watching a documentary about the lord our righteousness church...
these people in new mexico following a man who calls himself messiah really baffle me. i'm unsure of how i truly feel- in that i don't feel like i have much a right to tell anyone what they should believe or how they should leave. but it's really hard for me to make sense of how they unabashedly believe that this man is someone holier than they are, someone who can deliver them from evil or something.
while driving around backroads in newport, rhode island, chris and i talked about how nothing is truly real. nothing means anything, really, except while in the confines of our societal norms. how then can we really reconcile societal norms with fringe society beliefs and values? it's all very confusing.
before my freshman year of high school i borrowed a book from the smyth public library called Armageddon Summer. i thought it would offer me some clarity as i was heavily questioning everything i had been taught, even though it was a young adult fiction novel. it left such an impression on me- the story itself is unimportant, but the gist of it was that it was about a young gal and young dude whose parents got caught up in a cult somewhere. they met each other as they moved onto a compound with the rest of the church/cult to ride out the end of the world. the end of the world never really came, but the cult leader tried to play god by lighting their temple/church on fire. there were cloaks and pandemonium involved. it got me thinking about how all organized religion is totally teetering on the edge of this same sort of fate. every group is gunning for the win- being right about some kind of prophecy.
so it seems that we need this in our lives. humans and their unending quest for understanding the world and universe around them need an answer- an end point, a reason, a meaning. i believe it's important to feel that our lives our meaningful, but not before the eyes of some omnipotent being that isn't really there. why is it not enough to surround ourselves in things that make us happy or people that we love? this is not meant to sound like a "hippie" or whatever, but honestly. what makes people so ravenous for a reason, a meaning or direction that they will be deluded enough to believe empty words from a man no better or different than any of them? all that humans have quested for throughout time is understanding of life, but how is it that one man in new mexico has the answers all of a sudden? sounds like a power hungry man who has found a willing group of weak people with severe cognitive dissonance.
while i'm on this subject, it really flusters me that i am discouraged from sharing my views on this topic. if one of my coworkers says something about "god having a plan" as a means to sort of justify confusion in a task we're doing, and i reply that i don't believe in god and don't think that has anything to do with anything, there's a scowl and hurt feelings. but how could i get frustrated with their assumptions that i subscribe to their doctrines? it's a true double standard. only further convincing me that people are so scared of their own lives that they can't stomach the idea that all they do is solely on their own accord. no acts of god, no miracles- just themselves, making decisions, whether or not they realize it. as cliche as the saying goes, we truly are all masters of our own destiny. why isn't that empowering? why are people compelled to deny their own free will and follow the empty words and promises of a broken man starving for attention, power and celebrity? but again, i can not reconcile my belief of total free will with this- if they are DECIDING to be a part of such a community, then that is their right, but what about children growing up in that environment? to them, free will isn't even a concept or a thought...they're not crazy, they're socialized to their isolated society's norms.
so then what do we as a greater society do? support them? deny them their rights? push secular (yet christian based) norms upon them? it's all so mind boggling to me.
[/end ridiculous rant on religion]
while driving around backroads in newport, rhode island, chris and i talked about how nothing is truly real. nothing means anything, really, except while in the confines of our societal norms. how then can we really reconcile societal norms with fringe society beliefs and values? it's all very confusing.
before my freshman year of high school i borrowed a book from the smyth public library called Armageddon Summer. i thought it would offer me some clarity as i was heavily questioning everything i had been taught, even though it was a young adult fiction novel. it left such an impression on me- the story itself is unimportant, but the gist of it was that it was about a young gal and young dude whose parents got caught up in a cult somewhere. they met each other as they moved onto a compound with the rest of the church/cult to ride out the end of the world. the end of the world never really came, but the cult leader tried to play god by lighting their temple/church on fire. there were cloaks and pandemonium involved. it got me thinking about how all organized religion is totally teetering on the edge of this same sort of fate. every group is gunning for the win- being right about some kind of prophecy.
so it seems that we need this in our lives. humans and their unending quest for understanding the world and universe around them need an answer- an end point, a reason, a meaning. i believe it's important to feel that our lives our meaningful, but not before the eyes of some omnipotent being that isn't really there. why is it not enough to surround ourselves in things that make us happy or people that we love? this is not meant to sound like a "hippie" or whatever, but honestly. what makes people so ravenous for a reason, a meaning or direction that they will be deluded enough to believe empty words from a man no better or different than any of them? all that humans have quested for throughout time is understanding of life, but how is it that one man in new mexico has the answers all of a sudden? sounds like a power hungry man who has found a willing group of weak people with severe cognitive dissonance.
while i'm on this subject, it really flusters me that i am discouraged from sharing my views on this topic. if one of my coworkers says something about "god having a plan" as a means to sort of justify confusion in a task we're doing, and i reply that i don't believe in god and don't think that has anything to do with anything, there's a scowl and hurt feelings. but how could i get frustrated with their assumptions that i subscribe to their doctrines? it's a true double standard. only further convincing me that people are so scared of their own lives that they can't stomach the idea that all they do is solely on their own accord. no acts of god, no miracles- just themselves, making decisions, whether or not they realize it. as cliche as the saying goes, we truly are all masters of our own destiny. why isn't that empowering? why are people compelled to deny their own free will and follow the empty words and promises of a broken man starving for attention, power and celebrity? but again, i can not reconcile my belief of total free will with this- if they are DECIDING to be a part of such a community, then that is their right, but what about children growing up in that environment? to them, free will isn't even a concept or a thought...they're not crazy, they're socialized to their isolated society's norms.
so then what do we as a greater society do? support them? deny them their rights? push secular (yet christian based) norms upon them? it's all so mind boggling to me.
[/end ridiculous rant on religion]