Rune, I'm gonna try to answer your 1st post
1) Why do people need to believe in mystical stuff? For instance, no matter how much proof you think you have, no matter how much you believe what you've picked as correct or what you want to be true, there is no way you can know how the universe came to be, what humanity's united purpose is (if any, doubtful), where we are going, or what we are all doing here right now and why.
My mind says you are "probably" right. But you and I also know that "nothing is certain". And you seem to be very certain that there is "no way" to know. I think your thinking here may be a little bit limiting. You are setting this artificial limit by saying : "there is no way you can know how the universe came to be, what humanity's united purpose is (if any, doubtful), where we are going, or what we are all doing here right now and why". You do not have any insight capable of letting say this with authority.
The mundane details of life are right in front of us - live day-by-day, eat, sleep, find a way to pay for shelter and food and the comforts of life, socialize, grow older, grow experienced (I won't say wiser), and so on. Things we can see for ourselves... The details of life we know are true. But THEN, we take enormously huge questions that span a great expanse of information we couldn't possibly know, and every picks and chooses beliefs that custom fit them like they're picking out shoes from a store. If you can't bloody know, why delude yourself into knowing?
Have you ever thought about knowing through not knowing? I mean just think of this for a minute: If you could absolutely know that you could never know the answer to what is reality,,would your absolute not knowing be an actual knowing? Now you might think I'm just playing with words but if you think about it I think you will agree.
I do agree that many people delude themselves ,,count me in that crowd,,and I think you will agree that you delude yourself too. You may do so less than the average person,,which is good,,but don't we all delude ourselves in some ways. Some of us may be more critical in our thinking and not fall pray to deceptions of religions and I think that is good,,let no man or group of men tell you what to beleive(governments included),,other seem to have a hard time without answers to life perplexing question and opt to have others do thier thinking for them and accept ready made beleifs in an effort to calm the minds uneasiness of not knowing. I beleive their is no such thing as a true beleif,, I know it sounds paradoxical but if I add because beleif requires faith and faith means resisting doubt. If faith exist then doubt also exist which faith is resisting.
I'm not looking for a 'some people just need to' answer here, because it's not just some people, it's almost everybody. It drives me crazy wonder why people spend time on these things, discussing which Angel is similar to what biblicar figure, when they are both characters in a book and if there was another holy book everyone believed in that was written a few millennia ago that said Bozo the Clown was a holy figure, then everyone would be arguing or questioning his similarity to other figures in history and his meanings of what he said etc too. What's the deal? Do people ever grow out of being children and just leave the belief in fairy tales behind or what?
Rune,,I know you know the answer to these questions. But just in case you don't:
Many people that come here are at different stages of deprogramming from a "mind control" cult that at one time ruled their lives,,not everybody can just snap out of it instantly,,gradually seems to be the basic patern. So you may get annoyed at some of the subject matter of some threads,,because they are on subjects you consider a waste of time,,well chalk it up to we all come out of mind control at our own pace.
It seems not. Someone educate me on why people think spirituality is a tangible, necessary part of life, because I have none and see absolutely no need for it whatsoever. My best guess is it is a hobby some people enjoy, and spiritually-related things are one of the easiest most broad ideas to pick up to bring you into a community of other like-minded want-to-know-something-they-can't kind of people.
You see no need for spirituality what so ever? Are you sure?
I look at it as a hobby I guess,,a semiserious hobby,,when I think about the mind,,about thoughts,,desires I think that is spirituality,,and I'm always asking questions,,it not that I'm forcing my mind to do it it just dose it all be itself,,and I have given up trying to suppress it,,so I think I'm just enjoying letting my mind run free. I don't nessasarily need to be around any group that thinks like me,,I think that leads to group think.