an excerpt (sp?) from my very very rough draft for philosophy
the intro details the deifnition of truth... my teacher said i can ask for other opinions, as long as i give people credit for their ideas. so spit them at me... this is just my stream of consciousness writing, please don't be too harsh. but i would like to hear yur thoughts on the subject at hand...
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So I think that I know what is right and what is wrong, but how do I know what I know? It is easy to argue that we have a sense for what is right and wrong depending on how we were raised by our parents, yet this is (as you stated in class) “just an easy explanation.” All of our lives we have been told and shown different opinions and different ways of doing things, how have we decided what way is the right way?
I have racked my brain over and over again for an example of something that is universally true, and every time I think that I have something that someone may classify as a truth, I have heard a little voice inside my head telling me why or how they could be wrong. Some people might argue that abortion is universally wrong. These same people could be the ones who bomb abortion clinics and fire bullets at people who disagree with their beliefs. Their beliefs argue that everyone should have an equal chance at life. Well, if this is the case, then why are they out there taking away the lives of other people by shooting or bombing them? On the same token, many people support the death penalty if someone has taken the life of another human being. Many people feel that this is a sin that should be punishable with death, yet in execution, another human life is being taken. Doesn’t that seem a bit hypocritical?
Day after day I go through the motions of life. I wake up, I get dressed, I eat something, I go fill my head with both useless and useful knowledge and experiences, I come home and I go to bed. Yet sometimes when I find myself driving down a desolate strip of road, I stop and wonder: why am I here? The difference between the response that I used to give myself, and the response that I have now is that I am no longer afraid the peel off the layers hiding the answer. Will I ever find the answer? Will I ever figure out what truth is, and even if I do, how will I know that I am right? Why am I here? What sent my soul to live in this body, rather than the body of the girl who works in a sweat shop in China and was born on August 10th, 1983 at 10:42 AM? Is it mere chance, or will I someday come back and experience her life, if I haven’t already? I am working on a theory for why I am who I am, and not somebody else. It is rough, but without the knowledge that I have gained from this class it would be a hell of a lot rougher. This theory is probably parallel with that of some religion somewhere in the world, although I don’t have the slightest clue as to which one. I believe that every person has an immortal soul. Maybe it is possible that this soul is reincarnated and sent to live different lives every time the body that it is occupying expires. I believe that a soul has to experience every type of life until it has reached a full understanding of what is true, what is right, and what is just. Once a soul has discovered these things, then they can move on to the next level, whatever that may be. Perhaps I have already lived the life of the girl in China, or of the father of a poverty stricken family in Africa. Perhaps we all have to experience the life and the emotions of a murderer, and of the murdered. With each life we gain new knowledge, and those who seem as though they lack this knowledge have souls that are not as wise as the others. Maybe they are just a few lifetimes behind. How will we be able to fully understand the meaning of life if we do not experience it from every single perspective; the abuser and the abused, the rich and the poor, the attractive and the unattractive, the doctor and the patient, the brilliant and the mentally handicapped, the marathon runner and the crippled, the rapist and the raped? I believe that it is not until we have felt every single emotion, and experienced everything that life has to offer, will we be able to move onto something bigger, if there is such a thing.
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So I think that I know what is right and what is wrong, but how do I know what I know? It is easy to argue that we have a sense for what is right and wrong depending on how we were raised by our parents, yet this is (as you stated in class) “just an easy explanation.” All of our lives we have been told and shown different opinions and different ways of doing things, how have we decided what way is the right way?
I have racked my brain over and over again for an example of something that is universally true, and every time I think that I have something that someone may classify as a truth, I have heard a little voice inside my head telling me why or how they could be wrong. Some people might argue that abortion is universally wrong. These same people could be the ones who bomb abortion clinics and fire bullets at people who disagree with their beliefs. Their beliefs argue that everyone should have an equal chance at life. Well, if this is the case, then why are they out there taking away the lives of other people by shooting or bombing them? On the same token, many people support the death penalty if someone has taken the life of another human being. Many people feel that this is a sin that should be punishable with death, yet in execution, another human life is being taken. Doesn’t that seem a bit hypocritical?
Day after day I go through the motions of life. I wake up, I get dressed, I eat something, I go fill my head with both useless and useful knowledge and experiences, I come home and I go to bed. Yet sometimes when I find myself driving down a desolate strip of road, I stop and wonder: why am I here? The difference between the response that I used to give myself, and the response that I have now is that I am no longer afraid the peel off the layers hiding the answer. Will I ever find the answer? Will I ever figure out what truth is, and even if I do, how will I know that I am right? Why am I here? What sent my soul to live in this body, rather than the body of the girl who works in a sweat shop in China and was born on August 10th, 1983 at 10:42 AM? Is it mere chance, or will I someday come back and experience her life, if I haven’t already? I am working on a theory for why I am who I am, and not somebody else. It is rough, but without the knowledge that I have gained from this class it would be a hell of a lot rougher. This theory is probably parallel with that of some religion somewhere in the world, although I don’t have the slightest clue as to which one. I believe that every person has an immortal soul. Maybe it is possible that this soul is reincarnated and sent to live different lives every time the body that it is occupying expires. I believe that a soul has to experience every type of life until it has reached a full understanding of what is true, what is right, and what is just. Once a soul has discovered these things, then they can move on to the next level, whatever that may be. Perhaps I have already lived the life of the girl in China, or of the father of a poverty stricken family in Africa. Perhaps we all have to experience the life and the emotions of a murderer, and of the murdered. With each life we gain new knowledge, and those who seem as though they lack this knowledge have souls that are not as wise as the others. Maybe they are just a few lifetimes behind. How will we be able to fully understand the meaning of life if we do not experience it from every single perspective; the abuser and the abused, the rich and the poor, the attractive and the unattractive, the doctor and the patient, the brilliant and the mentally handicapped, the marathon runner and the crippled, the rapist and the raped? I believe that it is not until we have felt every single emotion, and experienced everything that life has to offer, will we be able to move onto something bigger, if there is such a thing.
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