This is an illuminative article about how awe-inspiring sights increase our motivation to make sense of the world around us (Fantastic! Exactly as it should be!) and, in many, trigger a belief in the supernatural (deeply regrettable). The conditions of the test were not trying to ascertain if awe-inspiring sights illicit a position of praise--that at least would be wholly understandable if, in my opinion, still every bit as misguided. Rather, the awe generated increases belief in the presumed creator of the object inspiring the awe. As one of the researchers stated, "It's not that the presence of the supernatural elicits awe, it's that awe elicits the perception of the presence of the supernatural."

And why is this? Because for most people, rather than try and ascertain the natural reasons behind the subject--be it the Grand Canyon or the Aurora Borealis--they tend to default to a far simpler (and ultimately far less satisfying), "God did it." I know, I used to do it all the time. We all did. It's not that natural causes were ignored (though they were when those causes contradicted a literal reading of scripture), but rather they were, in most cases, simply too much work. And in a way, acknowledging the nitty gritty of how something came to be, cheapened the mystery and beauty that accompanied a supernatural explanation. Far easier to marvel at god's handiwork than to decode that handiwork. You can witness this dynamic in big, perplexing things like stellar dynamics and in infinitesimal, well-explained things like cricket song (see my earlier post).

The irony, for me, is that I felt a far greater awe once I discovered how a natural thing came to be--naturally--rather than when I thought it came about via the miraculous intervention of deity. Indeed, this revelation is one of the things that aided in removing my belief in god altogether. God was redundant.

History is chalk full of religious people who claim something can't be explained apart from their god, and time after time after time, science comes around to explain it. Unfortunately, for the believer, this means that a little bit of their god is chipped away with each such explanation. Sure, god might indeed be the ultimate prime mover, pulling the universes strings, but if we don't need a god to explain the strings or how they work, what is the use of invoking a god at all?

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/11/131125091627.htm

I am reminded of Richard Feynman's commentary on beauty as it pertains to evidence and information cheapening mystery and beauty: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRmbwczTC6E.

I am also reminded of my video, "Shock and Awe:" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbY74dwKEaw

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