Denial is a what allowed us to evolve as a species, more specifically denial of the end of life via the afterlife with religions, however religions are now holding us back as a species because the assumption that there’s a better life leads humanity to follow a dangerous path. It leads us away from a theory of mind of those around us, and keeps us focusing on our own perceptions and realities. By understanding that there is no more life but this, we come to find it all the more precious. By believing in a life beyond this one, we put off changing our ways and end up convincing ourselves that our adverse behaviours are not dangerous to the the survival of our species. That’s a problem because our denial of the way we treat our planet will eventually lead to the grand pillaging of the resources this fragile biome affords us. And then we all die, in a painful unpleasant existence, one full of strife and indignity, as we use our vast intelligence to create efficient weapons and coerce other civilizations to give up their precious resources so we can suffer less, and our existence less painful. That is not the way I want humanity to end up. That seems like an awful fate for such a promising species.
The problem is our addiction to over consumption. I think that we could peacefully live on this planet, all of us, if we just tailored back our rampant consumerism. If we directed that singular desire to want something into a less destructive resource. At least that’s what I think anyway.