"You must work out your own salvation in fear and trembling." - Paul
What do you think of the world you find yourself in?
It is a world full of questions... but have you found any answers?
Have you thought about these answers? I would hope so. We live in a world of contradiction and hypocrisy, where nothing lasts and everything dies. Societies are based purely on profit and power, religions on control and deception. Misinformation pervades all aspects of our lives. Is it possible to find any greater truths in such a world? Again, I would hope so, although what I hope for isn't of much concern for the rest of the universe...
Do you think that you have any answers to such questions? If so, where did you get them? Did they come to you from your own thought and introspection? Or were they given to you by someone else? If so, have you thought carefully about what you were told? Did you analyze their ideas, and account for the flaws you would likely find in them? Or did you simply accept their word as the truth? Are your sources really so infallible that you can arbitrarily separate fact from fiction?
If you do have a set of beliefs that you believe in strongly, then can I ask you only one simple question? Can you prove the existence of your beleifs? Or at least provide enough supporting evidence for them to outweigh the dismissive evidence? How many of you visitors can really do this? In fact, I defy any of you to show me an existing theological stance that can even come close to doing this, because none of them do.
So, what now? Where can we find answers to the "greater" questions in our lives? We really only have three possibilties...
The first is that the "correct" theological perspective does not exist in the current collection of human religions. However, assuming that a new belief system could be developed (though it wouldn't be easy), we would probably still get get screwed over in the end, since the characteristics of our world and universe would still favour the existence of a god that doesn't give a shit about any of us. Of course you never know, we might just get lucky...
The second is that a non-theological system of philosophy may be what we need. Deities may have nothing to do with our universe or existence, but there may instead be a system of principles, concepts, or energies, etc. that can be understood in order to provide us with existential peace. An excellent example of this would be Buddhism, (especially since its ideas actually make sense, and (get ready for this) don't even contradict themselves).
The third is that neither of the above exist. We must realize that it is a fact that we live in a universe that favours organization (at least specific organization, since entropy in general is always increasing), and consciousness may simply be a result of this organization. Just because it seems as though we should have a "higher purpose" does not mean that we have one. Self-awareness may just be a by-product of the organization of self-replicating molecules. We may be purely material beings, living ridiculously short lives before the inevitable end. This idea doesn't always sit well with everyone, (since it usually implies that there is nothing to experience after death), but you can't do anything about it, if that's the way the universe works. In many ways, this woud seem like a cruel joke played by a god, but the fact that there probably isn't any Great Prankster only makes it all the more cruel...
E-Mail me with your comments on the content of these pages, especially if you think you've found a flaw in my logic, etc. Every error, no matter how small, diverts our path from the "truth". If such a thing exists...
By the way, here's a link to the old page (which I wrote when I was much, much younger...)
