Neocortex and Religion

Regarding religions, I have some thoughts to share on why we as humans have created them and what needs do they fulfill.

It all began with a unique ability we have

As human beings, we have a unique ability to think of "consequences of actions". This is so because we have a well developed “neocortex” in our brains. A direct result of this evolutionary development is that we can consciously take actions that would result in changing our lives for good.

What are the implications of this ability?

In the old days, this meant learning of consequences of planting a seed, so we could create an agricultural society. This was a major reason why the agricultural society developed. In the modern day context, we work hard toward earning a degree because we know that it will lead to betterment of our lives.

This ability is a blessing and a curse.

As the above examples indicate the ability is a blessing, because our civilization would not have developed otherwise. Because of this ability, we can live in comfortable houses, eat god food and have physical enjoyments that an animal can not. This ability has made us the most successful animal in the world.

However, what is not obvious is that this ability to think of consequences of our actions is also a curse because it causes us to live under a constant stress.

The stress comes from two directions:

(1) Regrets for not having taken right action in the past, and

(2) Fear that we will not take the right action to get the best out of our future.

In the above, most of time we are using our materialistic success as a yardstick. So, the regret stems from not having the type of wealth we envisioned for our selves. “If only, I had accepted that job, when it was offered, I would have been much richer.” So it is for the fear part. We are afraid that we will make the wrong investment decision today that would cause us to live in endless poverty in the future.

How can we handle this curse?

The way we can handle this constant stress is in two ways

The first option is to believe in some supreme deity, God, who has control of our life. God did what he did and will do what he wants to do. Thus we should not regret having taken a specific action in the past nor should we worry about the future. We now have transferred, at least partially, the responsibility for taking “right” action to God. No responsibility and therefore no stress.

The second option is to learn and internalize a couple of things: (1) learn how to live in the present by training our mind and (2) learn to minimize the importance of physical pleasures.

If we master the first discipline, we will live in the present and thereby prevent our mind from wandering into past, regretting our past actions, or into the future, worried about not taking the right actions. What a soothing state to achieve!

When we master the second discipline, we figure out that the materialistic yardsticks are unimportant. If that is so, why should we regret not having achieved a specific level of material happiness by our actions in the past, or stress about actions we are going to take now that would affect our future level?

Religions are based on one of the above two ways to handle the curse

The religions provide us a way to handle the stress caused by our unique ability to think of the consequences of our actions.

The monotheistic religions, Christianity, Islam and Judaism, favor the first option outlined above; advising (insisting?) that their adherents put their faith in God. It was God’s will that you are living under poverty, not your fault. Also, you are in good hands with God…stop worrying about not taking the right action and thereby screwing up your future.


Buddhism and Jainism (among others) favor the second option. These religions insist upon their followers live in the present and consider material things to be immaterial. This way, we do not have the regrets and fears caused by our unique ability.

Hinduism is somewhere in between. It has elements of both. Like the first group, Hindu religion does have gods and goddesses in whose hands you can safely put your fate into. It also has the concept of shunning material pleasures.

I know this hypothesis is a gross simplification of the question of why religions were created and what needs they fulfill, but it provides me a framework to think about.