something missing, something found
I sometimes wonder if I'm supposed to be discovering religion or something, particularly when I've been a good student and read my books for a while. There has been so much fuss about religion and religious philosophy, controversy, doctrines, opposition...the list just goes on and on.
And I really don't care much about religion, or faith, or whatever you want to call it so it doesn't sound like what everyone else is doing. I can get very worked up about politics and just about every other subject, but on religion I pretty much draw a blank. And I'm not an atheist either, I simply seem to lack an understanding of either.
Certainly there are things I do not understand, and things that are not human that are still intelligent - if you've ever had a pet, you know that much. And certainly the world is full of all these strange things, some of which we are barely beginning to discover. But why do people react to this by building sand castles interpreted and schematized as religion?
Maybe what I should be learning after reading all these books is that this is actually a good thing. I'm unlikely to go off and kill someone or be killed because of some nonsensical argument. It would be nice to have an epiphany, though, even if just to be the self-righteous convinced one for a while.
It must be very comfortable to believe as some people do that they are right and they know they are right and they do not need to listen to the opposition.
Thinking about it, they don't believe that they are right, do they? They believe in someone else being right, someone perfect, someone who will always be there for you, and they name this fantasy god or Jesus or whatever name comes to mind. And some of them find that he or she is there, and some are not that skilled at tricking themselves and sense only absence. If you look for something and do not find it then maybe it's not there.
When children have invisible friends we smile at them and ask them to introduce us and think, this will pass. And usually it does. But with adults we are expected to respect their invisible friends even when they claim that this is your friend, too, and if you just opened yourself up you'd see him.
I don't want invisible friends. I want to manage on my own.
And I really don't care much about religion, or faith, or whatever you want to call it so it doesn't sound like what everyone else is doing. I can get very worked up about politics and just about every other subject, but on religion I pretty much draw a blank. And I'm not an atheist either, I simply seem to lack an understanding of either.
Certainly there are things I do not understand, and things that are not human that are still intelligent - if you've ever had a pet, you know that much. And certainly the world is full of all these strange things, some of which we are barely beginning to discover. But why do people react to this by building sand castles interpreted and schematized as religion?
Maybe what I should be learning after reading all these books is that this is actually a good thing. I'm unlikely to go off and kill someone or be killed because of some nonsensical argument. It would be nice to have an epiphany, though, even if just to be the self-righteous convinced one for a while.
It must be very comfortable to believe as some people do that they are right and they know they are right and they do not need to listen to the opposition.
Thinking about it, they don't believe that they are right, do they? They believe in someone else being right, someone perfect, someone who will always be there for you, and they name this fantasy god or Jesus or whatever name comes to mind. And some of them find that he or she is there, and some are not that skilled at tricking themselves and sense only absence. If you look for something and do not find it then maybe it's not there.
When children have invisible friends we smile at them and ask them to introduce us and think, this will pass. And usually it does. But with adults we are expected to respect their invisible friends even when they claim that this is your friend, too, and if you just opened yourself up you'd see him.
I don't want invisible friends. I want to manage on my own.