March 29, 2008
I just returned from a visit to Chomp Chomp with Sean and my girl. We didn't eat much but shared more heated up conversations on faith and reason instead. I think it's time to draw a certain line between what we know and what we don't know but yet putting our faith in it. I do not have much appetite these days due to the stress I'm facing regarding my lab reports as there are two reports to be due in the middle of next month. In addition, I am having quite a few querries to be clarified this Tuesday's lesson. Pressures...
I wish there were more time for me to do what I always wanted to do. I was told that I should be spending my time wisely and that I should manage it wisely too. I know these but nobody seems to understand that there are so many things that I want to do and so little time. Thus, I really hope that I could live pass one hundred years in order to get things done. I'm crazy, I know, but if you have a passion to live your life to the fullest, why not a long healthy one to go along? Time is short and it rockets. I don't understand why so many people whom I happen to know, do not want to live that long. Tired of living? Seeing no meaning in life? Having no passion for living to succeed? Being pushed to a corner without a way out?
It could be thousands of reasons positive or negative, but still, the best thing in life, is that we have it. Just one. One life is all we have. There is nothing after that. Nothing left after we die. No heaven. No hell. No purgatory. No reincarnations. No afterlife. No paradise. Death is the end of life. And Utopia doesn't exist, but only in the minds of a dreamer. And dreams do not become reality. Dreams become reality because it is plausible. Practicality plays the most part in reality. Thus, there is a lot for dreams to be accountable for if it ever were to become part of reality. Hence, I do not see visions; I do not have dreams; I do not have a purpose. What do I have then? I only have desires, passion, and potentials to make things happen. Desires are what makes us human. And it is because of our desires, do we give meaning in our lives and attaching purpose and values to that meaning. It is human desires (and our brain) that set goals and ambitions, as well as enabling us to be responsible and passionate beings.
Nothing in this world has a meaning. Everything is meaningless. Life itself, is meaningless. Money is without value. Clothes are nothing but cloth. Matter exists without purpose. In fact, every object is nothing but an object itself, meaningless, valueless, purposeless, and without a direction. Now, the question you may want to ask is: If everything has neither meaning, nor purpose, nor value, nor direction, then why should we bother to live?
It is because we live that gives us the authority and freedom to explore our state of being and existence. Our ancestors have always asked this same question over and over again, until they have been driven to seek out meaning in life themselves. Why do I love my girlfriend? Because she has a meaning and a value to me. I value her, therefore I cherish her. It is also because the time we spent together gives me a form of attachment to her and through these attachments we begin to develop a sense of bonding and thus, we mean something to each other. If such reality do not exist, then she no longer has any meaning me, given the fact that in the orignal state, nothing has a meaning.
Why do I take good care of my lap top? Because it was given to me by my dad. The relationship I had with my dad creates an attachment, which is shown in the way I treat the things that he gave to me. Therefore, my lap top, in turn, means something to me. It thus has a value, a meaning, and an attachment or sentiment to it. If such reality does not exist, then my lap top is nothing but a piece of devise that anyone can throw about or mess around with.
Why is money such an important tool in this world? It is because of its value. Without it, there is no trade, no possession, and no survival. There is no need for money but it could spell disaster and injustice, not to mention, anarchy. But that's besides the point. Money has no value until we give it value. A counterfeit money has no value, but it would have a value if the authority were to give it one (which, I don't think it will happen).
A man has no value, no purpose, no direction, and meaningless. But the reason why we have a purpose is not because God gave us the purpose. It is because we as a species, having lived on this earth for a long long time, became drawn to things that we often ask ourselves such as, "What is the meaning of life?", "How do we get here?", "Why do I feel for that person or for that group of individuals?", or "Where are we heading when we migrate from one part of the globe to another?" Our minds are always doing the trick of asking (tricky) questions and that eventually led us to believe that there must be something which we could make sense of. Hence, the more we explore the world, our lives, and our environment, the more we ask questions and give meaning to things that relate to us in many different ways. God, in conclusion, neither gave us meaning to live, nor purpose to live, nor a sense of direction to live, nor the value of life. It is humans that, throughout their existence in this harsh and competitive environment, attach meaning, value, purpose, and sense of direction in the things that surround them. This natural tendency is the result of our mind, which has the capacity and the window of a unique form of perception that differs greatly from other animal species.
I also mentioned in The Broken Capsule, that we should be able to draw a line between beliefs and knowledge. There is in fact a clear state between believing in something and knowing it because it has been shown to oneself. In short, seeing is not believing, but knowing. I believe not because I see it being shown to me. If that is so, I would have known about it. Yes, even if God were to appear in front of me, I would still not believe that he is God. Because by that time it happens, I know that God had in fact appeared in front of me. In other words, I do not believe but by being shown something, I would have known about it, rather than believing in it. The fact that there is no God appearing in front of me makes me dubious about his very existence. Therefore, my disbelief in God can be put in a way that I believe that God doesn't exist until he shows himself. Yes, so what if I am believing in a disbelief? I am believing because it has not been shown to me, and therefore I can't conclude that I know that God doesn't exist. The only time when I would say that I know something is when that thing has shown itself to be true.
Hence, Science is not a belief, thus, it is not a religion. Science is knowledge. It is a subject which inquisitive minds question their beliefs and have their beliefs tested scientifically and the conclusions drawn by the numerous mutually related evidence that follow. In short, beliefs are forms of hypotheses, which are potentially testable and yet to be disproven. So, for an individual who claims that God exists, it is thus a scientific question. Beliefs and predictions are personal opinions, which do not hold as much of a solid ground as their knowledge adversary. A belief afterall, is just a belief and nothing else. Knowledge is knowing something because it has been shown (not revealed in a 'spiritual' or 'paranormal' way) and physically revealed.
So it is proper to say that "I believe in God.", instead of "I know that God exists because the bible said so."
There is a thick line to draw between them indeed. Believing in something has nothing to do with knowing something. You cannot believe that you are knowing something, but you can know that you are believing in something. Knowing is about consciousness. It is a conscious state of awareness because something has physically been revealed. Believing is an uncertain but courageous act of faith that might either be proven right or wrong, just as hypotheses can be null or disproven.
All the same, the certainty of facts to each and every individual would be dubiously unknown unless that individual seeks after the answers himself. I am seeking my answers. And I would be constantly asking questions about this world, about life, about our well-being, and about our origin. I may or may not find the answers in this life time, but it would be worthwhile to die knowing that I've tried and lived my life to the fullest, in a sense whereby I've explored the world on my own, seen the beauty and wonders with my eyes, and discover the meaning of why we are here.
