Deep thoughts.
The landing of the Mars rover, Curiosity, has stirred up a lot of emotion and thought. Just to warn you, this is going to be a post about religion, though I promise I'm not going to do any (what I would consider) bashing. It's kind of impossible to look into space and not think about religion, though, at least for me.
When I was a kid I hated church. Absolutely hated more than anything on earth. I used to try to weasel my way out of going, and I never understood it when I went. The church itself was big, echoed a lot, and I couldn't hear what the priest was saying (are they pastors? whatever the word is). I didn't understand the lessons based on a ton of carnage and fear. I thought it was highly unlikely that anyone would take a lesson from what I considered to be unintelligible stories with weird wording, and a bunch of people being punished all the time, or outright killed. Everyone I knew I hated going to church, even my own mother. One day, when my grandparents stopped harassing us into going, we stopped going. It was a relief.
I'm not sure when it happened, but at some point, I began to learn about all this creationism in school and it blew my mind. How could they possibly allow religion into school? I thought there should be a fine distinction between education and religion. Unless you pay to go to a private religious school, how was it allowed that teachers were being bullied into allowing what I consider myth to be taught? I personally don't think you should be allowed into office if you believe in a religion. It makes me question one's sense of logic. Believe in god, fine, but religion? Do we have to?
At some point, people my own age began going to church and talking about god and stuff. I was convinced when I was a kid that we would be the generation to finally put it all behind us and live our lives without fear of going to hell for not praying or attending church. (It seemed ludicrous to me that you could be punished for not attending an event in a location when your home seemed as good a place as any.) When I was taught that children raised to be Buddhist or Jewish were going to hell for not being Christian (even if they were like, 3 years old), that about ended my relationship with Christianity. Anyone who sends children to hell for what their parents teach them (or do not teach them) is wrong in my book. Not allowed. Don't believe. Done.
That said, this isn't a post about how much I hate Christianity. It's a post about the universe and faith. I've always sided with the idea that there's no harm in believing in god (or gods). It's very likely a greater force exists, though I would never assume it's in the form of a man and wants you to pray. Or be celibate until marriage. Or not be homosexual. Those things seem trivial and unrelated to religion to me. While there's no harm in believing in god, I also don't feel much of what people call faith. I figure, yeah, it could happen. I don't believe it blindly or passionately. I think this idea of faith that people take strength from is designed to be inarguable for a reason. Who wants to have their courage shattered? If you take strength from god, and someone is able to prove god wrong, then there goes your reason for living. I get that. I understand that blind faith is an important part of religion. And that's why I don't try to talk people out of their belief, however unlikely I believe their theology.
I'll tell you what I find awe-inspiring. I look up at the sky at night and I see the moon and stars. I think of how far away they are and what they're made of, and how they came to be. That is what is awesome to me. I don't try to think about god, because there's no way anyone will ever know what god is or who if it's a person. I do not believe god is a person. I believe god is an entity, a presence or a power. That's what I call god. God is, by my definition, everything we do not know and never, ever will. It seems absurd to me that anyone can ever claim to know what god wants. God is the constant questioning, the things that are beyond our reach. And as science explores farther and farther, we stop calling certain things god, and move our idea of god another few inches out of our reach. God is an ever-changing concept, and no one should ever feel confident in what god is. Maybe god can mean something to every person, but to claim to know god is complete and utter egotism.
That said, the night sky sure is beautiful tonight. I can't wait until the Perseids this Saturday. I am waiting for my mind to be blown, again. The most spiritual moments I've ever had were watching that meteor shower for hours.
When I was a kid I hated church. Absolutely hated more than anything on earth. I used to try to weasel my way out of going, and I never understood it when I went. The church itself was big, echoed a lot, and I couldn't hear what the priest was saying (are they pastors? whatever the word is). I didn't understand the lessons based on a ton of carnage and fear. I thought it was highly unlikely that anyone would take a lesson from what I considered to be unintelligible stories with weird wording, and a bunch of people being punished all the time, or outright killed. Everyone I knew I hated going to church, even my own mother. One day, when my grandparents stopped harassing us into going, we stopped going. It was a relief.
I'm not sure when it happened, but at some point, I began to learn about all this creationism in school and it blew my mind. How could they possibly allow religion into school? I thought there should be a fine distinction between education and religion. Unless you pay to go to a private religious school, how was it allowed that teachers were being bullied into allowing what I consider myth to be taught? I personally don't think you should be allowed into office if you believe in a religion. It makes me question one's sense of logic. Believe in god, fine, but religion? Do we have to?
At some point, people my own age began going to church and talking about god and stuff. I was convinced when I was a kid that we would be the generation to finally put it all behind us and live our lives without fear of going to hell for not praying or attending church. (It seemed ludicrous to me that you could be punished for not attending an event in a location when your home seemed as good a place as any.) When I was taught that children raised to be Buddhist or Jewish were going to hell for not being Christian (even if they were like, 3 years old), that about ended my relationship with Christianity. Anyone who sends children to hell for what their parents teach them (or do not teach them) is wrong in my book. Not allowed. Don't believe. Done.
That said, this isn't a post about how much I hate Christianity. It's a post about the universe and faith. I've always sided with the idea that there's no harm in believing in god (or gods). It's very likely a greater force exists, though I would never assume it's in the form of a man and wants you to pray. Or be celibate until marriage. Or not be homosexual. Those things seem trivial and unrelated to religion to me. While there's no harm in believing in god, I also don't feel much of what people call faith. I figure, yeah, it could happen. I don't believe it blindly or passionately. I think this idea of faith that people take strength from is designed to be inarguable for a reason. Who wants to have their courage shattered? If you take strength from god, and someone is able to prove god wrong, then there goes your reason for living. I get that. I understand that blind faith is an important part of religion. And that's why I don't try to talk people out of their belief, however unlikely I believe their theology.
I'll tell you what I find awe-inspiring. I look up at the sky at night and I see the moon and stars. I think of how far away they are and what they're made of, and how they came to be. That is what is awesome to me. I don't try to think about god, because there's no way anyone will ever know what god is or who if it's a person. I do not believe god is a person. I believe god is an entity, a presence or a power. That's what I call god. God is, by my definition, everything we do not know and never, ever will. It seems absurd to me that anyone can ever claim to know what god wants. God is the constant questioning, the things that are beyond our reach. And as science explores farther and farther, we stop calling certain things god, and move our idea of god another few inches out of our reach. God is an ever-changing concept, and no one should ever feel confident in what god is. Maybe god can mean something to every person, but to claim to know god is complete and utter egotism.
That said, the night sky sure is beautiful tonight. I can't wait until the Perseids this Saturday. I am waiting for my mind to be blown, again. The most spiritual moments I've ever had were watching that meteor shower for hours.