Aztecs and Optimistic Fear

The Aztecs believed that if they didn’t strengthen Huitzilopochtli, their god of sun and war, by nourishing him with human blood, the world would end after a 52 year cycle. The prospect of the world coming to an end is a frightening one; scary enough to prevent the Aztecs from testing this theory, which they could have easily done by testing their gods and doing away with human sacrifices to see what happened. It took the destruction of Aztec culture at the hands of Spanish warriors led by Cortez to end their religious practices. This occurred in 1521, exactly at the end of a 52 year cycle according to the Aztec calendar.

Aztec religion was polytheistic, and they recognized many gods that they discovered from other cultures. The existence of anything is impossible to prove, but especially the existence of a god, which exists in a dimension or reality apart from our own. The Aztecs understood this, so they hedged their bets by worshipping (seemingly) every god they came across, including the gods and saints of Catholicism. There are thousands of gods in hundreds of cultures, and any one of them, including Huitzilopochtli, could truly exist as far as any human knows. The logic of believing in every god from every culture far surpasses the short-sightedness of Pascal’s wager, which does not consider the possibility that a god other than the god of Christianity can exist.

Pascal’s wager does demonstrate that the fear of the existence of a god is a major incentive to do whatever that god asks to avoid being punished by it. The success of a religion relies on its ability to inflict fear deep enough to prevent humans from opposing it. The all-powerful premise of monotheism has a built-in intimidation factor of literally infinite proportions. The Jewish god condones genocide and the annihilation of all who disobey his orders. The Christian god goes even further, torturing for eternity all who refuse to acknowledge his existence. Islam, building on the ideas of Judaism and Christianity, is unabashed in regard to the fierceness of god. The vivid depictions of punishment in hell in the Qu’ran surpass the more flippant references found in the Christian New Testament.

The promise of a reward for obedience seems weak in comparison to punishment. Let’s face it, the Christian promise of living for eternity in some sterile environment telling some megalomaniac how great he is isn’t anything most people are going to go out of their way to attain. However, it is demonstrable that rewarding behavior at random unpredictable intervals is extremely effective. A fundamental aspect of animal flourishment seems to be its inbuilt fascination but fundamental misunderstanding of the laws of probability. We’re so impressed with the fact that something perceived as good happens every so often, it completely eludes us that the occurrence is inevitable. Thus, miracles, or unexplained phenomena perceived as being positive or beneficial, are a major aspect of every religion. Many Christians laughably but optimistically claim they prefer Christianity to other religions because the god of Christianity is so loving, despite all his atrocities. Our illogical elation at the fact that one person survives a disaster despite the fact that many others were killed by it, for instance, is an instinctual trait attributing to our continued existence. If we were to succumb to the hopelessness and absurdity of existence, our depression would prevent us from having any reason to continue to struggle to survive. The will to live is fundamental to continued life; any being not possessing it would quickly become extinct. In other words, delusion (a.k.a. hope and blind faith) is a coping mechanism essential to our continued being.

It turns out, then, that optimism coupled with fear is the ultimate motivator. Extreme logic seems dangerous to humanity’s very existence, since it eschews desire. (Take that, Plato!) Therefore, given my pessimistic view of gods and my fear of wasting my life away trying to appease them, I will be perfectly content in deluding myself with the belief that they do not exist.