a cheap sort of top dressing
For a few years now i've refined my distaste for religion from a childhood disinterest in the fairy tales of recent millennia (unfair in contrast to my growing appreciation for those of antiquity) to a a refined and scrutinized intolerance for the stunting and controlling role faith (meaning baseless belief) currently plays in human affairs on all scales. I sympathize with those who argue that faith is a natural component of the human spirit-not because i agree with them, but because i observe it to be very easily taught and very readily accepted. At this point i would counterargue that the "natural" component they mistake for faith is actually more akin to optimism, and that the comparatively innate human capacity for it somehow outweighs the depressing effect on our dispositions stemming from self-awareness: of our own mortality, of our penchant for greedy or senseless violence and destruction, and so on. But the only argument for any breed of supernatural faith, or conviction, is that it manifests in a vast majority of humans. As any first-year statistician can attest, a wealth of data indicates nothing more than a wealth of data, and lends itself only to conservative rational extrapolation for any semblance of meaning. The current popularity of faith can much more clearly be attributed to its own self-sustainability (as a useful means of control or conquest) than to its superiority over other manifestations of optimism, enhanced awareness, epiphany, etc. which flourish(ed) in other cultures without resorting to purportedly literal (ultimately scapegoating) tales of gods, afterlife, and the like.
It is here where i take into account my own brand of faith. I consider faith itself to be a vile and corrupting thing: It removes from the beauty of optimism any responsibility on the part of a person to pursue the good they feel to be possible, only sometimes to have it replaced by duty on the part of higher powers whose goals confuse common good with self-righteousness. I find, however, to my chagrin and discomfort, a coating of faith over my own world outlook, that i've acknowledged before but taken no pains to resolve. I seem to have faith that, on the small scale (meaning, in my personal dealings), people will ultimately own up to their mistakes and reconcile their behavior with their acquaintances'. This has indeed happened several times in my life, but upon the upsurge of this feeling (and consequently in general) i've conveniently pushed aside the memory of several disagreeable instances which came to no reconciliation whatsoever, due if not to the later disinterest of the parties then to lingering resentment long after the fact. Some of these have reached a "point of no return"; to pursue contact and mutual understanding would serve more to retighten tensions long forgotten than to loosen them and unshackle their vassals. I submit to myself that my faith in personal affairs has encouraged my negligence in pursuing these cases; and it is hereby that i impress upon myself the responsibility to let such things linger as little as possible. For people are at least as fallible as their faiths, and to live true lives they must retire their false hopes.
It is here where i take into account my own brand of faith. I consider faith itself to be a vile and corrupting thing: It removes from the beauty of optimism any responsibility on the part of a person to pursue the good they feel to be possible, only sometimes to have it replaced by duty on the part of higher powers whose goals confuse common good with self-righteousness. I find, however, to my chagrin and discomfort, a coating of faith over my own world outlook, that i've acknowledged before but taken no pains to resolve. I seem to have faith that, on the small scale (meaning, in my personal dealings), people will ultimately own up to their mistakes and reconcile their behavior with their acquaintances'. This has indeed happened several times in my life, but upon the upsurge of this feeling (and consequently in general) i've conveniently pushed aside the memory of several disagreeable instances which came to no reconciliation whatsoever, due if not to the later disinterest of the parties then to lingering resentment long after the fact. Some of these have reached a "point of no return"; to pursue contact and mutual understanding would serve more to retighten tensions long forgotten than to loosen them and unshackle their vassals. I submit to myself that my faith in personal affairs has encouraged my negligence in pursuing these cases; and it is hereby that i impress upon myself the responsibility to let such things linger as little as possible. For people are at least as fallible as their faiths, and to live true lives they must retire their false hopes.