Fundamentally, all religions including Buddhism are triggered by the existential crisis arising from the subconscious* fear of death [an impulse that facilitates survival].
* not a conscious fear of death.
The typical reply by all are like the following;
I have explained many times [in various posts above] there are two types of fear of death.I don't think that people are driven by fear as much as some posters on philosophy forums believe.
If you read biographies of religious people, fear is not a major motivator.
- 1. The conscious fear of death
2. The subconscious 'fear of death'
Humans can have a conscious fear of death, especially when one observed actual dying of people, relatives, kins, friends & others and in various circumstances.
Normally this is momentary because all humans by default are naturally programmed to avoid conscious deliberation on the fear of death, otherwise the person would be paralyzed by such conscious fear of death that would hinder ordinary living.
However there are a rare number of people who are unfortunately pre-occupied with a conscious fear of death. Such unfortunate people are mentally ill due to a the defect that somehow effect the conscious mind to be bothered by the conscious fear of death.
The mental issue in having a persistent conscious fear of death is THANATOPHOBIA.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_anx ... sychology)
In this case, the person will have to consult a psychiatrist to cure his existential problem.
Thus ordinary people do not have a conscious fear of death.
This is why when "one read biographies of religious people, fear is not a major motivator." and all members who are religious and/or theistic will say the same.
But note,
2. The subconscious 'fear of death'
- P1 To desire to live one has avoid death.
P2 To avoid death, one has to fear death [subliminally or consciously].
C3 Therefore to desire to live, one has to fear death [subliminally or consciously].
- Edited To Include;
A. DNA wise all humans are programmed to strive to survive with a will-to-live at all costs.
- P1 To ensure one survive with the will-to-live one has avoid death.
P2 To avoid death, one has to fear death [subliminally or consciously].
C3 Therefore to survive with the will-to-live, one has to fear death [subliminally or consciously].
Note the emphasis is on the subliminal fear of death. - P1 To ensure one survive with the will-to-live one has avoid death.
While the conscious mind [10% powerful] is normally inhibited to avoid the conscious fear of death, the subconscious [90% powerful] is programmed with the "fear of death" to ensure the person survive at least till the inevitable.
For example, the majority of people has a sense of terrible unease when they standing on the edge of a 1000 foot cliff, or the extreme Acrophobia - the fear of height. This instinctual program is adapted by the majority of our ancestors who had noted falling from tall cliffs and places means instant death most of the time.
Thus whenever the majority of people stand on the edge of tall places, they will CONSCIOUSLY feel very uneasy and thus driven to avoid such places but they would not rationalize what is going on inside their SUBCONSCIOUS mind.
What they are unaware as the real reason for the unease they feel, is the subliminal fear of death that ensure they live and survive - see the syllogism above.
As with the above examples, there are thousands of situations in life where a person feel unease, anxieties, worries, etc. which the person will attribute to what is observed consciously but failed to realize the ultimate root cause, i.e. the subliminal fear of death bubbling within the subconscious mind.
The above are the various fear factors attributed to the subliminal fears of potential death [e.g. height, poisonous animals, dark places, etc.] which can be avoided.
As demonstrated above, the subconscious mind triggers unease, anxieties, worries, etc. merely upon what is threat of potential death, thus the subliminal fear of death.
Note the above fear of death is triggered upon 'potential' death, which generate terrible unease and pains to drive one away from that danger.
Now what about when the subconscious mind is aware, not of potential death But of CERTAIN death, i.e. mortality.
In the case of the awareness of certain death in a matter of time, the subconscious mind will be triggered with the greater fears of death and the accompanying associated unease and the mental pains will be 1000x greater manifesting as existential anxieties, despairs, hopeless, Angst. At the same time the conscious mind is not aware of the real root cause, i.e. the subliminal fear of certain [mortality] death.
This is how the existential crisis emerged out of the above cognitive dissonances and drive the conscious mind to seek consonance to relieve the existential pains.
The solution to consonance of the majority is the quickie route via religion and theism, i.e. just believe and viola! the existential pains disappear. Fortunately this really works. I believe it is an adaptive feature of evolution.
The problem is while the majority of theists and religionists are relieved of their existential pains, they are not aware of the root cause in the subconscious mind, i.e. the subliminal fear of death.
When they are ignorant of the root cause, their quickie fire-fighting solutions of theism and religions came with their corresponding negative baggage that cause other sort of sufferings to non-believers and believers themselves. Example Islam [especially], Christianity, etc.
This is where Buddhism-proper comes in to dig into the ultimate root cause, i.e. identify the subliminal fear of death as reflected in the Buddha Story and introduce the effective solutions as propounded by the Buddha in the 4NT and 8FP with its core principles.
Note there are other spiritual paths that introduce similar solutions.
When the majority are not aware the ultimate root cause is the subliminal fear of death [as most (all?) have denied], then humanity will suffer as is evident in the past, at present and will be in the future.
My explanation above is very rational.
Agree? if disagree, why?