Faith Philosophy & Religion
A Thousand Religions and All is Unknown
this is an excerpt from an online discussion i had with someone. his last comment was interesting and true, except for his last sentence, which sparked an interest. he said:
“…admittedly all is unknown and we choose what we choose. That is why there are a thousand seperate religions….”
these are my semi-unrelated, rambling thoughts in response:
…every rational discussion must go back to a basic, reasonable, and common playing field…..
if all religions are false, then the only conclusion is that humans truly are amazingly wonderful accidents. and even the fact that we think something is “amazing” or “wonderful” is a mere happenchance. we reason and philosophize our origins just because we can. and even the concept of ‘amazing’ is something that exists only in our minds. but in cold hard reality, it is all useless and pointless. we are merely carbon-based life forms who’ve developed what we call ‘conscious thought’. apparently, we’re the only ones on this planet that seem to have this ability. and with this element of our supposed evolutional development, we think we are aware of our existence, can create ideas, inventions, theories, religions, and the strange need to document our ‘histories’.
but really, it’s all meaningless fluff.
either we are meaningless accidents resulting from a catastrophic explosion a few billion years ago, which also means nothing…
OR
something about faith and religion makes sense, coincides with what we call reality, and points to a deeper meaning and purpose of this life.
“Man now realizes he is an accident, a completely futile thing, that he has to play out the game without reason.”
~francis bacon
and i think because of our inherent consciousness of this supposed ’self’, we are desperate to find a purpose or meaning. our humanity has created these ideas of purpose and meaning, so we seek this sense of fulfillment. kindalike what that francis bacon guy said.
now if our search comes across an idea, or book that begins to make sense and coincide with basic reality…why shouldn’t we give it a second look?
no matter your faith, religion, or lack of it, you must question its source. blind faith is a beautiful thing, but it cannot be without your feet on solid ground. something about faith and religion seems to demand a coincidence with reality.
….
if you believe in extraterrestrial intelligent life and ghosts…why? or if you believe in angels, but not a god, then why? if you believe in ghosts but not a god or gods, why?
and if you believe in nothing at all ’spiritual’, why?
the idea that ‘all is unknown’ or nothing can truly be known is absurd. things are known. you and I both “know” things. we’ve seen, heard, touched, smelled, and experienced things. there are things we know.
These things coincide with our reality. not just a ‘relative’ reality, but a reality that is real to everyone. our experiences can be common, can be observed, can be related. our histories can be documented and real. there are absolutes. not everything is free-floatin’ jelly. our beliefs, lifes, words, all make up concrete evidence of a reality.
and this coincidence with reality can sometimes be described as ‘truth’, but of course, that’s my opinion. if we can determine that this supposed truth exists, then we can come to the conclusion that some things are real, true, universal. that sounds a bit redundant, but you get what i mean?
since all we have to go by is the observable nature and universe around us, that’s a good place to start questioning our reality, our truth. what about our history, science, writings, myths, beliefs, stories, and experiences coincides with observable reality?
do our beliefs make sense? should they make sense? why or why not? if we create our own meaning, then maybe you’re right, there is no meaning in anything. and the meaning of life is really “what you make of it”.
but if there is some belief, some faith, some evidence of meaning in this seeminly meaningless, accidental life, then how can we turn away?
what if we find a person, book, or belief that says: “hey that whole ‘purpose of life’ thing you’ve been asking about? i got it right here.”. Wouldn’t we want to investigate?
and what if this person, this thing, made good common sense? what if the ‘truths’ they spoke coincided with actual, observable time-space reality? with witnesses, testimonials, historic and scientific evidence? what if this universe really wasn’t a massive ‘oops’ by the ancient cosmos?
if all the pieces of this pointless existence come together when discussing certain ideas or beliefs, then maybe we’ve found something that gives us purpose. or maybe the purpose has found us.
if we find this purpose, then it sheds light on the cloudy evidence around us. and by finding this, how can we then not tell others? how can we just let others go by not knowing there is a purpose, a meaning, a fulfillment to this thing we call Life?
then again, this is all ramble. a puny little life form on a floating rock, shaking his fists at the emptiness of the universe. the silent void of space swallows every one of our attempts to cry out. because there is no one to answer, and really, no reason to cry out either. from the beginning all the way to the end…it’s all meaningless.
and all these little scribbling-marks we call text amount to a frivolous rant on an online venue we meaningless humans created for communication, documentation, and social interaction without actual social interaction. perhaps the internet is another way we try to give meaning to our pointless reality, our pointless lives? categorizing all known information in an archive that ultimately means nothing.
As that one dude Sartre said:
“All existing things are born for no reason, continue through weakness and die by accident…. It is meaningless that we are born; it is meaningless that we die.”
or if you prefer it put more poetically:
Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time,
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out brief candle!
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 5, lines 22-31
~ w. shakespeare
eh, what do i know?
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