Dogma is a 1999 American fantasy comedy film written and directed by Kevin Smith. The film’s irreverent treatment of Catholicism and the Catholic Church triggered considerable controversy, even escalating to the point of death threats against Smith. A satire of the Catholic religion, the plot could easily be extended to encompass any of the major religions that still shape our world today—and how extreme factions within these religions often become sources of conflict and war.
What if we understood that beliefs created by stories are so powerful because we are wired to like them?
There are many aspects of the human mind that we are still not able to fully comprehend. While we now acknowledge that we share the same planet and that we are all members of the same human species, these concepts remain too recent for most individuals to truly grasp. Why? Because we continue to follow stories and beliefs passed down from generation to generation—beliefs that shape a primitive form of consciousness, even as children develop in their mother’s womb. Every human has a brain, and that brain is conditioned from the earliest stages of formation. Though cognitive functions mature later, stories—and the emotional weight they carry—are absorbed by very young children. These narratives, and how they are transmitted, obviously shape the foundational ways a child begins to think. Being exposed to various cultures, religions, languages, and individuals early in life may be the most valuable gift we can offer a child’s education, enabling them to develop their own critical perspective on the world, less constrained by inherited biases.
Could women leading society be a way to solve global geopolitical issues?
A slight spoiler from the film: Alanis Morissette plays the role of God in its final moments. Whether one believes in God or not is beside the point. What truly matters is the lingering reality of inequality that women continue to face. In France, for instance, universal suffrage was granted to men in 1848—yet women had to wait until 1945 to receive the same right. While progress has been made, most of the world remains entrenched in patriarchal systems. What if we finally recognized that violence and lust for domination are traits largely propagated by men—and that maintaining the same type of male leaders at the top of corporations and governments merely perpetuates a vicious cycle of greed, profit, and war, with little regard for the consequences?
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