My course of study over the past two years, and what religion is

　I played Tropico 6 (a game where you become a dictator and run an island nation) so much that I came to understand almost all of its mechanics, and once there was nothing left to do, it finally felt like I had reached a stopping point. If I were to describe my gaming history over the past two years, I spent it trying to understand why Tropico 6 is so fun. In the end, I arrived at the thought, “There are countries, and there are humans,” and that led me to start studying world history.

　Then, when I looked back over history, the answer to how such enormous things had been possible was “religion,” and I came to understand the trinity-like relationship between history, religion, and humanity.

　What is religion?

　It is a “convenient story” woven so that human beings can become one.

　If we decide that God exists, then by everyone sharing that collective illusion, many people—especially the poor—can be saved.

　One of the few possibilities for humanity to come together as a whole.

　There is no necessity for it to happen. Even if it did, even if some kind of monotheism came to dominate the Earth, that would only be a grace period before a new crack appeared. Though I would like to see that too. It is something that gives false hope against the overwhelming nothingness and despair of “death.” A “teaching created by humans” that grants meaning to living in this world. A gentle lie shared all over the world, with little real reason to deny it.

　And yet it has a worldview grand enough to cover over such twisted phrasing. The magnificent culture and architecture born from human faith and attachment.

　In the modern age, society has shifted from the collective to the individual, and the power of religion has steadily weakened. But people found a new shared hallucination that transcends nations and languages: “subculture.”

　Fiction, stories, content... new scriptures not limited to the form of books.

　Given the achievements of those who came before, what kinds of gospels will be created next?

　If the “individual” continues on like this, how will the world change?

　Regardless of such interests, everyday life goes on as usual.

　That’s boring, isn’t it?