As of this writing, I am spending about a week or so in Pennsylvania, in an attempt to get away from the rat race that is Rockville, Maryland. It is calming at the spot that I'm at, and I've been letting my mind wander around in contemplation of... well... anything and everything. As I was staring at the creek that is at the bottom of the hill that this house rests upon, I came to a sudden realization.
People who say that life just isn't fair are nothing more than egotists.
I'm guilty of letting these words slip past my lips, just as I can say with confidence that most anybody who happens to be reading this little blurb is, as well. It's something that we grow up listening to, having it shoved in our faces and down our throats on a disturbingly regular basis. I feel now that this should probably stop.
The times that we say that life isn't fair are the times that we find ourselves at a crossroads, of sorts. These are the times where we lose a job, a friend, a pet, a loved one... whatever. These are the times in life that we probably aren't at all at our best, and we're doing what we can to get by, and even though we're making it, we're still upset by the circumstances.
Understandable, sure, but why say that life isn't fair? Just because things aren't going the exact way that you envisioned them to go, does that mean that life isn't fair? Not at all, really. I think that life is very fair. It treats all of us in the exact same fashion that it treats everybody else. It makes no exceptions for anybody when it wants to throw us some form of curveball or another. Life doesn't ease up on us just because we look at things positively, or because we're good people. Just because someone is an alcoholic, that doesn't mean that life is going out of its way to get that person.
I came to this realization as I was staring at the flow of the water of the creek, sitting on the banks. The flow was calm, slow, and steady at one part. There's a bridge that overlooks the creek, and right beneath it is a miniature waterfall. At this point, the current goes haywire, and there are white peaks to the water as it flows. There are rocks that attempt - vainly, I might add - to slow the water, and yet it just continues on its merry way, going around the rocks, or over them entirely. After the rocks, the current is speedier than it was prior to the waterfall, but it stables out and becomes calm once more.
It was only after some reflection about what I was seeing that I had the "ah ha moment" of the day. This creek, in all of its natural splendor, is a wonderful analogy of the way that life is. When things speed up in your current of life, they can get quite hectic rather quickly. This is something that some people meet head on. Others try and fight against it, and are the ones that typically end up saying that "life just isn't fair."
Listen: I propose to you that life is, indeed, fair, and that you have two options when the current starts picking up. You can either A) meet the current - and the invariable rocks that are in your way - head on and go around them, as the creek does, or B) you can fight against it and end up getting caught in the undertow and dragged along the rocks on the creek bed, only to emerge on the other side battered and bruised.
Realize, folks, that life is fair. This is something that I'm convinced any man and woman of any kind of faith or belief can agree upon. Life isn't out to get you; it's just simply out there. It's what we choose to do with it that counts.
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Friday, April 16, 2010
Take Offense to This
I was going to go to sleep. I'm physically exhausted, even though I did nothing but stay in recovery today from the night before. I sat on my little inflatable mattress, waiting for sleep to take me, and it still hasn't. There's a lot on my mind, you see. While I'm still all about the positive energy from the last blog post, there was something that went down today that has me just a little bit bothered. Long story short, I was trying to prove a point to someone, and they took it entirely the wrong way and they are now mad at me for it. I really don't mind this, as it happens a good bit. What bothers me is that this person wants me to take responsibility for something that I just can't bring myself to. I can take responsibility for what I've done, but not for who I am.
Anyways, that's not what brings on tonight's babbling. No... what I want to talk about tonight is a book called "All The King's Men." It was, essentially, one of the books that helped to open my eyes. Before reading this book, Moby Dick was, to me, a whale, and nothing more. Allegories were the things that crawled out of the sewers and ate your dog. Explicit motivation was taken at face value, and by golly, I liked it that way.
Not after this book.
It's been a while since I've read it, but from what I do remember, it was a kind of political thing about a guy running for some form of office in Louisiana. However, the book isn't really about this guy; it's more about one of his aides, a guy by the name of Jack Burden. He is an observer, and happens to be the narrator of the tale.
He watches things around him happen without feeling attached to them. He is what I like to call a "disinterested third party," where the events never connect with him. If someone were to try and kill him, he would examine their motivations for wanting to take a life without ever really registering the fact that was that close to being murdered. During the course of the book, he has to perform a deed which is not admirable and doesn't learn until afterwards what the result of that action would be on him.
I identified with that character. I very rarely identify with much of anything, fictional or otherwise. This very well could be the main obstacle in my way of being capable of connecting with others. Howard Roark from Ayn Rand's "The Fountainhead" is one other such character. Charlie Kaufman from "Adaption," and Randall from the "Clerks" series is the only other one. Most of the time, I identify with the tortured souls that are the creators of these works rather than with the fictional characters that they painstakingly created.
I am, admittedly, a disinterested third party observer. I've pretty much managed to remove myself from the equation because I'm not a very interesting person. One of the things that I've noticed from various forms of conversation (God bless the digital age) that I've had is that people think that I write and say the things that I do because I am angry, or bitter. It has happened, sure, but mostly I write and say the things that I do because I find them either absolutely fascinating, or just downright hilarious.
Generally, there's no anger there; simply curiosity. When I see someone make a cryptic status update on Facebook, or write a particularly interesting blog post, or even do something like yammer on and on into their cell phone while driving a 3-ton death machine, I want to know why. What hidden motivation prompted them to do that? What was it about their day or conversation or whatever that made them react the way that they did? For what cause does someone abandon reason and debate in favor of name-calling and insults when someone counters their argument with logic? I look at these things because I find them interesting, not because I really feel particularly involved.
When it comes to dealing with my public image, I've experimented. It's been almost scientific in nature. I've tried ignoring people. I've tried reasoning with them. I've even tried - on multiple occasions - to piss them off on purpose. Not everything I have tried has been for the benefit of actually improving said public image. I want to know how this whole public image thing works. I want to poke it, prod it, make it squirm so that I can come up with theories and postulations about why people act the way that they do. That involves me personally and means little except when the experiments also start to interfere with the day to day operations of my life. When I can't find the time to write something - anything - or I watch my firewall blocking attempt after attempt of someone trying to hack my computer because they've developed a distaste for me without a mature approach to handling it - that's when I start to care.
A lot of the people who hate me take it personally. I understand it, to a degree, but I really can't say that I approve or agree with their actions. I've been watching people for a long time, and that little friend that we call "self-esteem" is a lot hardier than it lets on. Suck it up and move on. Seriously, what have I done to have people wish violence upon my person? Did I kill their dog? Did I wreck their car? Did I betray their trust? No... My arrogance, having been spawned from some sick sense of confidence and disconnection, just makes them feel bad about themselves. And you know what? I don't think that people like that very much.
I am smarter than you.
Did you feel that? That little kick in your gut? That's your self-esteem trying to protect you. No, I don't really think that - not even secretly to myself. If I did, I'd have lower expectations of those around me, and the world as a whole. Everybody expects everybody else to act with this thing called "Common Sense," so I'm not the only one that has high expectations for your behavior. However, when you're unwilling to live up to those expectations - either because you think you can't (more than likely not true), or because it is too much effort - then it hurts to be held to those standards.
Self-esteem is.... well, it's really amazing. I can't tell you how awesome it is. Without it, we'd be collectively really, really unstable. We'd probably all commit suicide the first time someone insulted our mother. It's a self-defense mechanism, and it saves your ass a lot more than it gets in the way. Don't be fooled, though; it can get in the way. It can create a sort of mental deadlock where you want to go in one direction, and your body doesn't want to. then your brain - another amazing thing - will fabricate some sort of fantasy roadblock that you accept. That roadblock, when it comes to the act of creation, is the biggest hurdle that you will ever climb. It's not even close to surpassing your own self-doubt.
Here's the part that you probably don't know: Self-esteem comes from different places on different people. That's right. We are not all created equal. For some people, their self-esteem is tied directly to having fun and doing interesting things. They do things such as write because it is an enjoyable hobby, perhaps one that they can share with their friends. They do it when they have the free time and it doesn't interfere with school or family or friends and so on. If they can write something that is good and it makes people happy, then great. If not? Oh, well.
That's not me. It wouldn't matter to me if this blog, or even the book that I'm writing, was the greatest one in the whole entire world if it wasn't made by conscious decision. Happy accidents are for study, not praise. It also doesn't matter what the final product looks like. It is the process of the creation that I care about. My self-esteem comes from the cause and relationship, and knowing how to use both for intelligent design. I am a teacher and a student, not a friend, and that is the type of relationship that I seek with other creators.
I sometimes forget that not everybody approaches the act of creation the same way. Ultimately, it's a good thing. The problem is when you start creating communities around the act of creating something. People like me are significantly out-numbered. I've already had several people tell me to "just chill" when it comes to this blog, because, to them, I'm just making entries into what really only amounts to a digital journal to people that don't really care. To me, it doesn't matter if it's this, a novel, balloon animals, or even ballistic missiles - I do it because the act of creation is a challenge that I seek and appreciate.
So, yeah. I'm guilty of starting stuff, sometimes, but I'll not take all the blame myself. I've just as often been some Pygmalian project of the writing community. How I should act. How I should think. How I should create. Why can't I be more like so and so? Why can't I find the joy in a community of like-minded souls?
Honestly, the answer is quite simple. It's because I'm not like them, and it is really a physical impossibility for me to ever be like them. I know a lot of people out there hate me with a passion, but still enjoy the things that I write and post for the world to see here in the Blue Nowhere. But those very same things that you despise about me are the same qualities that I use to not only create things, but do the things that I do routinely. You despise my being a stubborn buffoon, but I've fought tooth and nail to get my ideas and discussions recognized without being completely ostracized from polite society. You despise my seriousness, but it's what allows me to sit back and think critically about whatever situation that I find myself facing, and it's also what allows me to come up with whatever idea that puts the hair up my butt to sit down and start writing the things that you all say are really good.
I don't think that these facts have been lost or unappreciated by those who are blissfully unaware of what it's like to be this way. You despise my arrogance, but I really wouldn't have bothered if I didn't think I could do it better than most have, or at least bring some fresh, new discussions to the table. With that little arrogant thought driving me, I've made a pretty good go at it, and you know what? I'm not done yet. I'm actually so arrogant as to think that my writings and ramblings and raving and misbehavings and so on could be even more amazing than what they are now, and all that it requires is probably a little more thought and attention put into them. How arrogant is man that he thinks he creates as a god?
This is why I link my blog to as many people as I can. It's good, I think. It's good because I've taken those qualities which prevent me from connecting with other human beings and used them to create something amazing. I am human, just like you. I don't like lima beans or corn. I get the occasional pimple on my butt. I like looking at naked girls. I have chronic insomnia and a high risk of esophagus cancer due to my smoking habit and the fact that I have excessive reflux. Sometimes my bowel movements are irregular.
But, I write things like this blog, and their bowel movements are perfect. :)
Back to the Jack Burden thing. Back when I first read it, I probably should have listened to the point of the novel. By the end, he sort of wakes up and accepts his place in the puzzles of life - at the time, I wasn't ready for that, yet. I didn't understand everything then, and I honestly still don't. I want to keep watching. I want to keep reading between the lines while I still have the distance. Many think of this as a flaw, and I'm coming to understand why. I'm tired of living life like this, and I'm moving on. There's still some time left to enjoy the distance, and I intend to. But you know what? I really don't think I'm going to miss it as much as what I originally thought when it's finally gone.
Anyways, that's not what brings on tonight's babbling. No... what I want to talk about tonight is a book called "All The King's Men." It was, essentially, one of the books that helped to open my eyes. Before reading this book, Moby Dick was, to me, a whale, and nothing more. Allegories were the things that crawled out of the sewers and ate your dog. Explicit motivation was taken at face value, and by golly, I liked it that way.
Not after this book.
It's been a while since I've read it, but from what I do remember, it was a kind of political thing about a guy running for some form of office in Louisiana. However, the book isn't really about this guy; it's more about one of his aides, a guy by the name of Jack Burden. He is an observer, and happens to be the narrator of the tale.
He watches things around him happen without feeling attached to them. He is what I like to call a "disinterested third party," where the events never connect with him. If someone were to try and kill him, he would examine their motivations for wanting to take a life without ever really registering the fact that was that close to being murdered. During the course of the book, he has to perform a deed which is not admirable and doesn't learn until afterwards what the result of that action would be on him.
I identified with that character. I very rarely identify with much of anything, fictional or otherwise. This very well could be the main obstacle in my way of being capable of connecting with others. Howard Roark from Ayn Rand's "The Fountainhead" is one other such character. Charlie Kaufman from "Adaption," and Randall from the "Clerks" series is the only other one. Most of the time, I identify with the tortured souls that are the creators of these works rather than with the fictional characters that they painstakingly created.
I am, admittedly, a disinterested third party observer. I've pretty much managed to remove myself from the equation because I'm not a very interesting person. One of the things that I've noticed from various forms of conversation (God bless the digital age) that I've had is that people think that I write and say the things that I do because I am angry, or bitter. It has happened, sure, but mostly I write and say the things that I do because I find them either absolutely fascinating, or just downright hilarious.
Generally, there's no anger there; simply curiosity. When I see someone make a cryptic status update on Facebook, or write a particularly interesting blog post, or even do something like yammer on and on into their cell phone while driving a 3-ton death machine, I want to know why. What hidden motivation prompted them to do that? What was it about their day or conversation or whatever that made them react the way that they did? For what cause does someone abandon reason and debate in favor of name-calling and insults when someone counters their argument with logic? I look at these things because I find them interesting, not because I really feel particularly involved.
When it comes to dealing with my public image, I've experimented. It's been almost scientific in nature. I've tried ignoring people. I've tried reasoning with them. I've even tried - on multiple occasions - to piss them off on purpose. Not everything I have tried has been for the benefit of actually improving said public image. I want to know how this whole public image thing works. I want to poke it, prod it, make it squirm so that I can come up with theories and postulations about why people act the way that they do. That involves me personally and means little except when the experiments also start to interfere with the day to day operations of my life. When I can't find the time to write something - anything - or I watch my firewall blocking attempt after attempt of someone trying to hack my computer because they've developed a distaste for me without a mature approach to handling it - that's when I start to care.
A lot of the people who hate me take it personally. I understand it, to a degree, but I really can't say that I approve or agree with their actions. I've been watching people for a long time, and that little friend that we call "self-esteem" is a lot hardier than it lets on. Suck it up and move on. Seriously, what have I done to have people wish violence upon my person? Did I kill their dog? Did I wreck their car? Did I betray their trust? No... My arrogance, having been spawned from some sick sense of confidence and disconnection, just makes them feel bad about themselves. And you know what? I don't think that people like that very much.
I am smarter than you.
Did you feel that? That little kick in your gut? That's your self-esteem trying to protect you. No, I don't really think that - not even secretly to myself. If I did, I'd have lower expectations of those around me, and the world as a whole. Everybody expects everybody else to act with this thing called "Common Sense," so I'm not the only one that has high expectations for your behavior. However, when you're unwilling to live up to those expectations - either because you think you can't (more than likely not true), or because it is too much effort - then it hurts to be held to those standards.
Self-esteem is.... well, it's really amazing. I can't tell you how awesome it is. Without it, we'd be collectively really, really unstable. We'd probably all commit suicide the first time someone insulted our mother. It's a self-defense mechanism, and it saves your ass a lot more than it gets in the way. Don't be fooled, though; it can get in the way. It can create a sort of mental deadlock where you want to go in one direction, and your body doesn't want to. then your brain - another amazing thing - will fabricate some sort of fantasy roadblock that you accept. That roadblock, when it comes to the act of creation, is the biggest hurdle that you will ever climb. It's not even close to surpassing your own self-doubt.
Here's the part that you probably don't know: Self-esteem comes from different places on different people. That's right. We are not all created equal. For some people, their self-esteem is tied directly to having fun and doing interesting things. They do things such as write because it is an enjoyable hobby, perhaps one that they can share with their friends. They do it when they have the free time and it doesn't interfere with school or family or friends and so on. If they can write something that is good and it makes people happy, then great. If not? Oh, well.
That's not me. It wouldn't matter to me if this blog, or even the book that I'm writing, was the greatest one in the whole entire world if it wasn't made by conscious decision. Happy accidents are for study, not praise. It also doesn't matter what the final product looks like. It is the process of the creation that I care about. My self-esteem comes from the cause and relationship, and knowing how to use both for intelligent design. I am a teacher and a student, not a friend, and that is the type of relationship that I seek with other creators.
I sometimes forget that not everybody approaches the act of creation the same way. Ultimately, it's a good thing. The problem is when you start creating communities around the act of creating something. People like me are significantly out-numbered. I've already had several people tell me to "just chill" when it comes to this blog, because, to them, I'm just making entries into what really only amounts to a digital journal to people that don't really care. To me, it doesn't matter if it's this, a novel, balloon animals, or even ballistic missiles - I do it because the act of creation is a challenge that I seek and appreciate.
So, yeah. I'm guilty of starting stuff, sometimes, but I'll not take all the blame myself. I've just as often been some Pygmalian project of the writing community. How I should act. How I should think. How I should create. Why can't I be more like so and so? Why can't I find the joy in a community of like-minded souls?
Honestly, the answer is quite simple. It's because I'm not like them, and it is really a physical impossibility for me to ever be like them. I know a lot of people out there hate me with a passion, but still enjoy the things that I write and post for the world to see here in the Blue Nowhere. But those very same things that you despise about me are the same qualities that I use to not only create things, but do the things that I do routinely. You despise my being a stubborn buffoon, but I've fought tooth and nail to get my ideas and discussions recognized without being completely ostracized from polite society. You despise my seriousness, but it's what allows me to sit back and think critically about whatever situation that I find myself facing, and it's also what allows me to come up with whatever idea that puts the hair up my butt to sit down and start writing the things that you all say are really good.
I don't think that these facts have been lost or unappreciated by those who are blissfully unaware of what it's like to be this way. You despise my arrogance, but I really wouldn't have bothered if I didn't think I could do it better than most have, or at least bring some fresh, new discussions to the table. With that little arrogant thought driving me, I've made a pretty good go at it, and you know what? I'm not done yet. I'm actually so arrogant as to think that my writings and ramblings and raving and misbehavings and so on could be even more amazing than what they are now, and all that it requires is probably a little more thought and attention put into them. How arrogant is man that he thinks he creates as a god?
This is why I link my blog to as many people as I can. It's good, I think. It's good because I've taken those qualities which prevent me from connecting with other human beings and used them to create something amazing. I am human, just like you. I don't like lima beans or corn. I get the occasional pimple on my butt. I like looking at naked girls. I have chronic insomnia and a high risk of esophagus cancer due to my smoking habit and the fact that I have excessive reflux. Sometimes my bowel movements are irregular.
But, I write things like this blog, and their bowel movements are perfect. :)
Back to the Jack Burden thing. Back when I first read it, I probably should have listened to the point of the novel. By the end, he sort of wakes up and accepts his place in the puzzles of life - at the time, I wasn't ready for that, yet. I didn't understand everything then, and I honestly still don't. I want to keep watching. I want to keep reading between the lines while I still have the distance. Many think of this as a flaw, and I'm coming to understand why. I'm tired of living life like this, and I'm moving on. There's still some time left to enjoy the distance, and I intend to. But you know what? I really don't think I'm going to miss it as much as what I originally thought when it's finally gone.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Moving Forward
There are moments that come and go in life where one realizes just exactly how things are going inside of themselves. These moments can be either good or bad for our psyches. I call them "ah-ha moments." I have recently had the opportunity to have such a moment, myself.
For the longest time, I have been an angry individual. My anger stems from several events that have happened in my life throughout the almost twenty-five years that I've been exposed to the world around me. Rather than "biting the bullet," so to speak, and moving on from these things that have angered me to the point of being a bitter person, I instead chose to become a product of my past. On retrospect, I feel that this probably wasn't the wisest of decisions.
It wasn't until I recently hurt someone very close to me - quite possibly without hope of repair - that I decided to take some time off from everyone and everything to really take a look at why this happened again, and, more importantly, why it continues to happen on a disturbingly regular basis.
Having had said time off, I came to the realization that I honestly have absolutely nobody to blame for this but myself. Too often have I let myself become a victim - and at times even made myself to be one when I really wasn't. In an attempt to rationalize the things that have happened, I have become something that I loathe. It is time, I believe, to change all of that.
When people ask me how I'm doing, I often times reply with "depressingly typical." I am only half-kidding when I say this. I am tired of living this way. I am tired of being depressed, drained, and angry all the time. I am tired of always waiting for the next bad thing to happen. I am tired of pushing people away.
I understand that I'm not exactly the most social of creatures, and as a result, I am constantly penalized in polite society for not exactly understanding - or even caring about, really - proper social etiquette. This has interesting results some times, but in the long run, I believe that it has hurt me more than helped me. I am always waiting on people to let me down, because that is what I have come to expect.
This is all going to change.
This is all changing because, in all honesty, I am tired of living this way. I am sick to death of waking up every day, not appreciative of what I have. After having spent some time with a really good friend and her husband over the weekend, I have come to realize that I really do have a lot to be grateful for. I have been through a lot in life, sure, but I really should be a lot more grateful to the fact that I'm still here. I'm still alive and kicking, and that's a start.
I used to think that I'm only alive out of pure spite for those around me, but I see now that I'm wrong. I'm strong because I'm resilient, but I honestly have no idea how much longer that is going to last. I need to make some changes, or else it is going to quite literally kill me.
I am done living my life alone. The only reason I'm doing so is because I allow it. I have a job. I have a car. I have good friends that are always there for me, even when I don't deserve it. I have things in life to look forward to, and you know what? That's something. It's more than what I've ever had, and I need to stop taking it all for granted.
I've carried these things with me for far too long. There's a difference between a healthy dose of cynicism, and just being outright angry and hurt and so on all the time. I'm done with it. As much as I understand that we all have our crosses to bear, I really don't think it reasonable to be breaking one's back by carrying around the statues of our past, as well.
All of these thoughts come after much self-reflection, prayer, and communing with God. I see now where I'm wrong. I just honestly wish that I didn't have the pay the price that I did for it.
For the longest time, I have been an angry individual. My anger stems from several events that have happened in my life throughout the almost twenty-five years that I've been exposed to the world around me. Rather than "biting the bullet," so to speak, and moving on from these things that have angered me to the point of being a bitter person, I instead chose to become a product of my past. On retrospect, I feel that this probably wasn't the wisest of decisions.
It wasn't until I recently hurt someone very close to me - quite possibly without hope of repair - that I decided to take some time off from everyone and everything to really take a look at why this happened again, and, more importantly, why it continues to happen on a disturbingly regular basis.
Having had said time off, I came to the realization that I honestly have absolutely nobody to blame for this but myself. Too often have I let myself become a victim - and at times even made myself to be one when I really wasn't. In an attempt to rationalize the things that have happened, I have become something that I loathe. It is time, I believe, to change all of that.
When people ask me how I'm doing, I often times reply with "depressingly typical." I am only half-kidding when I say this. I am tired of living this way. I am tired of being depressed, drained, and angry all the time. I am tired of always waiting for the next bad thing to happen. I am tired of pushing people away.
I understand that I'm not exactly the most social of creatures, and as a result, I am constantly penalized in polite society for not exactly understanding - or even caring about, really - proper social etiquette. This has interesting results some times, but in the long run, I believe that it has hurt me more than helped me. I am always waiting on people to let me down, because that is what I have come to expect.
This is all going to change.
This is all changing because, in all honesty, I am tired of living this way. I am sick to death of waking up every day, not appreciative of what I have. After having spent some time with a really good friend and her husband over the weekend, I have come to realize that I really do have a lot to be grateful for. I have been through a lot in life, sure, but I really should be a lot more grateful to the fact that I'm still here. I'm still alive and kicking, and that's a start.
I used to think that I'm only alive out of pure spite for those around me, but I see now that I'm wrong. I'm strong because I'm resilient, but I honestly have no idea how much longer that is going to last. I need to make some changes, or else it is going to quite literally kill me.
I am done living my life alone. The only reason I'm doing so is because I allow it. I have a job. I have a car. I have good friends that are always there for me, even when I don't deserve it. I have things in life to look forward to, and you know what? That's something. It's more than what I've ever had, and I need to stop taking it all for granted.
I've carried these things with me for far too long. There's a difference between a healthy dose of cynicism, and just being outright angry and hurt and so on all the time. I'm done with it. As much as I understand that we all have our crosses to bear, I really don't think it reasonable to be breaking one's back by carrying around the statues of our past, as well.
All of these thoughts come after much self-reflection, prayer, and communing with God. I see now where I'm wrong. I just honestly wish that I didn't have the pay the price that I did for it.
Monday, April 05, 2010
What's This Really About, Anyway?
I'm supposed to be preparing myself for a rather interesting debate between myself and an accepted intellectual equal about the differences between faith and science. I can almost see the grimaces on the faces of those who are currently reading this, and I whole-heartedly understand why they are there. With any luck, this little debate will not branch down the normal path - when I'm involved, things rarely happen like they should. Many can attest to that.
Egotism aside, I am, obviously, debating the case for the side of faith, and why I believe that it's a valid worldview - for want of a better term - than that of... say... believing we evolved from monkeys.
Now, I could easily follow the path of the ignoramus, and make simple-minded arguments like "I don't come from no monkey because they ain't turnin' into humans over at the zoo!" or even "I know it's true because I have faith in the fact that it's true." or even the most ridiculous statement at all to make when finding yourself arguing the case of faith: "I know it's true because it's in the Bible, and the Bible is infallible."
Some of you reading this might think that these are solid answers, and ones that should be taken seriously. I assure you, this isn't the case. That's like explaining the taste of barbecue sauce to... say... a frog. Alternately, the other side of the case needs to see it as such, too, because otherwise, it isn't so much of a debate as it is a breakdown of communication reminiscent of days spent on the playground as a child - days that are, sadly, long gone.
"Bang! I got you!"
"Bang! No, I got you!"
"Nuh-uh! You missed!"
"I can't miss! I have eagle eyes!"
"Well, I'm invisible!"
"But I also have infrared!"
...
As you can see, this "conversation" is going nowhere, really fast. Seeing as how neither side is willing to give, nobody gets anywhere, and it becomes nothing more than a frustrating cycle of mental circle-jerking onto a cookie, where the one who gets the last word can make the other eat it.
All metaphorically speaking, mind.
I digress. The point that I will attempt to make in tonight's little debate is that having faith in a God that I know is there and loves me and guides me as much as I will let him is no different than having faith in a theory that states that human beings came to be from monkeys, or holding any other belief, for that matter.
You see, when someone comes to me and says something along the lines of "My belief is better than yours!" I tend to raise an eyebrow. I always have, honestly. It might just be the philosopher in me, or even my incessant need to play the devil's advocate, but either way it's looked at, I always ask them "Why?" If they cannot - or will not - give me reasons why it's better, then I cannot - and will not - take them seriously about anything. Ever.
All too often in this debate, we see two people talking down to each other, rather than using proper communication to properly discuss why it is that they believe what they do. Rather than speaking to each other as equals, they both go in half-cocked with their thumb on the pulse and their finger on the trigger, and nothing more than raised blood pressures gets accomplished.
My argument is that it is no more foolish for me to believe in a God that I don't physically see than it is for them to believe in evolution. The typical argument is that science has all the answers, and proves time and again that the belief in God is foolish. The other side - the one that I'm now arguing for - says that God has all the answers and they are in the Bible, and that what is written in the Bible is all that there ever is to know about life. I propose that both sides in this case aren't wrong, but they aren't right, either.
I am saying that the faith in a scientific theory is no different than the faith in an all-knowing, unconditionally caring creator. I say this because even though I know that there is a God and that He does exist and care about me and love me, I simply cannot explain it to someone who does not believe in that. There is no way for me to argue that faith in God is better than faith in science, because they don't want to hear it. Hence, my reasoning for playing the fence in this debate and making an attempt to offer a different point of view.
Honestly, if one reads the Bible - more specifically, the things that Christ Himself said - you will find nothing that goes against what modern science has taught us. Modern science has also taught us that certain things that the Bible says to do and not to do were really very good things to know back in the days when sewage systems weren't even a glimmer in the eye of whoever it was that invented them originally.
What you will find in His words, however, are multitudes of parables and messages that all say the same thing: love your brother as you would love yourself, and put God before all others. It's with this in mind that I approach this subject, and only with much consideration and trepidation am I finally sitting down with this friend of mine to present what it is that I have learned.
He believes in evolution, because he's never experienced God. I believe in God and have an unshakable faith in Him, because of the things that I have seen and experienced. I cannot hope to have him see things my way, because that cannot happen. I can see things his way, sure, but only because I've been in his shoes before. I'm familiar with that belief system, and I'm familiar with how to approach people coming from that point of view. Not saying I have the upper edge, here. Far from it. What I do have, however, is faith in the knowledge that I have at least tried to bring to him another point of view. Planting seeds, and all that.
I'll post the conversation after it happens. :)
Egotism aside, I am, obviously, debating the case for the side of faith, and why I believe that it's a valid worldview - for want of a better term - than that of... say... believing we evolved from monkeys.
Now, I could easily follow the path of the ignoramus, and make simple-minded arguments like "I don't come from no monkey because they ain't turnin' into humans over at the zoo!" or even "I know it's true because I have faith in the fact that it's true." or even the most ridiculous statement at all to make when finding yourself arguing the case of faith: "I know it's true because it's in the Bible, and the Bible is infallible."
Some of you reading this might think that these are solid answers, and ones that should be taken seriously. I assure you, this isn't the case. That's like explaining the taste of barbecue sauce to... say... a frog. Alternately, the other side of the case needs to see it as such, too, because otherwise, it isn't so much of a debate as it is a breakdown of communication reminiscent of days spent on the playground as a child - days that are, sadly, long gone.
"Bang! I got you!"
"Bang! No, I got you!"
"Nuh-uh! You missed!"
"I can't miss! I have eagle eyes!"
"Well, I'm invisible!"
"But I also have infrared!"
...
As you can see, this "conversation" is going nowhere, really fast. Seeing as how neither side is willing to give, nobody gets anywhere, and it becomes nothing more than a frustrating cycle of mental circle-jerking onto a cookie, where the one who gets the last word can make the other eat it.
All metaphorically speaking, mind.
I digress. The point that I will attempt to make in tonight's little debate is that having faith in a God that I know is there and loves me and guides me as much as I will let him is no different than having faith in a theory that states that human beings came to be from monkeys, or holding any other belief, for that matter.
You see, when someone comes to me and says something along the lines of "My belief is better than yours!" I tend to raise an eyebrow. I always have, honestly. It might just be the philosopher in me, or even my incessant need to play the devil's advocate, but either way it's looked at, I always ask them "Why?" If they cannot - or will not - give me reasons why it's better, then I cannot - and will not - take them seriously about anything. Ever.
All too often in this debate, we see two people talking down to each other, rather than using proper communication to properly discuss why it is that they believe what they do. Rather than speaking to each other as equals, they both go in half-cocked with their thumb on the pulse and their finger on the trigger, and nothing more than raised blood pressures gets accomplished.
My argument is that it is no more foolish for me to believe in a God that I don't physically see than it is for them to believe in evolution. The typical argument is that science has all the answers, and proves time and again that the belief in God is foolish. The other side - the one that I'm now arguing for - says that God has all the answers and they are in the Bible, and that what is written in the Bible is all that there ever is to know about life. I propose that both sides in this case aren't wrong, but they aren't right, either.
I am saying that the faith in a scientific theory is no different than the faith in an all-knowing, unconditionally caring creator. I say this because even though I know that there is a God and that He does exist and care about me and love me, I simply cannot explain it to someone who does not believe in that. There is no way for me to argue that faith in God is better than faith in science, because they don't want to hear it. Hence, my reasoning for playing the fence in this debate and making an attempt to offer a different point of view.
Honestly, if one reads the Bible - more specifically, the things that Christ Himself said - you will find nothing that goes against what modern science has taught us. Modern science has also taught us that certain things that the Bible says to do and not to do were really very good things to know back in the days when sewage systems weren't even a glimmer in the eye of whoever it was that invented them originally.
What you will find in His words, however, are multitudes of parables and messages that all say the same thing: love your brother as you would love yourself, and put God before all others. It's with this in mind that I approach this subject, and only with much consideration and trepidation am I finally sitting down with this friend of mine to present what it is that I have learned.
He believes in evolution, because he's never experienced God. I believe in God and have an unshakable faith in Him, because of the things that I have seen and experienced. I cannot hope to have him see things my way, because that cannot happen. I can see things his way, sure, but only because I've been in his shoes before. I'm familiar with that belief system, and I'm familiar with how to approach people coming from that point of view. Not saying I have the upper edge, here. Far from it. What I do have, however, is faith in the knowledge that I have at least tried to bring to him another point of view. Planting seeds, and all that.
I'll post the conversation after it happens. :)
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