Reflections
So I was thinking about my blog. It seems like I spend a lot of time posting about music and movies. I like music and movies, but is that all I think about? Of course not, but I seem to have painted my blog into that corner. In an effort to resist that, and since this is what I was thinking about this afternoon while I mowed, here is a post
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The benefit and bane of organized religion (and chaotic religion, for that matter) is this: the interpretation of meaning, what has come before in some record, what is proscribed to come, what should be done and how... these things may be interpreted so widely simply by their sheer existence in language. The articulated directive is a dangerous and powerful entity unto itself. "Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: Do this in memory of me." Jesus said. How often? When? Where? With whom? Did he want his apostles to make this ritual known to all makind or did he intend it to stay within the circle of his friends, who would miss him and wish to remember him fondly? Did he mean that the bread became his body (transubstantion) or did he use metaphor? What did body mean then? Has the meaning changed since? (and all this, just with the English translation!) Was the bread broken or the body broken... you see where I'm going with this.
The many "crazies" who use the Lord's Word to justify or simply explain their actions, deeds, words, plans, etc... they act on the Word of the Lord as it has been articulated. This is a tricky notion.
Who is to say whether the words and their meanings are what create within us a sense of social more, a balance separating right from wrong, or whether that comes before articulation? One is exposed to words, their denotative and connotative meanings, and the rates, pitches and tones of voice and expression that accompany the words during formative years. Likewise, even if one could "know" right from wrong without the words and their literal baggage, how would one articulate it to another without language? How could two persons attempt to form consensus without a common language and careful attention to shared meaning?
"I'm going to do what I like" isn't as simple as it sounds, is what I'm getting at. Nietzche makes the point that blindly following the rubric of our predecessors, in religion particularly, can strip one of his or her humanity, negating choice and decision, the very free will most tenets of Christianity prize as virtue of humanity.
His point that devaluing this post-eden earth is a useless endeavor is a valid one, also, regardless of the creed you follow. Whether there is a one true God, an afterlife of paradise, or no god and worm food in our future, what we have is the gift of life in the now in this place, in this time and in this form. We are men and women of the 21st century, and should live in the now instead of forever setting our sights on the hazy horizon with blinders on to our surroundings.
Dismissing cliche, out of hand, incidently, as depressing and worthless tripe is silly as well. Cliche became so for the very reason religion became so. It is knowledge passed down from past generations in a figurative and encompassing form. Think about it. Some cliches even originate in written record in the bible.
So yeah. Words rule. Literally.
heh. The grammar geek cracks herself up.
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That's true because, as you also describe, it is the bane of all communication. The problem is endemic in humanity and we just have to deal with it.
"We are men and women of the 21st century, and should live in the now instead of forever setting our sights on the hazy horizon with blinders on to our surroundings."
I think you mean that we should recognize that we live in the now, because we have no other time to live. Hence my (attempted) point that there is ample evidence that we should strive to live perfectly now, that we create heaven wherever we choose to live as if we were already there . . . "on earth as it is in heaven," etc. I didn't quite say exactly what I wanted to, so let me try again. I think it's possible that living perfectly in heaven and living perfectly on earth are done exactly the same way. The only thing that differs is the environment. You aren't living in a certain way on earth _in order_ to get to heaven. You're living that way because it is the best way to live.
"Dismissing cliche, out of hand, incidently, as depressing and worthless tripe is silly as well."
That's probably true. Let me know if anyone does so, and I will flay them.
I recognize and identify with your criticisms and observations. However, I don't think they prohibit this discussion from having meaning and context.
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Nor do I. I just think we all tend to allow ourselves to fall prey to flowery language sometimes, which by virtue of being seductively scholarly in nature actually betrays our eloquence in communicating. In other words, we three do talk like this sometimes, but I think in our writing even in blogs we tend to overcompensate with $10 words.
Heh... so did the gospels, though, in some ways.
To go back to Greg's original line though, what struck me personally about the internal argument I feel he is alluding to is the "do I believe because I believe or because I haven't questioned enough to change my mind?" Forgive me if I'm off, there, Greg.
The intrigue of that dilemna is paralyzing, a bit anyway. I mean, shouldn't faith stand the test of questioning? Isnt' faith in part based on belief in the absence of proof? Does this leave us faithful or stubbornly, willfully ignorant, not to accept challenges to the beliefs we've been taught? What does it take to truly internalize a taught belief system?
I think you both know I blindly believe things all the time. Often, I would be better served, so it would seem, to question more, or to demand proof. However, I cling stubbornly to my beliefs nonetheless. Sometimes, though, I begin to wonder and the second- and fifteenth- guessing is killer. This is no less true in religious or spiritual beliefs. I believe. But does that make me a stubborn, willful child?
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I'm not sure the argument I presented really deals with that question either, at least in the direct sense. Pascal does very little to elaborate the probability that a god exists, and Nietzche mostly presumes that there is no god. So while the reasonability of faith is a fascinating subject, these two are more focused on the implications of faith, rather than a a basis for it.
As a poor answer to your question, though, Pascal would probably get all mathematical about the probability of consequences. Nietzche would say not to cling to beliefs but instead to form new ones based purely on your own experience and insight. I would say that there are some things worth believing in, even if empirical evidence is hard to come by. Just don't discount proof just because it runs counter to your beliefs.
On a tangent, an interesting discussion about faith would be to compare traditional Christian scholars with secular philosophers like Hume or even Descartes to talk about how necessary faith is to even being a functioning human being.
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