On May 31, 6:19 am, Lin Liangtai yahoo.com.tw> wrote:

Isn't this alittle like seeing human faces in clouds?

Could it be that the psychological basis of religious belief is the
nearly universal human tendency to anthropomorphize? Religion might
best be understood as systematic anthropomorphism, that is, the
attribution of human characteristics to nonhuman things and events.
Religion might consist of seeing the world as humanlike. This
perceptual strategy pervades secular life and it characterizes
religious experience.

We humans have a nearly universal and overwhelming tendency to
attribute human characteristics to nonhuman things and events. Is this
tendency is hardwired -- an evolutionary adaptation. Thus, we see
faces in clouds and Jesus in a picture of spaghetti on a billboard.
More seriously, we tend to see random events as orchestrated by unseen
benevolent or malignant intelligences. When I curse the traffic light
that always stops me or the photocopier that breaks down whenever the
job is urgent, I'm anthropomorphizing.

People find a wide range of humanlike beings plausible: Gods, spirits,
abominable snowmen, HAL the computer, Chiquita Banana. We find
messages in random events such as earthquakes, weather, and traffic
accidents. We say a fire "rages," a storm "wreaks vengeance," and
waters "lie still." Our tendency to find human characteristics in the
nonhuman world stems from a deep-seated perceptual strategy: in the
face of pervasive (if mostly unconscious) uncertainty about what we
see, we bet on the most meaningful interpretation we can. If we are in
the woods and see a dark shape that might be a bear or a boulder, for
example, it is good policy to think it is a bear. If we are mistaken,
we lose little, and if we are right, we gain much. So, Guthrie writes,
in scanning the world we always look for what most concerns u