So, an alien from the far side of the Milky Way paid me a visit the other day. Speaking in an unearthly language, but one which I had no problem understanding, it said, “I have two questions for you. Depending on your answers, I could win bets with my buddies back home. But pardon my rudeness, Annie! Let me first introduce myself. My name is Curio from beyond your galaxy, and I’ve been following your Silhouette Kids social media posts for some time. Seems to me your underlying message is something like this: in order for your species to help your very, very sick planet get better, the individuals of your species need to get themselves into better holistic shape. Do I have that right?”
“Uh-huh, that’s the essence of it,” I replied, wondering where this was going.
“Well then,” continued Curio, “here are my two questions: firstly, why is personal wellness necessary for you humans to help repair your stunningly beautiful, one-of-a-kind planet? And, secondly, does religion help with that personal wellness?”
“Wow,” said I, “those are biggies. I’ve never broached the religion aspect before. How much time do I have?”
“I will revert to my non-material state in approximately nine point seven minutes your time— just as an aside, time isn’t measurable where I come from.”
“Oh, interesting. Okey dokey. No pressure here.” As I launched in, Curio’s eyes clicked shut. “Because we are a social species,” I began, “the highest level of human development is healthy interdependence, a person’s ability to get along with, and work well with others in personal and professional relationships, in a group. Ideally, personal development flows from dependance, to independence, to interdependence. As you’ve noticed, we have some really big global issues here to deal with, such as climate change aka environmental destruction, a very lopsided distribution of wealth, pandemics, and wars, to name but a few. Resolution of these crises requires that individuals problem-solve collaboratively and cooperatively, bringing their best, unhindered, empowered selves into the challenges. That’s one main reason why individual betterment is vital.
“Another is, when a person is holistically fit—meaning healthy mentally, emotionally, physically, socially and spiritually—that person feels they are enough in and of themselves. They have self-love through self-awareness, which manifests in self-acceptance, self-confidence, self-worth, self-respect, self-motivation, etc. They don’t need materialistic things, wealth, fame or power to feel that they’re a success. They know they’re successful because they have abiding inner peace, and they’re living minimalistically yet fully with meaning and purpose. They’re not greedy; they’re not demanding so much material stuff from Mother Earth’s limited resources to vainly try to satisfy a craving for enoughness. We know Mother Earth can provide for humanity’s need, but not it’s greed. There are more, but these are two hugely important reasons why personal wellness is foundational to planetary wellness. Does this make sense?”
I think Curio was somehow recording my spiel. At my question, its very penetrating, bottomless black eyes snapped open. “Yes, that’s a good answer in one sense, but on the other hand, you’ve lost me my first bet. I wagered that personal wellness was a selfish, narcissistic, look-how-awesome-I-am pursuit, and that it ended with achieving the pinnacle of independence. I must admit, though, I couldn’t reconcile that approach with humanity saving its planet. How did I miss the obvious? I see clearly now that it’s well-developed interdependence—the highest form of personal growth—that enables collective problem-solving. Hmm. Perhaps I’ll have better luck with regard to your answer to my second question.”
“Maybe” I agreed. “But first, what do you think religion is? We need to be sure we’re on the same page here.”
“Gimme a sec,” Curio said, again with closed eyes. “Okay, I see your Wikipedia describes religion as ‘a range of social-cultural systems, including designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relate humanity to supernatural, transcendental, and spiritual elements—although there is no scholarly consensus over what precisely constitutes a religion. Different religions may or may not contain various elements ranging from the divine, sacredness, faith, and a supernatural being or beings.’ And Wikipedia’s description goes on, but I think I’ve got the gist of it.”
“You know what? I studied religion at the Masters level,” I informed Curio, “and still I find it really hard to explain, but Wikipedia does a decent job. I’m going to simplify its description way down, though, to answer your question as to whether religion helps individuals develop personal wellness. This is how I perceive religion, and be reminded my perception is limited to my lived experience and studies. In a subjective, unnuanced nutshell, it’s a human-created, cultural phenomenon that offers guidance on what to believe and think, and how to act in the here and now so as to achieve eternal happiness after you die. This guidance has no scientific basis and relies on faith that the providers of the guidance, typically religious leaders, are instruments of the will of an omnipotent entity. As you will have picked up from Wikipedia, there are an estimated 10,000 distinct religions worldwide, though nearly all of them have regionally based, relatively small followings. Four of those religions—Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism—account for over 77% of the world’s population. So, it’s not like there is global consensus among humans on the believing, thinking and acting, but at a high level all the major religions do have in common what’s known as the Golden Rule: ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.’ Or ‘love your neighbour as you love yourself.’ Not always the same words but the same meaning.” 
“So,” Curio interjected into my monologue, but with eyes remaining closed, “one would think the fantastic promise of eternal happiness would be the strongest ever motivator for humans to live by the Golden Rule; however, based on my observations of your planet over the millennia, that doesn’t seem to have worked too well.”
“You’re a keen observer, Curio. Humanity could presently be on the brink of collapse through destruction of our planet and we’d never have gotten to this precarious place if we’d abided by the Golden Rule all along. But here’s the thing—to my thinking, the Golden Rule only works if a person first has self-love. Only a self-loving person is able to love others as they love themself. If you don’t truly love yourself, you tend to let others crap on you. And, if you let others crap on you, you’re going to crap on them, pursuant to the reciprocity of the Golden Rule. Which is pretty much how things have been going with our species. So, my long-winded answer to your question does religion support a person’s development to a higher version of themselves, i.e., foster self-love in order to pay it forward, my definitive answer is maybe.”
“What! That doesn’t compute,” exclaimed Curio, visibly vibrating, eyes manically clicking open and shut. “I can only process yes or no to determine if I win my bet.”
“Ok, let’s see if I can be a little more explicit.” I stared down into the reflective pool beside where we were standing as if I could find the right words floating around in there. “Organized religion”, I began, “can indeed offer a person a sense of belonging, the benefits of community, and guidance in manifesting their life meaning and purpose. Those things are all known to be huge contributors to a person living fully, healthfully, and happily. So, yes, in that sense religion can indeed support personal wellness, and help empower a person to make a difference in the world.
“But here’s the caveat—for those benefits to be derived from religion, there must be alignment between a person’s authentic self and the direction provided by their religion. If a person feels like they have to deny or suppress or ignore or feel shameful about any authentic aspect of their being because it doesn’t align with their religion’s guidance, their religion could potentially hinder the actualization of their unique, authentic, empowered self. I’m speaking from experience when I say people can fall into the religion they inherited from their parents or culture without discerning if it’s enabling or disabling them. Another consideration in determining if you win your bet, Curio, is that there is also the tendency for the religious to hold the opinion that their religion is the only right, true way to eternal happiness in the hereafter, which can pit religions one against the another and foster a sense of superiority and contempt. And that, my friend, doesn’t sync too well with healthy interdependency.”
I stopped for breath, and swore I could hear the whirr, drone, buzz, and hum of intense computation behind Curio’s shut eyes. “So, what do you figure, Curio,” I asked, to get those eyes opened up again, “overall, generally speaking, from our conversation and your otherworldly observations of Earth over the millennia, does religion foster the personal wellness that is needed for global wellness?”
“Eek!” I shrieked a nanosecond later, almost toppling over backwards. In a blinding flash, with just a hint of a burnt smell, Curio instantly reverted to non-materialism as forewarned.
I’ll never know who won that second bet.
