Ok, i really wanted to go to sleep (i actually was in bed already) but i had some thoughts (which seem kinda obvious now that i'm writing them down...). Fuck it, i just do this and then go to bed again.
This applys only to people like me who really believed in god, but at one point wanted to get rid of religion or the God who does not answer but were kinda stuck with the guy.

If Religion is irrational, rationality is the wrong tool to "get rid of it". It's like when you wake up from a really disturbing nightmare. Not the kind of nightmare where you wake up in the morning thinking "oh, hehe. it was just a dream. shit, i forgot i had school today! *busy*", but the kind of nightmare from which you wake up in the night, sweaty, not able to move, thinking something is under your bed or standing right behind the door in front of you. The kind of nightmare, which doesn't allow you to just go to sleep again, or even move. I think most of us know this kind of dream, and from my experience, rationality does not provide the proper tools to get rid of the fear or to slam that god damn zombie mob in your living room right back into hell. That's true for all of the people i spoke to about this. So, what does?
Your rationality is outside of the realm of the fantasy, that is in that particular moment more true than what is usually believed to be true. You can tell yourself all the time that there is no zombie; but there is. Sure, after some time, when the adrenaline is out and all that, you calm down and the zombie is gone, but you know what i mean. it needs time (some minutes at least, for some people even more than that). it's not the rational thought that does the trick, but your biology. So your rationality is not very powerful at that point.

I know, this sounds a bit confusing, but i'm really tired and i'm still not used to write english. i don't care. i go on with stupid and most certainly not very accurate examples:

What you need to get rid of a irrational thought is another irrational thought. At best a ridiculous one. If you tell a schizophrenic that the voices are only in his head, the voices won't lose power. Maybe they even gain power, telling him that you're wrong or something. You need something a bit more suitable for the situation. Convince him that he somehow has the power to quit the voices. Magic Underwear, a certain Gesture, Something like that. In the beginning, that helps. He has something to quit the voices. Sure, he's not "healed", but he can go about his day without beeing bothered by someone screaming in his ear that he should go fishing inside the white house. Then rationality can come. Same thing with the nightmare: Accept that there is a zombie. Accept, that he is really there and then come up with a solution. Convince yourself that you are stronger. At that point you will most certainly laugh at yourself and the trick is done. Then you can rationalize it. Or put your magic underwear on, if you can't laugh.


What was my point again?
Oh, yeah. If you want to be free of religion by rational thinking - don't even bother. It takes a long time and is not really fun. Think about the stuff that makes you believe - your fear (i think most people believe because of fear of the unknown, death or punishment), then go past that and try to remember, where that fear (or whatever, i'm just using this as an example) comes from. Your parents? School? A weird experience with "spiritual" elements? That's the rational part. To get rid of that fear, invent something you can believe in - not a god or a devil, but something else. Something which you have control over. Something that takes all the stuff that you don't want anymore away. Be irrational. Rationality is not really that important in fantasylife. Or dreamtime.


Ok, enough bullshit for one night. Gute Nacht.