Too many debates about God and religion. They don't get very far. Too many dead ends. Too much resistance. Too much fear.
Forget it. If I walk away from the idea of God, where do I find myself?
Am I alone? Disconnected?
Do I matter?
Is it better to be right, or to be alive?
If I dismiss myself as nothing more than physical matter, I can't be hurt, because no matter what happens to me, the worst that can happen is that the matter I am made of will separate and have to find a way to survive in isolated particles, or else attach to other particles in order to become the substance of something else. Matter does not disappear.
I am a collection of bonded matter. My body is programmed by genetic matter I unwittingly inherited from some host human. What is that about? i don't remember choosing the nature or circumstances of my existence.
I resent the notion that who I am was defined for me before I got here.
I also resent the attempts of humans who held power over me to mold my mind to live in supplication of their approval.
What does it mean to be human?
Is humanity important?
Why do I care so much about other humans?
This isn't about God. It is about me and you. It is about me and my daughter. It is about generation x and generation y.
Why should you matter to me?
Why should I matter to you?
You know what.
There is nothing to say to this post. I'm just reflecting on this, a great piece of thought- typed out - and posted onto this website.
If you sit and think long and hard about anything... eventually nothing makes sense.
We've created this world that we live in falsely through our words and actions... but how else can we describe and interact with our world otherwise?
Thanks to you I feel like nothing and everything all at once.
Dave
"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself." -F.N.
It is sort of a post-modern Song of Myself, isn't it?
"Never go with a hippy to a second location."
~Jack Donaghy
http://www.progressiveu.org/blog/ediblewoman
Some great ?'s. I've pondered them often and still do. Science recognizes at least two things (that I know of) that are neither created nor destroyed, matter and energy. That would make them eternal, correct? Or without beginning and without end. I recognize at least one other thing that is eternal. Truth, or law. Matter and energy obey law and coexist with it. For example, matter obeys the law that it is not, was not, and will not be created. It seems natural to conclude then that that law is as eternal as is the matter. Then law is eternal. I don't have a proof to present to you, but I also suspect that intelligence is eternal. I don't even know well how to define that, but it's just something that's always seemed "correct" somehow. Imagine that were so. That would mean both you and I never began (our intelligence), and will never end. Interesting to think of the implications. Too bad you wanted to leave religion out, I would love to discuss this topic from that angle. Great blog by the way, and don't resent the conditions of life too much, I've a sneaking suspicion that it was our choice to come here, all the trouble included.
Shhh. Let's not get ahead of ourselves. This is meant to be a platform for unbiased exploration.
"Consistency is not a human trait" - Maude, from Harold and Maude
"Am I alone? Disconnected?
Do I matter?
Is it better to be right, or to be alive?"
No. Yes. Depends.
"he worst that can happen is that the matter I am made of will separate and have to find a way to survive in isolated particles,"
The worst that can happen to you is that your consciousness will cease to exist. In my humble opinion, at least.
"What does it mean to be human?
Is humanity important?
Why do I care so much about other humans?"
Good question, to humans, because, regardless of how you believe we came to be, empathy is clearly beneficial to humanity.
Nice writing, by the way.
"Don't blame me. I voted for Kodos."
Homer Simpson
""he worst that can happen is that the matter I am made of will separate and have to find a way to survive in isolated particles,"
The worst that can happen to you is that your consciousness will cease to exist. In my humble opinion, at least."
Actually, the cessation of my consciousness does not bother me at all. I am far more interested in the fate of my DNA which has already replicated and exists outside of myself and will, hopefully continue to exist long after my consciousness.
"Consistency is not a human trait" - Maude, from Harold and Maude
I am much less concerned with what happens physically to me after my death than I am with death itself. I don't exactly have a problem with the idea of being dead, so long as I have lived a long enough/full enough life, but the act of dieing is an issue for me.
After my death, whatever happens to the atoms that, at the time made up my body, will continue to exist, certainly, just as the atoms that had previously made up my body. I am not consoled or disheartened by this fact; what matters to me at this point is for that point is the well-being of anyone I happen to leave behind.
"Don't blame me. I voted for Kodos."
Homer Simpson