Kinda need to poop.
But it might just be a fart.
At least it's a start.
6.17.2012
2.10.2009
2.01.2009
Religiosity
The following is a stream-of-consciousness post regarding religion.
Religion. Where to start. I'll go with my definition and views on it. To me, religion is not necessarily the belief system that any one individual has in place, rather it is the collective beliefs of a group of people. Thus, religion, being organized religion, is simply a group of people. How does that work? I suppose the type of community and togetherness that it instills is helpful to an extent, but I've been burned by the faithful community too often. Ultimately it comes down to the fact that religion is run by people. Not by some higher power. Even if man is created in the form of God, we are certainly not of the same stock. People, by nature, are fallible. Genesis, read it. So why, then, do we humans find it necessary to group together with other fallible people in order to worship the ways in which we please? Some innate and intangible desire for togetherness? It just doesn't make sense to me. Community based religious tradition makes slightly more sense to me, as there's just a pastor of sorts that helps to translate the word of the preferred deity or written gospel into language that is more accessible to the masses. How about hierarchical conceptions of religion? They make no sense to me. How can worship be hierarchical? How can one persons views be more important than other peoples? Especially considering that the people who often rank above you in these systems are fully fallible themselves. No one is perfect. Everyone has an agenda. Even with the purest of intentions, trying to dictate and govern the lives of many--- potentially altering the course of their salvation-- just makes no sense to me. I'm more of a small group kind of person, myself. If I can come to an understanding with how I feel about things, even if it isn't indoctrinated, I feel better. Better than if I find billions of other people that think similarly to me. In the end, I think you'll be hard-pressed to find a very large number of people, if any at all, within any one religion that actually feel exactly the same way about every aspect of said religion. Some are more tolerant than others. Some are more strict. Whatever the option, any variations that one takes in their belief system from the official one can be contrived as heretical within that organization, and that is asinine. So, then, religion isn't for me. I can't deal with that shit. I'll take my own baggage and deal with it.
The good books. I'm a history major; I've read plenty of religious texts in the course of my study. Additionally, as a hobby and because I find it interesting, important, fulfilling, and enlightening, I have read further texts and subtexts of various religions simply to expand my knowledge of the world, cultures, and ideas around me. Now, one thing that I've found to be common throughout most religions is that invariably there is some higher authority, and that higher authority refers to a human before it does to a God of sorts. Some sort of religious conduit. Okay. Lets say that I accept that viewpoint- which I don't- what does that mean? That means that I'm saying that some human is more divine than myself. But I was created by God too. That makes no sense. We're equal. We're human. We're fallible. Here's an interesting bit of information that too many overlook when they look at their beloved books of faith. They were written by people. Not by God himself. Going along with this, there is the fact that in the past it was incredibly difficult for people to be labeled as psychotic, neurotic, or mentally ill in general. It is entirely possible that our great religious prophets of old were simply unstable people with a great deal of charisma. Does anyone actually believe that Muhammad rode a unicorn to heaven? God I hope not. The basis of several religions comes from potential crackpots. Great. How, then, was their word organized into writings? Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad and others have all been humans who claimed to have some sort of divine nature or connection. Several have reached God status. The word of Jesus was never written by his own hand. Muhammad's dreams were written down AFTER HE DIED, and were second hand even then. So, then, the "Word of God" is actually the product of people who knew people who claimed to be divine. Super believable, given that people have motives and are fallible.
Along with this, how about the nature of the gospels? For this example I will stick to Christianity as it is probably the most ample example. The Bible began to be canonized in AD 325 under the emperor Constantine, a roman emperor, who himself was not a Christian. He converted on his deathbed. He headed the Council of Nicea, and thus his influence upon the process was immense. The official version we now know as the New and Old Testaments weren't finalized until the late 5th century, nearly half of a millennium after the death of Jesus himself. Where, then do the writings come from? Many were written by close associates of Jesus himself, or by other religious figures. Okay. Fine. The process of canonizing is what bothers me, here. People chose which texts they thought were "right" for their religion. People picked and chose the texts they thought exhibited the views they wanted to project. There are accounts and depictions of Jesus that are unsavory. Their veracity and validity is questionable, but so, too, are those qualities of the official doctrine. Some of the unadopted gospels were clearly more biased than other, such as that of Judas, and are likely not representations of the truth. I'm a historian. I analyze sources and try to get to the truth behind it. Religious texts are fucking ridiculous. To me, having read quite a few, all I can take out of them-- the ONLY thing I can take seriously, are the morals behind them. They present a pleasant way in which to approach the world. Read literally, most of the stories sound crackpot and are clearly made up in order to prove a point rather than provide the truth.
These are the two primary reasons why I can't adhere to a religion. I have yet to touch on my personal feelings, beliefs, or thoughts on the topic of a higher power or how the universe ticks. Lets get into that.
As far as it being the word of God or something I must adhere to in every way.. no. Too many anecdotes are merely adopted from previous religions. Few religious ideas are original. There are several aspects of religions, however, that seem to repeat themselves. Interestingly enough, many of these consistencies are related to the cosmos at large. Probably not a coincidence. The zodiac, the constellations, the Mayans description thereof. The Mayan tree of life refers to the Milky Way galaxy in the sky. Yes, we're part of it, but yes, we can also see it pretty vividly. Look it up. The concept of a world tree is repeated in Norse and other mythologies. Likewise, many theologies and even some Eastern philosophy is guided by reading the stars. Astrology is seen to be crackpot, but most of our religions have their origins in it. (Look at the winter solstice. The "son" or sun dies on the cross- the crossroads in the sky at the Milky Way- and is resurrected after 3 days. The days start getting longer after the three shortest days of the year, and there is so little movement that it looks as though the sun is not moving. The three day resurrection is repeated in many religions.) After the acceptance of the major religions, astrology was labeled as nonsense and heretical. Religion had gotten what it wanted, and people wanted to solidify power in their institutions.
None of this really points to my belief system, however. The problem is I'm still struggling with developing one. All I can really say is that I was raised Christian and have fairly strong Christian morals, despite the fact that many would consider me to be a fairly vulgar and amoral individual based on my constant inappropraite quips and retorts. Perhaps I am a bit desensitized, but that's merely a product of my environment. Shit happens. I have my reasons for being the way that I am, and I wouldn't be me without them. This is an interesting point to touch on, as it is the concept behind determinism, a humanistic concept of the way things go down. It's basically a counter-thesis to the religious dogma involving Intelligent Design. Everything that has happened to you, shortly before and long before, has influenced an individual and made them who they are-- to the extent that they determine what an individual will do given any circumstance. The main thing to take away from determinism is that it takes away the illusion of free will, and means that in any given situation you have no choice, it has been decided already. Luckily, it hasn't been decided at random. It's been decided because you are you- a collection of all things that have happened to you previously. It's a nice concept, I find it comforting and a hell of a lot more believable than ID. I don't agree with it entirely, but it's a good starting point.
What, then, of a higher power? Well, I don't define it as such. I feel like the universe and cosmos are constantly at work, and that things go on in cycles because of this. To quote Fight Club, "On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to 0." I'm fine with that. It makes sense. Now, that sounds as though I don't think that there is something bigger than us happening. That would be a fallacy. For a while I thought I was atheist because I don't accept any standard version of what religion would call a "God." I've come to realize that I'm not atheist at all- that rather I have a unique conception of what God can mean. I'm not sure that I can describe in words what this conception of mine is. It's amorphous, abstract, and I'm still struggling to figure it out myself.
How about my feelings on science. Coming from a background that relies on finding facts and truths, analyzing data and coming to logical conclusions, science makes sense to me. Would I say that I accept some science as fact or law? Not really. Other things just make sense. Evolution, social darwinism, etc. do make sense, though. How about the intersecting points between religious traditions in the world and science? This is currently the part of my belief system that intrigues me the most and that I am trying to make sense of. Ultimately, though, I feel that everything is cyclic and is governed by something greater than us. To explain this would be ridiculously long-winded, so I'll spare you. For good summary material, I can point you in the right direction, however. Belief system wise, I'd have to say that in this sense my views represent Mayan ideologies more than any other religion. This, however, cannot dilude the influences on me of Eastern traditions such as Daoism, which I unwittingly have been adhering to to a certain extent for many years, only recently becoming aware of this. Balance, moderation, moderate ascetism, and my laid back lifestyle are the key components of this. The parts with religious implications involve the cosmos, the way things work, balance in all things, and several other parts.
The hardest part for me, right now, is just having the time to do all of the research that I need to in order to solidify and formulate my viewpoints entirely. I don't have that kind of time. I usually spend my summers working on figuring this shit out. In order to figure these things out, I need to be aware of a plethora of scientific theories, discoveries, and analyses in addition to quite a few philosophies and religions. Beyond this, I need to be intimately familiar with them. I can't analyze my situation fully until I am fully knowledgable about all things that factor into it.
An example that will likely make me sound eccentric right on the spot is about to follow. One thing that I'm thinking about right now is the winter solstice in 2012. I'm well aware of many of the crackpot theories out about this-- I've read many. The most ridiculous perhaps being a guy that is going to jump off of a cliff in Arizona at 7:46AM on that day and hopes to cross through a portal to the next dimension in order to "Level up." My thoughts on it are a bit more grounded in research and past events, but still unusual and widely viewed as neurotic. Fuckit. I'm not the average person. There are indications that the earth's magnetic field is weakening far more than it should be at the moment. In the next 15-20 thousand years earth will be susceptible to harmful cosmic and solar rays without this magnetic buffer. Alarming to most? Probably not. Important, though. The Mayan calendar ends on that date for a reason, as it marks the end of one of their cycles. It also marks the end of a Zodiac cycle. Earth will also be aligned with the center of the galaxy. Whatever, I won't bore you. Anyhoo, there is evidence suggesting that on earth there have been polar shifts. This concept is foreign to most. Imagine the earth's crust moving several thousand miles, as a whole, sliding over the core of the earth in order to realign with new poles. This appears to have happened not slowly, but over a period of hours or days. If earth's magnetism can deteriorate at this rate, it likely would've been gone long ago. Something must recharge it. It makes sense, it's based in science, religion, personal belief, and theory.
Is it right? Most likely not. The point is, this is an example of how I rationalize the world around me and our place in the universe. As I've said I haven't figured out my belief system yet. It's a work in progress. What is important, though, is that it's important to me and that I think about it.
So that's me. How about how I feel about what religion has done to the world? For all of the niceties it's afforded and the comfort provided to people, it's accounted for a lot of fucked up shit. Aggressive conversion policies are and always have been ridiculous, as are subtle ones. Maybe people like their beliefs and have a reason for having them. This point hits close to home as my Aunt was a Christian Missionary. She'd hate to hear me say this. Whatever. She did great things for the people she helped, and I admire her for that. They found Christ through her, and they sure seem to have enjoyed that. That's great. But really, what right do people have to say "Oh here, our God is better than yours." It seems demeaning and dissenting. People have told me that they will miss not having me in Heaven. That's great, I'm glad that you think that much of me. What you have to realize is that to me, not believing all of the dogma that goes with religion, I don't really see a heaven to go to. You can go to heaven. That's your belief. You enjoy it, cherish it. Don't try to make me go there, because to me, there simply isn't one to go to. I'm fine with that. That's my belief system. People often believe what they do for a reason, to take that from them feels like raping someones identity to me.
Wars, atrocities, etc.. we're all aware of them. They would occur without religion. But, can you really say that without religious affiliations most of these groups of people would actually be at one another's throats? I don't think anyone really can. This falls in with the aggressive expansion, the two most prolific being Jihad and the Crusader state of mind. In a technical sense, the Crusades are ongoing as is the Jihad. America was founded by Christians as a Christian land. And was cleansed of natives to make room for more Christians. Beautiful start. No matter how far removed anyone is from a situation, one cannot ignore that through their support they may indirectly contribute to some of the worlds problems. I do. That's life. Individually, though, my impact is far smaller than that of a large group of people.
However, nation-based society would not work without religion. The world as we know it wouldn't begin to exist. Why? "Religion is the opium of the masses." - Karl Marx. It pacifies people. Makes them happy. Keeps them content with what they have. Now, I'm not meaning to bad-mouth religion. It's done great things for people, also. It's just not for me, and these are the reasons why.
To each his own.
I'm fine with religious people and I will never give anyone shit for what they believe or think. It's important that people know how they feel about things. Marx's quote takes a different direction for ignorant people. I have no respect for those who are ignorant of their own beliefs and exhibit no willingness to further their understanding thereof. Blind followers truly are sheep, and will have their wool harvested for the rest of their lives until they are led to the slaughter. I'd much rather have no religion and know why than have a religion and not know why.
I'm going to stop now.
Addendum 2/9:
Explanation of my feelings regarding a soul etc to follow. Check this website for a general idea of it http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaia_theory_(science) OKAY. To me, and yes, I got this idea from a video game, but it was a very spiritually oriented video game and the concept within it was based on this hypothesis and various exlpanations of it have been rendered both before and since in scientific and religious communities. Basics: Every living thing has an essence in it. A spark, force, a spirit, a soul, whatever you want to call it. The collective total of this spirit force is held throughout the world and universe, and is a part of the cycles that I mentioned in my original post. When something is born, it is given some of this spirit essence in order to give it life and meaning. All of this beings memories and experiences are recorded and impacted on the soul, and are added back into the collective soul upon death. Much as the body goes back to the earth, the soul goes back to the spirit pool. Everything has this. Trees, birds, humans- everything that lives. I find this thought to be extremely comforting. It means that everything that I do will impact something later, not only in terms of cultural or physical actions, but also emotionally, spiritually, and intellectually. My experiences will not be forgotten. They enter the collective whole which we are all a part of. Furthermore, this fits in a bit better with the concept in many religions of rebirth. It isn't necessarily "me" that would be reborn, but everything born henceforth will have some part of me in it. I am, and will be, part of the collective universal experience. Cycles calm me. I like this. I find it soothing to think that from me a blue bird will one day come to life and be happy. Maybe that's my conception of Heaven, too, I don't know. Too much of religious dogma these days is based on the thoughts and opinions of several individuals with creative imaginations (i.e. Dante and his version of Hell). I like to think of Heaven as being more amorphous, and being whatever it is that someone wants it to be. Honestly, in original form, I don't see my conception as being that different from the Christian one. I get to be with my family and friends. We just won't be in human-ish likenesses of ourselves dancing in the clouds with some angels. Everything comes from the collective spirit force, and returns to it, having added their unique experiences and footprints on it. Because of all of this, my conception of God is hard for me to figure out. I know I feel like there's someone or something out there bigger than us, helping to pull the strinsg on all of this. My vision of a God, though, is more in line with Chinese tradition in that he took the time to set everything up and put natural laws in order to govern everything. Balance, harmony, and order in all things regulate the world around us-- and this fits in with both the cyclic vision I have of the world and all of the Chinese philosphy I've read, both of which have impacted me greatly. As such, I don't see a God being involved in daily lives and granting wishes at a whim at all. He just kind of lets things run their course to me. Most people would say that means I don't believe in God. That's not really true. I just don't believe in a God the same way that people of any religion really do. It's astounding how much I can relate to Chinese philosophy (China is NOT a religious country, and never has been except for a few centuries around 600-800) given that I never read it until this year. Reading it helped me to put things into words and make sense of thoughts that I already had.
Religion. Where to start. I'll go with my definition and views on it. To me, religion is not necessarily the belief system that any one individual has in place, rather it is the collective beliefs of a group of people. Thus, religion, being organized religion, is simply a group of people. How does that work? I suppose the type of community and togetherness that it instills is helpful to an extent, but I've been burned by the faithful community too often. Ultimately it comes down to the fact that religion is run by people. Not by some higher power. Even if man is created in the form of God, we are certainly not of the same stock. People, by nature, are fallible. Genesis, read it. So why, then, do we humans find it necessary to group together with other fallible people in order to worship the ways in which we please? Some innate and intangible desire for togetherness? It just doesn't make sense to me. Community based religious tradition makes slightly more sense to me, as there's just a pastor of sorts that helps to translate the word of the preferred deity or written gospel into language that is more accessible to the masses. How about hierarchical conceptions of religion? They make no sense to me. How can worship be hierarchical? How can one persons views be more important than other peoples? Especially considering that the people who often rank above you in these systems are fully fallible themselves. No one is perfect. Everyone has an agenda. Even with the purest of intentions, trying to dictate and govern the lives of many--- potentially altering the course of their salvation-- just makes no sense to me. I'm more of a small group kind of person, myself. If I can come to an understanding with how I feel about things, even if it isn't indoctrinated, I feel better. Better than if I find billions of other people that think similarly to me. In the end, I think you'll be hard-pressed to find a very large number of people, if any at all, within any one religion that actually feel exactly the same way about every aspect of said religion. Some are more tolerant than others. Some are more strict. Whatever the option, any variations that one takes in their belief system from the official one can be contrived as heretical within that organization, and that is asinine. So, then, religion isn't for me. I can't deal with that shit. I'll take my own baggage and deal with it.
The good books. I'm a history major; I've read plenty of religious texts in the course of my study. Additionally, as a hobby and because I find it interesting, important, fulfilling, and enlightening, I have read further texts and subtexts of various religions simply to expand my knowledge of the world, cultures, and ideas around me. Now, one thing that I've found to be common throughout most religions is that invariably there is some higher authority, and that higher authority refers to a human before it does to a God of sorts. Some sort of religious conduit. Okay. Lets say that I accept that viewpoint- which I don't- what does that mean? That means that I'm saying that some human is more divine than myself. But I was created by God too. That makes no sense. We're equal. We're human. We're fallible. Here's an interesting bit of information that too many overlook when they look at their beloved books of faith. They were written by people. Not by God himself. Going along with this, there is the fact that in the past it was incredibly difficult for people to be labeled as psychotic, neurotic, or mentally ill in general. It is entirely possible that our great religious prophets of old were simply unstable people with a great deal of charisma. Does anyone actually believe that Muhammad rode a unicorn to heaven? God I hope not. The basis of several religions comes from potential crackpots. Great. How, then, was their word organized into writings? Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad and others have all been humans who claimed to have some sort of divine nature or connection. Several have reached God status. The word of Jesus was never written by his own hand. Muhammad's dreams were written down AFTER HE DIED, and were second hand even then. So, then, the "Word of God" is actually the product of people who knew people who claimed to be divine. Super believable, given that people have motives and are fallible.
Along with this, how about the nature of the gospels? For this example I will stick to Christianity as it is probably the most ample example. The Bible began to be canonized in AD 325 under the emperor Constantine, a roman emperor, who himself was not a Christian. He converted on his deathbed. He headed the Council of Nicea, and thus his influence upon the process was immense. The official version we now know as the New and Old Testaments weren't finalized until the late 5th century, nearly half of a millennium after the death of Jesus himself. Where, then do the writings come from? Many were written by close associates of Jesus himself, or by other religious figures. Okay. Fine. The process of canonizing is what bothers me, here. People chose which texts they thought were "right" for their religion. People picked and chose the texts they thought exhibited the views they wanted to project. There are accounts and depictions of Jesus that are unsavory. Their veracity and validity is questionable, but so, too, are those qualities of the official doctrine. Some of the unadopted gospels were clearly more biased than other, such as that of Judas, and are likely not representations of the truth. I'm a historian. I analyze sources and try to get to the truth behind it. Religious texts are fucking ridiculous. To me, having read quite a few, all I can take out of them-- the ONLY thing I can take seriously, are the morals behind them. They present a pleasant way in which to approach the world. Read literally, most of the stories sound crackpot and are clearly made up in order to prove a point rather than provide the truth.
These are the two primary reasons why I can't adhere to a religion. I have yet to touch on my personal feelings, beliefs, or thoughts on the topic of a higher power or how the universe ticks. Lets get into that.
As far as it being the word of God or something I must adhere to in every way.. no. Too many anecdotes are merely adopted from previous religions. Few religious ideas are original. There are several aspects of religions, however, that seem to repeat themselves. Interestingly enough, many of these consistencies are related to the cosmos at large. Probably not a coincidence. The zodiac, the constellations, the Mayans description thereof. The Mayan tree of life refers to the Milky Way galaxy in the sky. Yes, we're part of it, but yes, we can also see it pretty vividly. Look it up. The concept of a world tree is repeated in Norse and other mythologies. Likewise, many theologies and even some Eastern philosophy is guided by reading the stars. Astrology is seen to be crackpot, but most of our religions have their origins in it. (Look at the winter solstice. The "son" or sun dies on the cross- the crossroads in the sky at the Milky Way- and is resurrected after 3 days. The days start getting longer after the three shortest days of the year, and there is so little movement that it looks as though the sun is not moving. The three day resurrection is repeated in many religions.) After the acceptance of the major religions, astrology was labeled as nonsense and heretical. Religion had gotten what it wanted, and people wanted to solidify power in their institutions.
None of this really points to my belief system, however. The problem is I'm still struggling with developing one. All I can really say is that I was raised Christian and have fairly strong Christian morals, despite the fact that many would consider me to be a fairly vulgar and amoral individual based on my constant inappropraite quips and retorts. Perhaps I am a bit desensitized, but that's merely a product of my environment. Shit happens. I have my reasons for being the way that I am, and I wouldn't be me without them. This is an interesting point to touch on, as it is the concept behind determinism, a humanistic concept of the way things go down. It's basically a counter-thesis to the religious dogma involving Intelligent Design. Everything that has happened to you, shortly before and long before, has influenced an individual and made them who they are-- to the extent that they determine what an individual will do given any circumstance. The main thing to take away from determinism is that it takes away the illusion of free will, and means that in any given situation you have no choice, it has been decided already. Luckily, it hasn't been decided at random. It's been decided because you are you- a collection of all things that have happened to you previously. It's a nice concept, I find it comforting and a hell of a lot more believable than ID. I don't agree with it entirely, but it's a good starting point.
What, then, of a higher power? Well, I don't define it as such. I feel like the universe and cosmos are constantly at work, and that things go on in cycles because of this. To quote Fight Club, "On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to 0." I'm fine with that. It makes sense. Now, that sounds as though I don't think that there is something bigger than us happening. That would be a fallacy. For a while I thought I was atheist because I don't accept any standard version of what religion would call a "God." I've come to realize that I'm not atheist at all- that rather I have a unique conception of what God can mean. I'm not sure that I can describe in words what this conception of mine is. It's amorphous, abstract, and I'm still struggling to figure it out myself.
How about my feelings on science. Coming from a background that relies on finding facts and truths, analyzing data and coming to logical conclusions, science makes sense to me. Would I say that I accept some science as fact or law? Not really. Other things just make sense. Evolution, social darwinism, etc. do make sense, though. How about the intersecting points between religious traditions in the world and science? This is currently the part of my belief system that intrigues me the most and that I am trying to make sense of. Ultimately, though, I feel that everything is cyclic and is governed by something greater than us. To explain this would be ridiculously long-winded, so I'll spare you. For good summary material, I can point you in the right direction, however. Belief system wise, I'd have to say that in this sense my views represent Mayan ideologies more than any other religion. This, however, cannot dilude the influences on me of Eastern traditions such as Daoism, which I unwittingly have been adhering to to a certain extent for many years, only recently becoming aware of this. Balance, moderation, moderate ascetism, and my laid back lifestyle are the key components of this. The parts with religious implications involve the cosmos, the way things work, balance in all things, and several other parts.
The hardest part for me, right now, is just having the time to do all of the research that I need to in order to solidify and formulate my viewpoints entirely. I don't have that kind of time. I usually spend my summers working on figuring this shit out. In order to figure these things out, I need to be aware of a plethora of scientific theories, discoveries, and analyses in addition to quite a few philosophies and religions. Beyond this, I need to be intimately familiar with them. I can't analyze my situation fully until I am fully knowledgable about all things that factor into it.
An example that will likely make me sound eccentric right on the spot is about to follow. One thing that I'm thinking about right now is the winter solstice in 2012. I'm well aware of many of the crackpot theories out about this-- I've read many. The most ridiculous perhaps being a guy that is going to jump off of a cliff in Arizona at 7:46AM on that day and hopes to cross through a portal to the next dimension in order to "Level up." My thoughts on it are a bit more grounded in research and past events, but still unusual and widely viewed as neurotic. Fuckit. I'm not the average person. There are indications that the earth's magnetic field is weakening far more than it should be at the moment. In the next 15-20 thousand years earth will be susceptible to harmful cosmic and solar rays without this magnetic buffer. Alarming to most? Probably not. Important, though. The Mayan calendar ends on that date for a reason, as it marks the end of one of their cycles. It also marks the end of a Zodiac cycle. Earth will also be aligned with the center of the galaxy. Whatever, I won't bore you. Anyhoo, there is evidence suggesting that on earth there have been polar shifts. This concept is foreign to most. Imagine the earth's crust moving several thousand miles, as a whole, sliding over the core of the earth in order to realign with new poles. This appears to have happened not slowly, but over a period of hours or days. If earth's magnetism can deteriorate at this rate, it likely would've been gone long ago. Something must recharge it. It makes sense, it's based in science, religion, personal belief, and theory.
Is it right? Most likely not. The point is, this is an example of how I rationalize the world around me and our place in the universe. As I've said I haven't figured out my belief system yet. It's a work in progress. What is important, though, is that it's important to me and that I think about it.
So that's me. How about how I feel about what religion has done to the world? For all of the niceties it's afforded and the comfort provided to people, it's accounted for a lot of fucked up shit. Aggressive conversion policies are and always have been ridiculous, as are subtle ones. Maybe people like their beliefs and have a reason for having them. This point hits close to home as my Aunt was a Christian Missionary. She'd hate to hear me say this. Whatever. She did great things for the people she helped, and I admire her for that. They found Christ through her, and they sure seem to have enjoyed that. That's great. But really, what right do people have to say "Oh here, our God is better than yours." It seems demeaning and dissenting. People have told me that they will miss not having me in Heaven. That's great, I'm glad that you think that much of me. What you have to realize is that to me, not believing all of the dogma that goes with religion, I don't really see a heaven to go to. You can go to heaven. That's your belief. You enjoy it, cherish it. Don't try to make me go there, because to me, there simply isn't one to go to. I'm fine with that. That's my belief system. People often believe what they do for a reason, to take that from them feels like raping someones identity to me.
Wars, atrocities, etc.. we're all aware of them. They would occur without religion. But, can you really say that without religious affiliations most of these groups of people would actually be at one another's throats? I don't think anyone really can. This falls in with the aggressive expansion, the two most prolific being Jihad and the Crusader state of mind. In a technical sense, the Crusades are ongoing as is the Jihad. America was founded by Christians as a Christian land. And was cleansed of natives to make room for more Christians. Beautiful start. No matter how far removed anyone is from a situation, one cannot ignore that through their support they may indirectly contribute to some of the worlds problems. I do. That's life. Individually, though, my impact is far smaller than that of a large group of people.
However, nation-based society would not work without religion. The world as we know it wouldn't begin to exist. Why? "Religion is the opium of the masses." - Karl Marx. It pacifies people. Makes them happy. Keeps them content with what they have. Now, I'm not meaning to bad-mouth religion. It's done great things for people, also. It's just not for me, and these are the reasons why.
To each his own.
I'm fine with religious people and I will never give anyone shit for what they believe or think. It's important that people know how they feel about things. Marx's quote takes a different direction for ignorant people. I have no respect for those who are ignorant of their own beliefs and exhibit no willingness to further their understanding thereof. Blind followers truly are sheep, and will have their wool harvested for the rest of their lives until they are led to the slaughter. I'd much rather have no religion and know why than have a religion and not know why.
I'm going to stop now.
Addendum 2/9:
Explanation of my feelings regarding a soul etc to follow. Check this website for a general idea of it http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaia_theory_(science) OKAY. To me, and yes, I got this idea from a video game, but it was a very spiritually oriented video game and the concept within it was based on this hypothesis and various exlpanations of it have been rendered both before and since in scientific and religious communities. Basics: Every living thing has an essence in it. A spark, force, a spirit, a soul, whatever you want to call it. The collective total of this spirit force is held throughout the world and universe, and is a part of the cycles that I mentioned in my original post. When something is born, it is given some of this spirit essence in order to give it life and meaning. All of this beings memories and experiences are recorded and impacted on the soul, and are added back into the collective soul upon death. Much as the body goes back to the earth, the soul goes back to the spirit pool. Everything has this. Trees, birds, humans- everything that lives. I find this thought to be extremely comforting. It means that everything that I do will impact something later, not only in terms of cultural or physical actions, but also emotionally, spiritually, and intellectually. My experiences will not be forgotten. They enter the collective whole which we are all a part of. Furthermore, this fits in a bit better with the concept in many religions of rebirth. It isn't necessarily "me" that would be reborn, but everything born henceforth will have some part of me in it. I am, and will be, part of the collective universal experience. Cycles calm me. I like this. I find it soothing to think that from me a blue bird will one day come to life and be happy. Maybe that's my conception of Heaven, too, I don't know. Too much of religious dogma these days is based on the thoughts and opinions of several individuals with creative imaginations (i.e. Dante and his version of Hell). I like to think of Heaven as being more amorphous, and being whatever it is that someone wants it to be. Honestly, in original form, I don't see my conception as being that different from the Christian one. I get to be with my family and friends. We just won't be in human-ish likenesses of ourselves dancing in the clouds with some angels. Everything comes from the collective spirit force, and returns to it, having added their unique experiences and footprints on it. Because of all of this, my conception of God is hard for me to figure out. I know I feel like there's someone or something out there bigger than us, helping to pull the strinsg on all of this. My vision of a God, though, is more in line with Chinese tradition in that he took the time to set everything up and put natural laws in order to govern everything. Balance, harmony, and order in all things regulate the world around us-- and this fits in with both the cyclic vision I have of the world and all of the Chinese philosphy I've read, both of which have impacted me greatly. As such, I don't see a God being involved in daily lives and granting wishes at a whim at all. He just kind of lets things run their course to me. Most people would say that means I don't believe in God. That's not really true. I just don't believe in a God the same way that people of any religion really do. It's astounding how much I can relate to Chinese philosophy (China is NOT a religious country, and never has been except for a few centuries around 600-800) given that I never read it until this year. Reading it helped me to put things into words and make sense of thoughts that I already had.
1.26.2009
Politically Aware?
The number of people that believe that they are aware of what's going on in the world when they really have no idea astounds me. I am no exception- I read various news websites daily and try to keep up, but obviously it is impossible to get a real handle on absolutely everything.
Unlike myself, though, many are truly ignorant. Understanding what's going on in your area, your state, or your country alone simply cannot be considered being sophisticated nor aware of the current political climate. This tendency of many people has become increasingly apparent as of late due in part to the economic crisis (which, oddly enough, is global. Who knew?), but more largely due to the overwhelming amount of press coverage given to the election process and our new President.
Right now there are conflicts going on in the world that most Americans are simply unaware of. What's more, they don't even care. Beyond that, the ones that they do know about they have ridiculous misconceptions of. The Israeli/Hamas conflict is a prime example as most people have heard of it. Many assume that aggressive and unbalanced retaliations by the Israelis are totally unwarranted and are injuring far too many innocents. While some of this may be true, one cannot simply ignore the longstanding conflict and tension in the region that has led to this point. I know a fair amount about this subject. How many people that you know do? How about a percentage? I'd venture to say it's low. And that's one of the most talked about conflicts in the world.
What, then, of the economic climate of various nations across the globe and its effect upon many nations? The coalition government in Iceland just dissolved today. The crisis we find ourselves in is indeed important for us to address here in the US. However, we tend to blow our issues out of proportion. Just because we can't keep the standard of living that we were previously used to, clearly the world is about to end and we've elected MABUS as our President. Right. How about the countries that have been hit so hard that they're having trouble keeping afloat- having trouble feeding the hungry mouths of all of their children? Personally, I hardly know enough of the topic to even begin discussing it.
The point is, I am at least aware and interested in the broader global implications of many of these issues. Just because I live in America doesn't give me the right to ignore things that are important to everyone. All too often people forget that this modern era that we live in is NOT one of various powerful nations controlling themselves independantly and autonomously. Earth's population is so intertwined economically, socially, and infrastructurally that for any of the components to crumble could well begin a landslide. For an easy example, one needs not look further than the manufacturing industry in America. We hardly do it. We rely on other nations to do it.
I'm tired of people pretending that they are aware of what's going on politically just because they've listened to one man speak. Go find out what's really going on.
Unlike myself, though, many are truly ignorant. Understanding what's going on in your area, your state, or your country alone simply cannot be considered being sophisticated nor aware of the current political climate. This tendency of many people has become increasingly apparent as of late due in part to the economic crisis (which, oddly enough, is global. Who knew?), but more largely due to the overwhelming amount of press coverage given to the election process and our new President.
Right now there are conflicts going on in the world that most Americans are simply unaware of. What's more, they don't even care. Beyond that, the ones that they do know about they have ridiculous misconceptions of. The Israeli/Hamas conflict is a prime example as most people have heard of it. Many assume that aggressive and unbalanced retaliations by the Israelis are totally unwarranted and are injuring far too many innocents. While some of this may be true, one cannot simply ignore the longstanding conflict and tension in the region that has led to this point. I know a fair amount about this subject. How many people that you know do? How about a percentage? I'd venture to say it's low. And that's one of the most talked about conflicts in the world.
What, then, of the economic climate of various nations across the globe and its effect upon many nations? The coalition government in Iceland just dissolved today. The crisis we find ourselves in is indeed important for us to address here in the US. However, we tend to blow our issues out of proportion. Just because we can't keep the standard of living that we were previously used to, clearly the world is about to end and we've elected MABUS as our President. Right. How about the countries that have been hit so hard that they're having trouble keeping afloat- having trouble feeding the hungry mouths of all of their children? Personally, I hardly know enough of the topic to even begin discussing it.
The point is, I am at least aware and interested in the broader global implications of many of these issues. Just because I live in America doesn't give me the right to ignore things that are important to everyone. All too often people forget that this modern era that we live in is NOT one of various powerful nations controlling themselves independantly and autonomously. Earth's population is so intertwined economically, socially, and infrastructurally that for any of the components to crumble could well begin a landslide. For an easy example, one needs not look further than the manufacturing industry in America. We hardly do it. We rely on other nations to do it.
I'm tired of people pretending that they are aware of what's going on politically just because they've listened to one man speak. Go find out what's really going on.
1.20.2009
No man's land?
Increasingly in America the disparity between the fit and the unfit is growing. Everyone knows this, I won't pretend that you're so dim-witted as to lack the perceptive skills necessary to look about you and make simple determinations. Thus, let us move past this.
Gyms. Fitness centers. Hilarious. I think one would be hard pressed to find someplace where there is a more clearly defined dichotomy. There are the already in shape ape-like people who can lift twice their body-weight on every exercise, and then there are the ridiculously out of shape people who are trying to make that crucial change in their lives.
That's fine, I'm not here to judge people.
Where is everyone else? Where are the moderately in shape people? Do they have to sit on their bums until they reach the ridiculously out of shape state before they decide to take care of themselves? Is a little preventative action really that difficult to take? Surely not.
What, then, of the people that are seemingly beyond the point of immediate results? Perhaps the rarest of visitors to the physical watering hole is the obese person- despite the fact that they would see the greatest results of any practitioner for the least effort, they put forth none.
I will judge peoples inability to take a forward approach to their well being. Man up.
Having said that, gyms are crowded as is. Maybe the infrastructure wouldn't hold up under the burden of these extra visitors.
Nevermind. Stay home. Cheez whiz is your friend.
Gyms. Fitness centers. Hilarious. I think one would be hard pressed to find someplace where there is a more clearly defined dichotomy. There are the already in shape ape-like people who can lift twice their body-weight on every exercise, and then there are the ridiculously out of shape people who are trying to make that crucial change in their lives.
That's fine, I'm not here to judge people.
Where is everyone else? Where are the moderately in shape people? Do they have to sit on their bums until they reach the ridiculously out of shape state before they decide to take care of themselves? Is a little preventative action really that difficult to take? Surely not.
What, then, of the people that are seemingly beyond the point of immediate results? Perhaps the rarest of visitors to the physical watering hole is the obese person- despite the fact that they would see the greatest results of any practitioner for the least effort, they put forth none.
I will judge peoples inability to take a forward approach to their well being. Man up.
Having said that, gyms are crowded as is. Maybe the infrastructure wouldn't hold up under the burden of these extra visitors.
Nevermind. Stay home. Cheez whiz is your friend.
iHate iApple
Had to get this out of the way early.
Unfortunately they came up with a clever way of putting the letter i in front of any noun or verb and making it sound right.
Unfortunately they came up with a clever way of putting the letter i in front of any noun or verb and making it sound right.
Three Hours of Change
Over a year and a half. That's a long time full of promising change. Then came the election, it was said to be change that we could believe in. Some believed, others just believed that the United States would fall. Personally, I toed the line. I neither believed nor disbelieved, but I cast my ballot nonetheless.
Two and a half months. I've been waiting to see this change for almost a quarter of a year. I've been waiting on some sort of announcement about change that would actually help us out, to fix some of the errors that have been made. A few things were announced. Apparently we're going to close Gitmo and let all of the terrorists loose into the world so that they can plot to blow us up. I dunno, that's the kind of change I don't really want to believe in. Whatever.
Inauguration day (that's today). Changes: Dick Cheney is in a wheelchair, two senators have randomly collapsed, and good ole' Dubbya is off to Texas. Fantastic. The only changes that have occurred in my life since Obama took office have been dismal and disheartening. Firstly, during his oath of office, I discovered that Barack Obama is, in fact, a terrorist. His middle name is Hussein! WTF?! Surely this has connection with him wanting to close Gitmo. During his speech he told me that he was going to cut funding to institutions that we value highly and that ensure our standard of living. Is he trying to drive us into the third world? Two senators are down already, how many will it take before we stop this madman? Just a few minutes ago I had to sign a paper the mail man handed me just so my roomie could get his damn book.
I can't believe in this change. Not now. Not when I know the truth about terrorists.
The persian guy from 300 put it best, I think.
THIS
IS
MADNESS
Two and a half months. I've been waiting to see this change for almost a quarter of a year. I've been waiting on some sort of announcement about change that would actually help us out, to fix some of the errors that have been made. A few things were announced. Apparently we're going to close Gitmo and let all of the terrorists loose into the world so that they can plot to blow us up. I dunno, that's the kind of change I don't really want to believe in. Whatever.
Inauguration day (that's today). Changes: Dick Cheney is in a wheelchair, two senators have randomly collapsed, and good ole' Dubbya is off to Texas. Fantastic. The only changes that have occurred in my life since Obama took office have been dismal and disheartening. Firstly, during his oath of office, I discovered that Barack Obama is, in fact, a terrorist. His middle name is Hussein! WTF?! Surely this has connection with him wanting to close Gitmo. During his speech he told me that he was going to cut funding to institutions that we value highly and that ensure our standard of living. Is he trying to drive us into the third world? Two senators are down already, how many will it take before we stop this madman? Just a few minutes ago I had to sign a paper the mail man handed me just so my roomie could get his damn book.
I can't believe in this change. Not now. Not when I know the truth about terrorists.
The persian guy from 300 put it best, I think.
THIS
IS
MADNESS
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