I was debating (with myself obviously) about doing a new post, as I was being very deep (not really)/metaphysical the other day and thought maybe I could wonder about faith/God/religion, probably not very controversially anyway.
And the title came to me, though I’m coming at it from the opposite angle probably (but not truly). It’s just that thinking of it reminded me of the title of this song from Spiritualized on their career highlight, Ladies & Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space. I have no idea about lyrics so don’t ask me about any connection between title and content.
Anyway so…….having touched on Anarchism alreadly, I probably don’t have much more to say (and probably should re-read that page to avoid repeating myself, but it’s not happening) or you know already I’m not a big fan of religion. Organised religion anyway.
I get the idea of ‘God’, or something above us, I’m probably more of an agnostic in a way, or a weird humanist. I mean, it’s all impossible to understand, do we exist, etc? We are told to believe concrete facts/science, etc, but what is the essence of our being? And are we really just like any other creature, with specificities but not worth more or less? Do we have a purpose? Nobody has the answers I guess, but some pretend they do. Me, as usual, I only have reflections, avenues of thinking, generally leading to nowhere. Sometimes I like to think there’s a purpose and that humanity will evolve into something better, bigger. But the reality I’m seeing doesn’t really feed optimism, and you have to look very hard and abstractly to believe we are progressing towards a fulfillment rather than self-destruction in our increasingly polarised word. Or maybe the technology we create will destroy it. The future has so many possibilities, and as I’ve touched upon on one of the books pages, plenty envisaged by Asimov (especially with the different worlds near the Earth in the final Foundation novel) we can see trends towards. Ideally I still believe he is right and ‘Gaïa’ would be the best. Maybe it can happen in a million years. Or maybe we’ll go the way of Solaria, Aurora or whatever, it’s a very interesting read. Closer to us, with all the AI nonsense, maybe Terminator is more our future.
Anyway, one of the most interesting ‘features’ at least in Christianism is ‘God made Man in his image’. Maybe it’s in Judaism and most other one-God religions/philosophies anyway. Because it can also tally with ‘God is Humanity’. And then you are led to fractals. The same bigger pattern is reproduced in every smaller bit. Or the other way round perhaps? Anyway. Yeah, anologies, similarities at several levels we see them in our lives all the time, so maybe they can expand to that idea of ‘God’.
And in that way and many ways, I just don’t get ‘atheism’. What then is the difference between atheism and nihilism? And is there a point in living if you don’t believe….that there is a point in fact? I must add I’m not even sure there is a point or that I believe in it, but the key for me is I don’t believe in the absence of it either. You could say I have a lack of faith either way that I am just a useless sceptic….
So what about religion? I was born and bred catholic, so I learnt all from that, but with my parents being the way they were (outwardly anyway for the little I know them), I felt enough freedom inside. I mean I felt constrained a lot, didn’t have the freedom I needed to prosper, develop and really be myself, but not sure it’s down to religion much. In a way you could say they were super-catholic, but I’ve not been in contact with any of the abuse or anything that has clearly happened a lot in churches and everywhere. Somehow I think this may have been worse in Ireland? Either way my point is that while I don’t feel particularly ‘religious’ now, I don’t have the anti-catholic sentiment that a lot of people share, because, as often, I try to take the good even from bad people/concept, and use it to benefit/improve myself.
But history has shown anyway that organised religion, be it catholic, protestant, judaic or muslim, has led to a lot of abuse, wars, crimes against humanity. At the end of the day, it’s all about ‘threatening’. If you don’t do that, God will punish you, and I am the messenger of God so I only tell the truth. And so whatever religion official wields the power. And very few people have power and don’t abuse it in the end. Control, narcissism, charisma, whatever. But to submit to such hierarchy/power dictating what you MUST do, you have to either abandon your critical sense, or have some sort of ‘faith’. Inside.
And I do get the attraction, and perhaps it’s easier not to always try to think for yourself, not to be in constant doubt as I mostly am, but again, see the anarchy post, I can’t surrender my free arbiter. Perhaps I have some admiration for these people with ‘faith’, maybe I just never had the courage to take a leap of ‘faith’ at least not in that religious sense.
And I’m back full circle to what I suspect I may have already written in that A page: at the end of the day, it’s not about chaos or everyone their own rule, it’s about….common sense, maybe a greater good. Shared values in humanity. Now I am very aware that my own education means ‘some’ values come from there and could be different in another culture. But yeah, I don’t get revenge, an eye for an eye, etc. I’m interested in doing what I want, in being free, as long as it doesn’t hamper other people’s quality of life, as long as it doesn’t take an inch out of other people’s freedom. Some ‘teaching’ come from your own experience, sometimes it comes from other people’s experience, and it’s about knowing, FEELING in fact, who you can trust, so that you don’t necessarily always believe you have to make your own mistakes to learn. It’s a collective thing, and humanity can grow that knowledge. ‘Religion’ (historically) can give hints, advice, but it should never give orders. So maybe I’m OK with ‘religion’ as a ‘philosophy’, and then you can choose. Maybe make your own religion.
I have no problem with people who want to follow a religion, strictly even, as long as they don’t try to impose it on others (they are free to claim the merits and share, it’s a different thing), and also (see maybe the ‘perception’ page) don’t feel/act offended if someone (particularly unaware) does something that is contrary to whatever ‘rules’ there are there, in their presence.
Right, enough shit, I suppose I could blather on, but if you read this, I suppose you’ll get the gist of my position on God/religion (always open to debate), or its confusing place in my life.