It should be noted, emphatically, that Mathis is NOT a theist or deist of any stripe, and most would label him an "atheist" (a term he rejects, for all of the antis and parallels crowding the space). A better term would be anti-theist or non-theist.
Mathis writes: "...How could you make it appealing, much less build a religion around it? You could do so only in a world of ubiquitous and constant suffering. The Indic religions...were a response to suffering. More than that, they were a regimen. They took suffering as the given, then built the religious response around that, as an alleviation of suffering. Remember, suffering is the first of the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism, as well as the first postulate of the Upanishads. Without the suffering, there would be no reason to promote renunciation. You simply could not sell the idea of renunciation to a people who were happy. Pacific Islanders weren't interested in any of our religions, east or west, until we had thoroughly corrupted them, and neither were Native Americans. Once they were miserable, we could then sell them our religions as a remedy for their induced pains. The modern medical establishment works on the same principle...."
(Contemplate that last sentence: Both are unctuously marketing lies and placebos as panaceas.)
It should be noted, emphatically, that Mathis is NOT a theist or deist of any stripe, and most would label him an "atheist" (a term he rejects, for all of the antis and parallels crowding the space). A better term would be anti-theist or non-theist.
https://mileswmathis.com/upan.pdf
Mathis writes: "...How could you make it appealing, much less build a religion around it? You could do so only in a world of ubiquitous and constant suffering. The Indic religions...were a response to suffering. More than that, they were a regimen. They took suffering as the given, then built the religious response around that, as an alleviation of suffering. Remember, suffering is the first of the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism, as well as the first postulate of the Upanishads. Without the suffering, there would be no reason to promote renunciation. You simply could not sell the idea of renunciation to a people who were happy. Pacific Islanders weren't interested in any of our religions, east or west, until we had thoroughly corrupted them, and neither were Native Americans. Once they were miserable, we could then sell them our religions as a remedy for their induced pains. The modern medical establishment works on the same principle...."
(Contemplate that last sentence: Both are unctuously marketing lies and placebos as panaceas.)