Jonathan Haidt's Ted Talk

http://www.ted.com/talks/jonathan_haidt_humanity_s_stairway_to_self_transcendence.html
Religion is a thing that everyone has, reasons Jonathan Haidt in his TED Talk. Even the people who don't believe in a god, or a practice. Everyone follows something- self-transcendence. Self-transcendence is when a person tries to lose themselves in something, whether it be religion, nature, or dance. But most often, people lose themselves when the work in a group.

There is something about being a part of a group that makes people happy. It makes them give up their own selfish wants and needs, and lets them experience true happiness. People evolved through group selection, Jonathan Haidt says. It is one of Darwin's laws that groups are stronger than individual people. Jonathan Haidt points out that when people are on the same team, working for the same goals, they cooperate, even if they may have individual goals of their own. He uses the example of a rowing team- the individual members of the rowing team are competing, because the slowest rower might be replaced or kicked off the team. But when they are in a race, against another team in another boat they work together. Because "they are all in the same boat". While some people may ask if it is a good idea to lose yourself, to lose all your individual ambition and goals, Jonathan Haigt says that it isn't a bad idea. People are stronger in groups. People radiate naturally towards groups- nobody wants to be the odd man out. And in a way, that is their religion.

1. I agree with Jonathan Haidt that everyone is spiritual in some way, whether they are aware of it or not. The idea that working together in a group is spiritual is something that I never thought about before, but I can certainly agree with him. When people work together, there is really a sense of community, especially if it goes well. The idea that we evolved this way I followed a little less. I'm not particularly religious, but in my mind, science and spirituality don't exactly mix. I accept evolution as fact, but religion, and stories about how we humans came to be, seem to exist almost on a different plane. They are separate, even though they are talking about the same basic thing. This is why, when he talked about religion, but he also started talking about evolution, it was hard for me to connect the two. In my mind, there's a difference between having evolved into beings with morals, who want to achieve self-transcendence, and spiritual humans who want to achieve the same thing. I'm not really sure why my mind works this way.

2. Throughout his TED talk, Jonathan Haidt used a lot of visual aids. Pictures, videos, dioramas. He also used audio, when he was talking about excerpts from books. This kept it interesting, because you never knew when he would use and interesting diorama or picture. He also used a lot of facts and stories- not stories of his own personal experience, but of other's experiences. He talked about psychological things that people could relate to, but only if they thought about it. I think this made me pay more attention.

3. Jonathan Haidt's TED talk wasn't particularly funny, but it did keep me interested. This was mainly because he provided so many pictures for the audience to look at. It appealed to most styles of learning, because it was both visual and audio.

4. This topic, religion and why we have it, is important to me because I don't exactly have a religion- but I would like to. I currently am very interested in Buddhism. I think it's good to think about why we have religion, instead of just... having it. This is something I can apply to all religions, not just necessarily my own. I think that this is something the entire world should think about, because it kind of groups all religions together- religions may be different, but they all have the same basis. People shouldn't discriminate.