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Sorry to bait & switch you, but … no, it’s not.
Is this the conclusion that the majority of us have come to?
Have we surrendered our minds so fully to the will of greedy, atypical human beings — that we ACTUALLY believe this to be true??
Have we been sold so completely that we have suffocated our own instincts?
“What is the point of it all?”
If society were designed by and for typical human beings, we would not be compelled to ask this question at all.
You don’t think this is true? You think human beings are inherently bad? WHY? Are YOU BAD? Why are you bad? What did you do wrong? Have you ever done anything “bad” which could not be attributed to either cultural misdirection or neglect?
If you think you need “god” to behave like a decent human being … then, I’m calling you out right now. BULLSHIT.
You are good. Human Beings are good. Don’t let anyone convince you otherwise.
If we spread this message …
The “Point” would be all around us … do you wonder “why you are here” while you are caring for another human being? If so … then your mind has been corrupted by god.
(Ok, so maybe most old people are aggravating. There’s no way around that. But, we still have to help them until they die. We can’t blame them … they were conditioned to blab about pointless shit.)
Yes, I said: if you are wondering “why you are here,” then your mind has been corrupted by god. If you cannot feel connection with other human beings, then it’s not the “lack of god” which has done this to you … it’s the prevalence of the notion of god in our society. It’s the prevalence of this lie that there is no point without god … There is NO POINT to LIFE without a good relationship with an INVISIBLE SOMETHING WHICH WE HAVE ARGUED FOR CENTURIES TRYING TO DEFINE???? Yeah … that adds up. No, it doesn’t, but as human beings, we are inherently bad at math. We express ourselves with images and sounds … metaphors. Things which are slightly ambiguous resonate with most of us … a predisposition which is easily exploited.
God doesn’t benefit everyone.
(Wow, that’s beautiful. Where are all the poor children? At recess???)
God is just a stick that our masters have been throwing us since the rise of civilization — the life of a dog seems pointless when lived as a human being.
Oh, you are so inviting Constance to come back and serve you up a piece of her mind!
Anyone who has an issue with me saying that human beings are better without god is welcome to help me illustrate that point.
Am going to illustrate here now… i forgot
Come on someone has gotta play god’s advocate. Does no one want to step in and defend the invisible nothing? (Please read “do not hesitate to comment at your own risk” in the menu if you are hesitant.)
Okay … Constance has obviously gone off in a hussy-fit so (if you don’t mind the first-person) I shall play Devil’s Advocaat for the Big G.
First salvo (brace yourself you heathen swine)—Where would you be with Me?
Hah! Blew you out of the water with me rangefinder … and don’t you dare quote as reply: “In the beginning God made Man, and Man promptly returned the compliment”
(mainly ‘cos I used it first) (we Gods are cunning like that).
I’m beginning to think that I might like Argus to be the personal guard dog of this site. Whataya think. Does he want the job?
*Sniff* … that’s the nicest thing anyone’s ever said to me … personally I’d prefer ‘Avenging Angel’ to guard dog but we mutts can’t be choosers …
I like it. Stick around, Argus. See what you can chew up.
Pretty difficult to argue the affirmative, but i’m sure there’ll be some takers. Perhaps some rules before the games begin:
1. A “feeling” isn’t evidence
2. “Evidence” isn’t a feeling.
I think that covers it….
I would only argue to the point that for those who say that without “g”od in their lives they would be horrible people who would and could lie, cheat, steal, and harm others, and for those who say without “g”od they would kill themselves…
perhaps it is best they keep the notion?
Amen to that!
Holly Lou Yeah.
Odd that you should mention dogs. I think that you can get a certain perspective from dogs that is most useful. It’s easy to do. For the next two weeks, eat the same thing at every meal. Yes, I mean it. I’d love to know what you or your readers find out in that two weeks. Call it the canine challenge.
It’s not that odd, really. Given the current state of things, I feel quite close to dogs.
Fostering a puppy today, actually. I’m overwhelmed with hope.
That is good news. Congratulations.
Ok, so this little shit is not an altogether shitty reason to exist.
I think her name is going to be Hedy. At least while we keep her.
http://immortalnobody.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/photo-9.jpg?w=240
“Nothing is good or bad but thinking makes it so”—some ancient sage.
I’m an “old people” but have managed to dig out through all the layers of conditioning, and conditioning is a point I make often in my posts.
Now all I need is readers (SFX: loud and heavy meaningful sign here, please) but folks are mostly conditioned to read travel, teenage angst, warm puppies, recipes for teenaged angst-filled warm puppies …
Bugger~! I was collecting snaps of Catholic opulence for my next post and you beat me to it with that ‘recess’ comment. Act of God? Or a physical demonstration of an apparent contradiction? Sod it, I’ll post later anyway …
I think you should! The old people that do have something interesting to say — say it good and say it loud
And what’s wrong with being a dog, hmmmm?
Nothing. If I had a dog’s brain, I’d love it.
The status isn’t much but the pay is great … the occasional bone, they change your bedding once a week and you get a good scratch behind the ear if you stay off the sofa …
Is the question “Why am I here?” necessarily related to God? It’s so very unromantic to consider life as a series of synaptic firings. I ask why because I am, not because I want or need a definitive answer.
What’s “romance” got to do with it anyway? We get to choose what’s romantic in Life and what’s not.
I ask because I like good answers, because good answers always create more questions and Life is a learning experience.
But “god” doesn’t like inquisitive people so stop asking so many questions, get down on your knees and pray for “his” forgiveness.
yes, but that sounds like the opposite of what you said- it’s not, therefore the asking that is problem, it is the presumed certainty of an answer, or blind faith in someone else’s answer.
And my Dear, romance has everything to do with it.
We can be romantic without being delusional.
Who said asking is a problem? Asking is not a problem, it’s the way to find a solution.
And who presumes certainty, other than a “believer”?
Romance is a state of mind, usually temporary and not conducive to rational thinking.
Just my opinion.
Can’t we all just take a poop together and call it a night??
Don’t hit reply … don’t hit reply …
Hit reply you spineless bitch!
OK. I hit reply. Now what?
Are we going to synchronise our watches for the poopfest?
Bleh. I’m over it. Humanity … will … never … shit together.
Or perhaps it will when we all shit-the-bed. Fairly soon by the look of things.
Asking “why” is a very important question and is what separates us from apes. I think I’m referring to the type of inquiries that lead to feelings of despair.
I find it to be romantic to consider myself as a series of synaptic firings. If that’s all that I am, yet I can still write poetry and solve problems … then, I find that quite beautiful and inspiring.
yes those things are beautiful and inspiring. But I also thing despair is a perfectly appropriate response given some of the world’s history and current events. I can wonder about beauty and despair all outside the confines of god.
You absolutely can. But, I’m not sure that you would so readily associate despair and angst with being alive (as we all do. “that’s life” we say.) if we were doing a better job of caring for each other.
exactly.
Everything we know about life is a product of the life that we have experienced … which is … well, all screwed up. How could we have a good opinion of human beings at this point? We have a horrible track record. But, why is that? I’m suggesting that it is a result of the cognitive dissonance created by “god” … detaching us from the way we would be if “he” weren’t (not) around.
“God” … the notion of “god” makes an orphan of all of us.
and I am prone to agree. My only point was to say that asking the question “why are we here?” doesn’t have to have anything to do with god. Like all questions, it is a perfectly good one.
Certainly …
The things I say on this blog are inspired by how I feel, but are not meant to be any more than thought provoking entertainment.
that they are. much appreciated by me.
Is it me or there has been a definite change of tone in your blog? This is a much more straightforward opinion than anything I’ve seen here before.
That said, I wouldn’t blame god for the dehumanization of humans. I don’t actually consider humans “evil” or “good.” People have similar wants, but there are limited resources. That leads to struggle. This happens with humans and with pretty much every species on godless animal on Earth. Chimpanzees fight for dominance and the right to copulate with more females. Humans do the same.
It is the capacity for rational thought that enables some humans to decide those urges for dominance are pointless and that we’d be better off enjoying the moment and making others happy. But I am afraid aggression is built into us and not precisely by god.
That said, the idea of god and organized religion has driven humans to perform quite a lot of awful deeds. But I find that just an extra, the cherry on top of the cruelty pie…
I can whimsically mount campaigns like this against god if I want.
Far be it from me to complain!
On an unrelated note, I do believe life to be pointless, but I must add it is pointless both with and without god. After all, what would be the point of god?
By “pointless” all I mean is it has no externally mandated purpose. But one must distinguish between “pointless” and “bad” or “not worth living.” I find life a very nice experience. Proof of that is I haven’t killed myself yet.
And I believe the morality question to be separated from purpose. That is: I don’t need a god to not be a bastard. That doesn’t mean my life has purpose. Just that I’m a nice guy, according to my mom.
I do not disagree with anything you are saying.
However, I also think that “human beings are good” is a worthwhile message to spread even if we don’t know whether or not it’s accurate. The reason being is that we’ve got thousands of years of negative messaging to compensate for.
Fair enough. I guess all the bitching about the original sin really soured things up for some people… the idea that we are guilty even before we are born is a pretty screwed up one.
It’s what you tell children if you need them to go to war for their country.
It is precisely because of all the shitty and twisted things I have seen human being do and the dark places I have seen that I believe in the good of human beings. If I didn’t believe in that I would have no reason to get up in the morning. As for God’s existence…who knows, but I WILL say this: the people who have helped me up, kept me up or dragged me up during times of extreme darkness and despair, were not christians, they were cast-outs of society. When I was 16 my best friend for 3 months was a lesbian-herione-addict-prostitute. She was the only person who was there, she made me laugh, helped me forget about my shitty situation, and gave me a place to live. THOSE are the angels in my life!
“It is precisely because of all the shitty and twisted things I have seen human being do and the dark places I have seen that I believe in the good of human beings. If I didn’t believe in that I would have no reason to get up in the morning.”
I feel this exact same way. I’ve battled depression all of my life (as most of us have), and eventually I realized that I had to have faith in SOMETHING. I have NO FAITH in culture or society … I think these things have become evil but not from the will of the average human being. The average human being does not have a whole lot of will power … that’s why all the crooked sons of bitches are so quick to point to freedom to choose … they know it’s a crock of shit. We are easily manipulated. But, what type of creature is easily manipulated? A BAD ONE??? No … that doesn’t make sense to me.
A creature with the softest heart is the easiest to control. Take pitbulls. The most loyal and eager to please of any dog, arguably … if loved and cared for they make HORRIBLE guard dogs. But, isolate them, starve them, beat them & throw a bloody steak in between 2 of them and see what happens.
I’m not really sure why atheists get so angry about Christians. You can practice your religion and Christians can practice theirs–at least for the time being–though tolerance is a sham for lowering the bar on so many different fronts. A look at history shows there’s a fair share of blame to go around on both sides–the old stand by Crusades and Stalin’s beautiful communism come to mind. But as far as I’m concerned it’s people who’ve jumped on every rotten bandwagon and followed rotten leaders right into the pits of hell on earth. We don’t need God as an excuse and there seems to be no point in getting angry at a figment of people’s imagination. But still . . . I like your blog and have no real interest in making a scene
Stalin had nothing to do with communism or atheism other than giving them a bad name.
There are certainly going to be bad people who happen to be atheists, but there have never been mass killings in the name of atheism.
I agree with you about people and the bandwagons. We do like to ride them things.
However, as long as atheists aren’t allowed to hold public office in some states, “in god we trust” is on our dollar bill & we have to hear “god bless america” at the end of every campaign speech … I think there is quite a bit to get upset about, before we even cross the big pond and make our way to the middle east.
There’s certainly nothing hostile in my heart towards christians … but, I feel we are obligated to our species, all life on this planet and this means we can’t be afraid to piss a few people off when we call BS.
I’m really not the right person to go off on this stuff … I’m a divergent thinker … I rely on others to create good arguments.
I do appreciate that you like my blog, and yours ain’t bad either
“Going off on stuff” can sometimes be fun. It’s when people’s silly pride gets in the way and they have to win at it. I’m curious though–if you feel you are obligated to convince people to see things your way, aren’t you sort of making a religion out of it? Also, if it’s silly to believe nothing makes sense without God (and I do hate platitudes) and with a belief in God comes the opposite–some sort of demonic force that causes suffering–how do you explain pain and genocide? If atheists believe that people are basically good and getting better all the time then where did the bad stuff come from? If it came from religion and Capitalism–who created those things if we’re all so good? I personally don’t believe in progress–at all. Since the beginning of recorded history the same “sins” or “flaws” or “social constructs” have existed under different names. You can’t always blame believers in God for things done by evil governments. And I’d have to say our government is looking pretty evil at the moment. Fun times. Loved the two owl head thing.
Of course, it’s “sort of” making a religion out of … but, only “sort of” … we don’t have any words in our language which only mean one thing … religion is certainly no exception.
What is wrong with making doubt/skepticism/science into a “religion” … that would be one “open” religion. There would never be a single war fought or a punch thrown if everyone followed that one.
Religion isn’t the force of evil in and of itself. An elite group of greedy human beings are. Religion has been used as their vehicle, their platform. The average human being is good but also a follower and eager for social acceptance. A greedy few still use religion and god to control our species and keep up the lies which allow them to destroy our planet, and I think we have an obligation to expose them.
How did this elite group turn evil if humanity is basically good? (which btw is a pretty hard thing to prove–something like feminists saying Amazonian women were once great warriors–then where are they now? Also like that funny little story about a time when all things were good–way back when). I actually agree there is an elite group of evil/truly greedy(loaded moralistic word) running the show. Atheism, Christianity, science, ecology, education, even that glimmer of true love that most of us feel at certain moments have all been used for evil purposes by this group and the rest of us who ocassionally get tricked into following their movements. At the moment science–or a certain form of it–is the fashion, but our educational system inexplicably teaches certain theories as fact. You can either believe everything comes from nothing as an unproven theory or that everything comes from something which in actual life seems easier to prove–cake comes from flour, eggs etc. But in the end you have to place your “faith” in nothingness or somethingness and I’ve grappled with both. Science is a sticky thing because scientists, like the rest of us don’t like rocking the boat and when they do in unfashionable ways they get their legs chopped off. Having faith that with the right science, the right housing, the right foods, the right mindset will someday bring a utopia is a bit idealistic and totally unsupported by every social engineering project invented by man (and women). But I’ll close by saying that you actually seem like a romantic underneath it all and i think that’s nice.
Oh, you are not incorrect. It is impossible to avoid putting some type of faith in something. Without it you’re not going anywhere. That’s for sure. But the type of faith that I am attempting to harness is faith in making the best possible decisions based on the information at hand. Faith that in the long run … everything will turn out alright if we can just get it right better than half the time. Right now … I’m betting on humanity rather than god. Based on the information I have … human beings are good … they are just gullible … like dogs … they need good masters. We have atrocious masters on this planet. They don’t give a rat’s ass about the rest of us … and “god” distracts most people from seeing that …
And, I am DEFINITELY a romantic at heart … I am romantic about everything I do … I am even romantic about nonsense.
I can’t blame you, but I think you may be jumping to a few conclusions about me. Only you know what those are. But, your messages are laced with assumptions about who I am or what I’m about. I find this kind of interesting … because, I’m an artist and a buffoon … not a leader … not a philosopher … not a teacher … my mission is undefined, but you seem to know what it is.
I can tell you this … anyone who has ever thought they knew me has been proven wrong.
I actually wasn’t thinking that you were a composite of every atheist I know at all–more I was thinking/writing as I went…wondering aloud about faith and people. The only assumption I made based on your writing was that you were a romantic about people being inherently good (but stupid–haha). I guess I was just asking a non-personal question–how do you square a faith in personal goodness with the idea that we need to be led by a better leader who somehow has a better sense of morality than the average person. That sounds like a dictatorship, but I am sorry to offend–it was not intended. Don’t take my search for truth personally. I like ideas and people who have them. I think all people are flawed but can be really good–at times brilliantly so, but I guess my hope is that that goodness comes from a greater good than I’ve seen here on this planet–I guess that’s romantic.We’re all buffoons at times. That’s what makes life funny.
I don’t think we are that far off — you and I.
I didn’t get offended. Not sure that I get “offended” … maybe occasionally confused more than normal.
I don’t think we need to have all of the answers to make a romantic expression like this. I think we can all agree that some things need to change … and nothing will ever happen if we go around acting, talking & writing like everything is ok.
To me … those times when we feel “relieved” are the times when we are the most disconnected from whatever the hell reality is. Relief is necessary, and BOY do I seek it out, but there is something false about it — isn’t there?
Not on my “A” game this morning–watched a creepy documentary about AIDS drugs actually doing more harm than good last night–so I hope you’ll bear with me. As you will see when you read my books (haha) my characters definitely do not go around in a happy little false state of bliss–I hate those sorts of books. Life seems terribly unfair and ridiculous at times–maybe most times. Morphine, sex, food and religion act as my characters’ relief and it gets them into much trouble. I think this is because the things we use to feel relieved or medicated are counterfeit. They give us relief but each time a little less. I’ve always had a love/hate relationship with God–ever since dear old mom told me when I was five that she loved God more than me–I was like– what?! Or when a priest once said that my father had to die because I loved him too much. But then I was getting second hand info. I threw in a few biblical quotes at the beginning of my first novel because I was going to trash Christian missionaries. I like research so I kept reading more of the bible–cynically at first, but then certain things were kind of cool. I hate to even bring up the name–Jesus–because even I imagine the word said in that tv-evangelist sort of accent, but for me when I read the Gospel of John (without a preacher explaining it to me like I was a moron) I was impressed by the writing style
then this “fictional” man who had incredible depth and coolness at the same time. My book characters aren’t all equally impressed and some of them never will be. I’m not the kind of person who tries to convert people especially since I’m just a work in progress. Maybe the difference between you and me is that you have more faith in man and I’m not convinced that even with our best intentions man can change things for the good (consistently) on his own. I was going to say have a blessed day–as a joke! haha. Have a good one!
My cognition is not 100% either … as much as I love this little puppy we are fostering … our miniature poodle is a bad influence, and the situation has been a little exhausting …
Your books do sound interesting.
I get enough blessings from my mother.
I’m a work in progress, too. So, I hesitate to speak to my “worldview” … I’ve been hearing that word a lot lately. I wonder if that word is being used more often from the pulpit these days. I think there is something false about how this word is being used, but I can’t articulate it yet. Perhaps I’m noticing that it is being used before a string of sentences which don’t include “I think”. It worries me when followers do not qualify their thoughts with those words.
agree, truce. I have to get back to book five where a really great girl fight over feminism is happening—a priceless music box gets broken!
I sent you another reply before I read this.
Perhaps you need to find a vantage point? I will tell you, that it’s difficult to have any faith in humanity without one.
I feel like you might need to find that spot above the world … beyond all of your own negative experiences, feedback … incriminating evidence … and see humanity from the distance which you seek from “god”. I can do this in my own mind without prayer. Why can’t you? There is nothing special about me.
For me, getting this perspective started with acknowledging and maybe even glorifying my own insignificance. Loving how inconsequential I am and how indifferent the universe is to me. Believe me … I HATE the way things are, I HATE our culture, the whole thing saddens me — the meaningless look of it all made me feel helpless … until I stopped letting it chase me. I decided to let the exhaustion win — and just accept that there is no outrunning the indifference of odds & probability. So, I stopped, caught my breath, turned around, stared at this indifferent nothingness (in the face of my own imagining) … and, I started to laugh. The nonsense began to make sense. There’s no need to avoid it. It’s pleasant company and even an inspiring friend.
“So, now what?” I asked my new friend.
“Look” it said.
And, I saw humanity as myself.
There is no “me”. There is nothing supernatural about this realization. There is nothing supernatural about a creature feeling one with its species and responsible for its environment.
So, since I still hate the way things are, I’m not going to kill myself, and I’m a buffoon — not a politician or a scientist … I have no choice but to mock the things which I think need to change in myself (humanity) … until I die or they do.
Okay, one last reply to the reply
I was going to join your book club till I realized it was the Satanic Bible (haha). My vantage point is history which is endlessly repeating itself in clever disguises “nothing new under the sun” and all of that. The suffering and unintended consequences of even “good” impulses prove to me that this place is corrupt to the core, but there is still beauty and greatness in people and things here. I LOVE this planet and the people here. In fact I never want to die–haha. When I was deep into New Age stuff I sort of believed in the “beauty comes from within,” if only we were more educated, more spiritual, etc, things would be great—but I knew I wasn’t THAT smart and even the super smart people of the planet have never gotten rid of poverty, cruelty etc. I noticed that I was at my angriest when I was trying really hard to FIX things and finally came to the conclusion that I was always going to fall short on most things. I really don’t know exactly what God is all about and I think you’re right that asexual “leaders” do more harm than good. I decided after reading the dreaded book that almost everything was meaningless except loving others as you love yourself. The Bible doesn’t say become a dumb-ass and follow me blindly into hatred and despair–that’s plain old people acting stupid. Loving myself AND others is a big enough challenge when you get right down to it! Oh, and self mocking is really fun sometimes, isn’t it? All the best!
NOT the Satanic Bible. A book will never be chosen.
You can keep replying. Satan loves you. Hahaha, now I’m kidding.
I have a feeling your feelings about everything are shaped by your environment and experiences … am I wrong? Try to think like a geologist for a second. Our history as human beings is wayyyyyyyy too short to jump to conclusions about our potential as a species. Just like we can’t tell who a teenager is going to grow up to be. We are in the middle of a “growth spurt” and life is more awkward now than ever. It took us roughly 200,000 years to spawn 2 billion of us and only 90 years to spawn 5 billion more.
You say that you want to live forever. I’m not sure if you really mean that, but I had to examine that desire in myself. Desire to live forever was shaping and twisting how I saw life. I don’t want to live forever anymore. I want to live precisely as long as I can manage to stay alive and not a moment more. I want to be so spent at the end (if I don’t die in an accident) that I’m ready to call it a night — lights out — goodbye — hello dirt.
I see that you’re relating to my desire to “fix things” suggesting that it led to a feeling of failure in you … and implying perhaps unintentionally, I don’t know, that I should be skeptical of such a pursuit.
I know there is no end in sight. I know that I’m not going to get to see the change … in the way that even if there is change … how can I justify taking credit for it … how will I know if what I’m doing is working?
This thinking, in my mind, is driven by a results driven society founded by alpha males. But guess what? Now we getting too big for the alpha males to run this mother f’r for too much longer. There are too many people talking. Too many people telling each other they are unhappy … a long time ago a leader would have to tailor what he said to get the right reaction from the mob … that’s all he would have to do … get the right reaction and then sleep ok at night. Well shit isn’t that easy anymore. Thanks to odds and probability … with 7 billion of us … now more people are emerging with mob AND leadership characteristics … and thanks to the internet … we can talk. We can reach across the world and form alliances … spread the good news that, “HEY … human beings AREN’T BAD … we DON’T need god, and we CAN do better than this.”
Have you REALLY been looking for god all of this time … or have you been looking for solidarity … camaraderie … acceptance …? Some sense that there is some value to this life, right? If you wanted to fix things before, then I’m going to suggest that perhaps you STILL Want to fix things. But, you look around, don’t see eye to eye with those around you and aren’t willing to be alienated … because, that’s too painful. Too lonely. Too pointless.
Society will NEVER change — The cycle will repeat and repeat and repeat if we don’t believe it can change. That’s hard to realize if you don’t consider the age of humanity in comparison to the world. It’s hard to realize if you don’t see all of humanity as yourself … one human being.
Just like you would probably not accept your own mistakes as “all you are capable of” … we have to forgive humanity and picture it all getting better in order to make it so — even if it takes 500 years.
THIS is where I believe “god” stands in our way. It requires a “surrender” to individual limitations which often gets associated with the limitations of the whole. In that sense, your lack of faith in humanity could stem from a lack of faith in yourself. Perhaps you have been disappointed too many times. I don’t know. I could see that being the case for me … perhaps I am some sort of mutation in that I dismiss my failures as if someone else made them.
Woah, sorry to blab so much … but, now I went a wrote it … gotta go ahead and hit reply.
hey there chatty kathy–joking. I’m not sure I ever said I’ve given up on humanity. Not at all. If I believe God is good then I must think he makes cool things. I also think there will be a victory over evil and that we must play our part in it. Your allegiance is to evolution–a scientific theory with plenty of holes in it and my allegiance is to a God who some would say has his own set of holes. I like to know as many sides as possible to make informed decisions so I enjoy talking with all different people about their beliefs even if they differ from mine. I don’t feel defeated or depressed in any way. It is true that most atheist friends I have are old Ivy League educated activist eco-farmers who are cynical snobs with a real hate for the common man (whatever that means) so on that I will have to ponder (I did say they are my friends, though
I think all I’ve been trying to say is that it comes down to the individual. I have no special faith or hate for others. I have a deep love actually. Aquarians are natural humanitarians! I don’t hate atheists any more than Christians, but even if I believed in very strict evolution (and before you say it, I’m not anti-science) I would be very careful having faith in any mob (I’m claustrophobic). You know there’s those cute little singing mobs in malls, but then there’s the mobs that kill innocent people. I can only control what is at arm’s length. And now I’ve blabbed, too–got you back! Ha!
I’ve been thinking about the advent of a religious God for a while. You hear quite frequently these days that human beings are better off without God. What I find hard in making this argument –despite the fact that I agree with it to a certain extent –is that you can’t really prove its validity. The closest you can get, is a look at history before and after God.
Wandering and virtually Godless tribes and groups of people were –and I don’t mean this in a derogatory way –often savages. The moral compasses that guided tribe A were vastly different than those guiding tribe B. In tribe A, sodomizing the corpses of those defeated in battle may have been an appropriate manner of celebration. In tribe B, however, this might have been offensive. What I mean to say here, is that without moral consensus — all the ‘good’ that we presently see in the world would not really exist. This moral consensus owes itself largely, I think –and not entirely –to the advent of God and agriculture. With agricultural societies, larger settlements were formed. Towns. Cities. These cities had a center, for example, a ziggurat of religious importance. Aside from the psychological changes that this physical center brought, the moral center –the God –was able to impose consensus. It ay have been by way of force. It may have come at a bloody cost. But “You never know what kind of worse luck your bad luck has saved you from.” (A quote from Cormac McCarthy.
I do not think that all humans are well-off to believe in God. I do not believe that we require God to be ‘morally correct.’ I think that many people perceive an artificial purpose through God, which might make them okay enough not to kill themselves or be unkind to their neighbors. This is good. When I think of all the war and bloodshed that had arisen out of God’s name, I see bad luck. The worse luck –the reality we cannot know (which is why your argument is hard to make) may have been a morally fragmented and bloody mess. On the surface, faith and God can easily be seen as silly beliefs. But how can we say that God is bad when we don’t even know where we would be today without that concept?
My first visit to your blog. I came from David Yerle’s ‘awesome stuff’ page. I like it. There is a lot of good discussion here.
You seem to have a balance point of view, there. I’m thankful that David started his “Awesome Stuff” page, so I could start following your blog, too.
Sometimes the discussion here is good. Sometimes I neutralize it, unintentionally, with some absurd comment.
If it’s discussion you like, consider checking this out … http://defendyourpost.com/
Will do. Thank you!