DEEPER UNDERSTANDING - religion and meaning. Do we actually need religion?

One has to understand this: many people in their suffering will aim to draw you in their suffering as well. Religion has aided in creating a lot of suffering in people's MINDS because of them (the people) ending up believing they are powerLESS in front of some white-bearded bastard up there in the heavens...
So they will do a lot to corrupt YOU as well in accepting their pains. Yes, you, awesome soul. So many of these people will want YOU to also suffer.

"Religion is for people who are afraid of hell, spirituality is for people who have already been there." - Ralph Smart

Religion is just a tool. Like any other tool, it only serves the mind, because emotion does not require meaning, nor does the "soul", nor does the psyche. Only the mind does. It always seeks new distractions from the pains and anguish it has been inflicted with at multiple levels. And, oh... the mind is good at covering those up. But that doesn't make the problem vanish, just like pills killing the pain don't make the problem go away.