“A widow should be long suffering until death, self-restrained and chaste.?

Question

“A widow should be long suffering until death, self-restrained and chaste. A virtuous woman who remains chaste when her husband has died goes to heaven. A woman who is unfaithful to her husband is reborn in the womb of a jackal.” From the Laws of Manu (Hindu sacred texts).

Why do some religions emphasise the need for self-suffering as if it is a virtue.
Why not enjoy life?
Isn't religion (ANY religion) a serious impediment and obstruction to the development of mankind?

Discuss.

Answer 1

Woah, that is an AWESOME quote! From a philosophical standpoint, of course. Your question is so very broad... I will do my best to get to all of it.



Is religion a serious impediment to the development of mankind? I do not see why it would have to be. Historically, it has been good and bad. The Oracle at Delphi was instrumental for Homer, Plato, Socrates, etc. I'm not sure if ancient Greek philosophy would have evolved without the gods of Olympus. Think of all the great feats that were organized around religion... the pyramids of Egypt, the building of Rome. Do you think geometry would have progressed as fast if ancient engineers were not trying to figure out how to make sturdy pyramids?



On the contrary, we most likely would have colonized Mars by now (or destroyed ourselves completely) had the Dark Ages not happened. Our cars wouldn't have V8s; they'd have warp drives. We'd all have stargates in our toasters. Our gardens would have perpetual motion machines, and our bathrooms wouldn't have toilet paper... they'd have three seashells. Okay, a bit of humor has served its purpose.



Historically, religion has been both an impetus for development and an impediment. That is most likely true still today. Therefore, you cannot make a good case that religion is a serious impediment as some type of axiom in a grand model of human behavior or theory of everything.



Why do some religions emphasize self-suffering as a virtue? Remember that virtue, in its original sense, meant being reasonable. When most of those ancient religious texts were written, suffering was COMMON. Enjoying life was not possible for 99.999% of people in the manner you mean. I'm not saying life was suffering for everyone; I'm saying that people had to make the best of their situation. Learning how to feel freezing temperatures like warm summer breezes made life easier.... easier to enjoy. Even for the .001% who knew enjoyment of life as you mean, they still had a heck of a time! No antibiotics... no knowledge of bacteria/parasites... for the most part no refrigeration... heck, maybe not even any garlic for their alfredo sauces!



Religions were and are organized belief structures, and I purport that these "embrace suffering" clauses were built in to make life easier. Learning to deal with adversity kept people from all just committing mass suicide... it provided a REASON to live. Virtue... reason. Do you see?



Now, finally about your quote... I am sure the quote is meant to be literal, but let's be a modern optimist for a moment... it might have been a way to keep the widow from being raped repeatedly. You don't know if the widow is 19 or 90. It sounds terrible to keep a 19-year-old widow from remarrying, but it sounds horrible for men to ravage a 90-year-old widow. The 90yo would most likely not want to remarry. As men and women would share the same Hindu faith in the culture in question, this protected the women. Therefore, it may have served a good purpose at the time. Some got the short end of the stick, and some were spared great hardship. That duality is quite common in ancient philosophies.

Answer 2

Have you been watching that film Water, I have on bbc just now, very interesting film, very sad, and very beautifully done, my god what a need for change, Not so long ago I saw another film on Youtube, call 'Zeitgeist Addendum' and that was a very interesting film too. Yes I think religious beliefs are chronically responsible for making poverty, through stupid oppressive and nasty cultures, after all religion was really designed to keep millions of people in squalor, and to help the rich to bury their responsibility under the carpet, and then even worse to allow the perverted rich to mock human kind justifying their crimes on others as cowardly policy's are practised, and even some used as a distraction while covering up another crime. Evil people thrive as pillars of the community. Then yesterday I saw a TV programme on BBC 9pm on BBC2 called The Toughest Place to be Bus Driver and you can quite clearly see how a flipping silly religion destroys millions of people's lives, only this was another silly religion, it do not deal with practical common peoples fairness and rights to protect their selves against sex abuse by others, These are made by sick stupid dirty old men, helping sick stupid other dirty old men in more poorer down the food chain societies, how uncivilised can you be. Results are that overpopulation now makes people find businesses in raiding rubbish bins of junk food outlets, and taking the left over particles of the litter bin and mixing up together with heavily spiced other stuff, to eat, it's what would feed a rat, this is the only meal some eat all day. I would love to see some of the politicians eat that for dinner, some of them would call that free enterprise, I call it sick, who wants babies in slums.

Answer 3

Have you ever been hungry? Have you ever suffered? The more you suffer the more you enjoy life and don't take it for granted. Religons see this life as suffering and the after life as a reward...reflecting the relationship between pain and reward that I described earlier. U could also speculate that it is a means to justify injustices of past governments. And to give hope.to offer a reward for all the bs

Answer 4

Its not religion,its the people who misuses it for their own benefits. People in power have always misused it. Religion should be personal to everyone.......where science fails religion and faith works.

Answer 5

No, it is not an impediment.



Intelligent people realize that if they follow their creeds advice, they will live longer, healthier, happier lives.



Better to suffer in this life than in life everlasting.