Meaningful Deception
The vast majority of people on this planet practice a religion. Despite their differences, they all provide something that that group of people need. But is there some truth in what some may call lies? In Cat’s Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut, religion works for the people of San Lorenzo, giving them comfort in the worst of conditions. While religion may just be made up lies, it is more useful than science because it provides people with hope and happiness during difficult times.
Religion’s lies are comforting and useful, even though they are false and untrue. The narrator of the story, John, makes this evident early on when he says, “I would have been a Bokononist then, if there had been anyone to teach me the bittersweet lies…show more content… The general population is struggling, which is why religion is there to help them with the truth; “ The people down there are poor enough and scared enough and ignorant enough to have some common sense!” (89). They have such little common sense that they persistently follow a made up religion, knowing that it is a hoax. They are willing to do what they have to to survive, but they need religion to be one of the only good things in their lives. They also turn to the Bokononist ritual, boko-maru, as a way to create unity and love among the people. It makes their pain go away and they can see that other people…show more content… This truth is through endless discoveries and inventions that are not necessarily useful, but scientists believe that, “The more truth we have to work with, the richer we become” (41). This line is followed by, “Had I been a Bokononist then, that statement would have made me howl” because Bokononists try not to focus on the truth. More truth causes people’s lives to be miserable because it is not comforting. The main character, John, shows an early sign of becoming a Bokononist when he says, “I just have trouble understanding how truth, all by itself, could be enough for a person” (54). For most people, sheer truth is not enough. They turn to religion to get away from the harsh reality that is the truth. According to Julian Castle,“man is vile, and man makes nothing worth making, knows nothing worth knowing” (169). This statement is true to a Bokononist who believes that research and further advancement of technology does not replace human emotion. Science cannot connect with people the way Religion can. Religion uses the way someone feels and makes things better by comforting and helping them with their fears and
Ross 3 hopes for the future. It is made clear that science's job is to provide society with new inventions, not to help the individual person. This statement is made true when Dr. von Koenigswald says, "I am a very bad scientist. I will do anything to make a human being feel better, even
