Devoid Wednesday, December 07, 2005: Once more propelled into theological trains of thought by my study of philosophy as well as sociology I have concluded that proving or disproving the existence of God is impossible. Suppose for instance that I believed that the earth was populated with invisible unicorns who were composed of massless material. Assuming this material is massless, it would explain why we have never detected these unicorns, and have no knowledge of material that has no mass. Now that the existence of these magical unicorns cannot be disproven by rational thought or empirical observation, I could go on to state my belief that these unicorns visit us nightly and use their powerful horns to transmit dreams into our sleeping minds. This might explain the mystery of dreams in a simple way, side-stepping research and inquiry into dreams based on rational thought and research. Is it much easier to come to this belief in unicorns as a means to explain my dreams than to explain them using my cognitive faculties. After all, few would dispute the statement that human beings are naturally lazy, and the self-illusion involved in believing in unicorns to explain my dreams is far less difficult than using all of my intellect to do so. So God, and the belief in the supernatural, are merely products of human nature; our affinity to lazziness. Still, the thing that most upsets me about this situation is not that people belive or disbelieve in the supernatural, but that somethhing as unfounded as the belief in invisible unicorns is employed daily to justify the carrying out of great evils and great goods. And for those that profess a belief in the supernatural, particularly those that believe that our cognitive abilities are a divine gift, why then do they forsake this gift and presist in a belief in the supernatural? Is this not an offense to the supernatural? Better to search for an answer to this question, though no one can ever answer, and if there is a God, I am sure it would approve of this attempt. Rhetoric that is taught in holy books, is the same that is taught by complete skepticism, it's rhetoric nonetheless. Rhetoric does not search for the truth, and to prefer illusion over the search for truth again, is a denial of ones own capabilities. And while it might seem futile to search for a truth you will never find, it is more rewarding, in the end, than believing in the unbelievable. Thought is more valuable than the absense of it. Chris // 12/07/2005 ______________________ Comments: Post a Comment
Once more propelled into theological trains of thought by my study of philosophy as well as sociology I have concluded that proving or disproving the existence of God is impossible. Suppose for instance that I believed that the earth was populated with invisible unicorns who were composed of massless material. Assuming this material is massless, it would explain why we have never detected these unicorns, and have no knowledge of material that has no mass. Now that the existence of these magical unicorns cannot be disproven by rational thought or empirical observation, I could go on to state my belief that these unicorns visit us nightly and use their powerful horns to transmit dreams into our sleeping minds. This might explain the mystery of dreams in a simple way, side-stepping research and inquiry into dreams based on rational thought and research. Is it much easier to come to this belief in unicorns as a means to explain my dreams than to explain them using my cognitive faculties. After all, few would dispute the statement that human beings are naturally lazy, and the self-illusion involved in believing in unicorns to explain my dreams is far less difficult than using all of my intellect to do so. So God, and the belief in the supernatural, are merely products of human nature; our affinity to lazziness. Still, the thing that most upsets me about this situation is not that people belive or disbelieve in the supernatural, but that somethhing as unfounded as the belief in invisible unicorns is employed daily to justify the carrying out of great evils and great goods. And for those that profess a belief in the supernatural, particularly those that believe that our cognitive abilities are a divine gift, why then do they forsake this gift and presist in a belief in the supernatural? Is this not an offense to the supernatural? Better to search for an answer to this question, though no one can ever answer, and if there is a God, I am sure it would approve of this attempt. Rhetoric that is taught in holy books, is the same that is taught by complete skepticism, it's rhetoric nonetheless. Rhetoric does not search for the truth, and to prefer illusion over the search for truth again, is a denial of ones own capabilities. And while it might seem futile to search for a truth you will never find, it is more rewarding, in the end, than believing in the unbelievable. Thought is more valuable than the absense of it. Chris // 12/07/2005
