Religions everywhere throughout time have all been grounded upon and expressive of the projections of those who created the religions. Religion is projection. As is practically everything else. We experience something internally and explain it by using a vocabulary based on external experiences. A volcano explodes and we explain it as the anger of the gods, or of The God. We explain outward events in terms of inward imagination and fear. Early on, we were little more than a physical bundle of imagination and fear.
Ghosts and goblins, witches and warlocks. Imaginary stuff that lead to witch hunts. Tornados, hurricanes, earthquakes were all explained with ideas, theories, guesses, imagination that we relied on to create a “reality” that never existed and never will–and in so doing, scared ourselves into being religious to escape, avoid, placate, our own creations.
The Garden of Eden had neither latitude nor longitude. It never existed as an actual, factual, physical place. The same goes for heaven and hell. Yet, heaven and hell have been imagined in one form or another by practically every religion that ever existed. And Eden is the basis of Christianity. But there was no original sin. There was no Fall. There was no need of redemption. No need for Jesus to die on a cross. It was all projection. Every last bit of it.
And faith is conjured up as the cure for all that threatens us–the cure to the things we make up and scare ourselves with. And why would we take any of it on faith? Or, better, if we are going to take anything on faith, why not something else instead? Something better? Something like we are born with everything we need to find what we need to do what needs to be done in each situation as it arises? Why not believe that? And instantly be cured of of our phobias, anxiety disorders, depressions, etc.?
We can free ourselves of the demons we have created. It only takes waking up to do it.
Jim Dollar's Photography and Philosophy 