1244024-god-is-dood-en-dat-is-best-jammer
Religious trauma processing
Now you may think because of circumstances in your life that religion is bad. There have been enough scandals in religious institutions or congregations to imagine losing faith in a higher something altogether as a result.
This is obviously something that can make you unhappy, maybe you are happy as an atheist and then I would say keep it up.
But do you find that faith is broken for you and you feel that life has no meaning. That you are there, alive, dying and that not much else matters, then that can be a very depressing thought.
Past experiences you have related to religion that pose a problem can be resolved with hypnosis[5].
One way this can be done is by going back, for example, to the moment when religion or believing something became something bad for you. This is often done with regression. In this technique, you are first put into hypnosis, then the hypnotist helps you go back to the moment when you first thought religion or believing in something was bad. You go back to the moment when the belief "believing in something is bad" was created.
Next, consider this moment with your current knowledge. Perhaps your knowledge now relative to that moment is much better and you can change beliefs very quickly.
You can also change the moment. In your mind, for example, you can change what happened, making you experience the moment as less damaging and opening you back up to new ideas about what you can believe in. This does not have to be the religion you once had, this can also be belief in nature, the law of attraction, holism, yoga, the economy, capitalism, whatever it can be. As long as it helps you have a sense of control over your life and make you happier.
Affirmations to strengthen the sense of control
In addition, you can use affirmations to reinforce certain beliefs, convictions. These can be, for example:
In capitalism: Money is good.
By Nature: Nature gives me everything I need.
By the Law of Attraction: My vibes determine what experiences I get in life.
By God: God has a plan for me.
At the game of life: If I can do this, I will go to the next level.
Depending on what beliefs you want to have or what is holding you back from becoming happy, a hypnotherapist can help you with suggestions to make your goals of happiness and what you want to believe stronger. You can then repeat those suggestions at home while engaging in self-hypnosis.
Want to know how hypnosis works and if you can hypnotize people? Then come to a hypnosis playshop. The playshops are held in Wormerveer and Zwolle.
Want to see hypnotherapy and learn how to make people feel good with hypnosis? Then come to a hypnosis seminar.
Want to get started immediately with hypnosis techniques to help yourself or others? Then sign up for one of our trainings. The trainings are given in Zwolle, Wormerveer and online.
[1] https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-75807-7_12
[2] https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13674676.2016.1256383
[3] https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1600910X.2018.1452769?journalCode=rdis20
[4] https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10902-019-00203-w
