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| Whenever we blame society, we are merely protesting our own inability to contribute towards its betterment. |
Lately, science has become increasingly outspoken about a number of studies addressing what we've always perceived as free
will and took for granted to be what sets humans apart from the rest. These studies
consistently suggest that our brain makes decisions before we
consciously
know that we will make the choices we think we've made. Needless to say,
this isn't
helping set the thinking mind at rest. We have, in all likelihood, discovered
something about the brain that is so controversial it could be the
biggest scientific discovery since our realization that the Earth is not
flat. It must have been hard for previous generations to adapt to
such
world-shattering notions and it's fortunate that they didn't remain too obstinate about it; we may still be living off trees today.
We commonly assume our species to be uniquely superior to the rest of nature, calling things that we have modified artificial and everything else natural, not really understanding what we mean by it most of the time. Not only is this conception of nature
quite bogus, it often seems to handicap our ability to interact with
it. However evolved and
increasingly complex our brain structure might have become over a few
hundred millennia, we remain the pattern-seeking apes that our
not-so-distant ancestors
were all along. Being so developed and awakened, we should be able to wrap our minds around hundred-years-old evidence and, at last, fully
appreciate the pretenseless scientific fact that we are nature. We simply cannot hope to understand it if we boycott its most essential principles.
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| If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch... |
As history repeats itself, enlightenments and dark ages sorely succeed each other in a vicious cycle. Science is fragile and many factors, including unbridled capitalism, menace its great albeit limited achievements. More so, what little you and I comprehend, in comparison to the total sum of human knowledge, is so small it's ludicrous. Plagued with uncertainty,
as ever, we build belief upon belief, upon unverifiable
assumptions, rarely realizing how feebly they stand, piled on each other
as a house of
cards. The
more fundamental we consider these truths, the more difficult it
seems to
put back into question their basis. We know how it would force us to
start over and reexamine a multitude of previously unquestioned ideas on which we relied for morals; inspiration and self-worth.
Notwithstanding the sad fact that having to reprocess all this is bound to
be mentally exhausting, it is obviously easier to just pretend like we
own reality; but again, bear in mind: for us to be standing here now,
unfortunate folks had to go through this, time and time again. Anything
about which we are right today, we had to be wrong about first; and what
you and I, taken as individuals, assume to be knowledge... is in fact
mostly unchecked data. We simply can't be expected to personally verify
it all and as ambiguous as the word truth might be, being wrong
is the only path towards it. We have all been told things that hurt
because they forced us to deconstruct notions we considered fundamental
and from which many others of our cherished beliefs were borrowing all
of their validity.
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| Decision making: as close to it as you'll ever get... |
If a spiritual entity created us in its image,
wouldn't it be absurd to think it may have had free will while it turns out that we
actually don't? Also, while being all-powerful implies an ability to make
conscious judgments, doesn't the idea of divine perfection seem quite
incompatible with
decision making? Why would you need to make any if you ultimately knew
what
the best possible path is? In fact, if a perfect being made any choice, knowing it not to be the best available, wouldn't
that make him slightly malevolent? This is not a new issue, it is a problem
with the abrahamic God that has eluded people for a while. Devout
believers will come up with all
kinds of tentative explanations, mostly made of
redundant, circular logic. Is it not getting obvious that we make gods in our image?
You came across this blog through a
succession of factors too complex for anyone to say that you chose it all to happen. Someone or something outside made you want to give it a chance. Your choices were narrowed down. Depressing? A bit too much exposure to reality may have its toll on
you after a
while. Healing from religious abuse takes efforts and time, just like withdrawing
from some "comfort-inducing" chemical substance would be a painful challenge. Atheism is not the answer, merely the result. You'll never be presented with certainty and this is difficult to a lot of people who
quit religion.
Whatever you may think of this article, having read it will slightly modify your
perception just like every stimulus that ever reached your senses. Truth is rarely too convenient.