If you're looking for an answer to the question, "why should I believe in anything you tell me?", then you're never going to be satisfied. I see that as a good thing, because it means you're thinking for yourself, which is a property I value in others
Right. With that out of the way, you want to know why you should ever entertain the idea of a higher power. Well, the short answer is that like the question above, you're probably not going to accept my answer. That's fine too, because I'm going to enjoy writing this regardless of who reads it.
So, what do I believe then?
I believe that there are things I don't understand. That's a loose definition for a reason; being that I really don't have a clue what goes on beyond the realm of the few things I do know. That's not to suggest that my understanding of this world is particularly limited: I have a degree, work as a computer programmer, and am an armchair chemist/physicist who happens to have let his NewScientist subscription lapse
. I have, however, had a few experiences that I have yet to completely fathom. At times I doubt I will ever truly understand them, but what I have found useful is a single idea:
metaphor.
Religion is a La-Z-Boy
Once you read enough philosophy, the word "is" becomes gradually less meaningful. It's all good and well to say that
that piece of plastic over there is a cup, but when you move on to bigger ideas it becomes less precise, for example:
the brain is a computer;
the Earth is a (macro)organism. Neither of these things is necessarily true in the literal sense, since human brains aren't manufactured at Intel's laboratories, nor has Earth ever managed to reproduce (to our knowledge, at least). "Is" becomes a sliding scale between a literal interpretation of "this object meets all the properties of a lounge chair" to "this object can be
modeled as a lounge chair because it is comfortable when you are tired". What's the point of all this? Well, it means that you're free to observe the musings of religious people differently, and see what they're trying to describe rather than interpreting their metaphor literally.
Metaphor is a spanner
Religions love metaphor. I know a few from the hymns I remember from my Catholic upbringing: "The Lord is my shepherd", "Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet" and such. Obviously, we humans aren't actually sheep, and shouting isn't actually going to light up a dark street. The importance is in the metaphor, and specifically in the
intent behind the metaphor. The intended meaning behind the shepherd metaphor isn't meant to be that humans are completely helpless and at the mercy of whatever may come, but that the God of the Christians plays the role of protector and comforter. Unfortunately, a lot of seemingly-clearheaded atheists that I know seem to interpret this particular one incorrectly, and twist its meaning into a verbal attack of sorts, which - as someone who once vehemently stood tall in the face of that particular religion and declared his lack of faith to be final and unwavering - I find somewhat disappointing.
God is a feeling
So after all that stalling: no, I don't believe in the Christian idea of God. I don't believe that there is any being who is entitled to judge others, by merit of their existential status. I do believe that, considered as an aggregate or multi-"cellular" macro-organism, human societies form composite "beings" which have their own ideas in the form of culture, societal norms, entertainment forms, musical styles and so on. "God" then becomes a placeholder term for
any form of order bigger than the individual, which is the definition I have come to hold as my own.
The eyes have it
I also believe in the soul, insofar as other people seem to have some kind of life that I could not replicate through programming a computer. There was a time where I would glance into someone's eyes and see nothing, however after a few experiences on LSD, I have since revised that standpoint. If you look - really look - into the eyes of another human being, you can watch them think. There's a connection when you make eye contact, and it's two-way, and it conveys emotion. You can feel what they feel. This even works with other animals, although a lot of the time they seem intimidated by eye contact, as with most animals it is (culturally, perhaps?) considered a threatening gesture. Try sitting still with a pet (your own or a friend's), and simply treat it as you would any being you respect. You'll find after a while that they will treat you as such in return.
Well, that's everything I can think of at 11PM after a 10-hour day at work. I hope any of this helps you. If not, well, at least I had fun exercising some still-too-rarely-accessed areas of my own mind.
Peace in all things.
Raw
