Metaphysics, God, and Religion

Everyone is a philosopher...well that's almost true. Anyone who is brave enough to attempt to think about being itself on a new level can be a philosopher. All that is needed is a mind to open up to more than the usual possibilities and free itself from the chains of normalcy and conformity that society creates, upholds, and enforces. Metaphysics is asking how did we get here and where are we going when we leave. What is real? Does god exist or is he simply a concept dreamt up by man? How did all of this come to be? What happens when we die? It is my personal belief that society (the masses) is philosophy's greatest enemy. Think about it for a moment; if you get enough people to accept a certain belief as 'true,' when someone comes along that questions or disagrees with that belief...its gonna piss a lot of people off. Here's an analogy for you then:

100 men and women form a community...time goes on...after awhile they have come up with a specific belief that is upheld by every member of the community. They believe in two gods, Attan and Watum. Attan, of course, is the god of Order and Watum is the god of Chaos. So, fittingly, everything good that happens to someone is the fault of Attan, everything bad is Watum's fault. But, maybe one member of the community doesn't like another member so he or she might sort of 'root' for Watume to screw their enemy's life up so members of the community must worship both gods to keep their lives as orderly and as unchaotic as possible. Time goes on...the community now believes in these gods with all of their heart and they have even made rituals, dances, prayers, and holidays in Attan and Watum's honor and glory. For them life is simple; good harvest, healthy newborn baby, society functioning as a whole= Attan did it, bad harvest, miscarriage, disease=Watum. It allows the community something to praise in good times and something to blame for bad times. All is well until someone comes along and says..."How do we know these gods exist?" UH OH... everyone stops and looks at who the dumbass is who thought up that stupid idea..."How do we know there are two gods? Why not one or three or ten? How do we know if the rituals we perform are what we are supposed to do to praise them? What if there are no gods?... Obviously the community cannot answer these questions in truth...they can speculate and make stories for some but who's to say that the stories are true. Now the community believes in Attan, Watum, and they have formulated a story and meanings to coincide. There own "Bible" if you will. Now this guy who asks all the dumb questions (we'll call him the rebel) is gonna keep asking questions and after awhile he's probably going to convince other members of the community to question their beliefs and traditions too. Some of the members of the community, such as the priests, probably are not going to like this at all... people will question the belief hence people will question the priests and the priests just can't answer these questions plus the fact that their authority might be challenged so what should they do... simple. They take the rebel and they either quarantine him within the community, send him into exile, or kill him. Either option is gonna stop him from asking questions and life will go back to normal, the peasants will work and farm and build and the priests will tell them Attan loves them for it and Watum will bring misfortune if you defy the priests.

Hmm...interesting isn't it... sound familiar at all? it should because this analogy can usually be applied to any major religion in at least a few ways. The point is that it's OK to question god, religion, society. I could say "maybe Jesus never existed," but being the probable christian and religious conformist within a society that says "you should probably believe this and be this way" you'll say "Of Course Jesus Existed, Who Are You To Say Otherwise!" The point here is that I'm not bashing Jesus I'm just asking a question, don't get all 'freaked out' because you can't find an immediate answer or believe so strongly that you're blind to any other possibilities... in fact that's whats so beautiful about philosophy is that there are no right answers just opinions. Nobody knows how the universe came to be because none of us were here when it was created... you might say "well people thousands of years ago wrote this or that" but hey, they weren't here either when it was all created...or evolved...or exploded...or fell into place...thats the idea: "Who Knows!"... all we have is speculation and whatever evidence you can find to support it. Welcome to the wonderful wacky world of philosophical thinking...where anything goes! So, back to Jesus...whether he existed or not, or was the son of God or not, or did all the crazy miracles the Bible said he did are true or not, or if there is even a God or not, or if the bible is even close to an accurate depiction of what happened or not, or.....yeah, you get the idea. Nobody actually 'knows' the answers to these questions they just choose to 'believe' them... two very different words... I just don't want people to look at me like I'm retarded when I say "maybe there is no God." Because one can usually debate the existence of all religion with supporting evidence for or against, one way or the other. So when it comes to Jesus, my official opinion is 'I don't know, maybe.' If Jesus never happened too bad, if he did and saved us all...Kudos to Jesus!!

Back to my analogy now, yeah, you can pretty much apply that to any religon, especially christianity because lets face it... back in the day, the rebel who questioned everything... well the Vatican liked to call them heretics, and the Church even started a friendly little group called the Inquisition who's primary job was to go around and find people like the rebel and they tortured them into confession and killed them...now thats how you eradicate the people who questioned...not!.. i just think its a sad story of power and greed that eventually took over the Church. They ruled by fear; you must give a certain percentage of your income to the Church, you must go and worship in the church for so much time every week, and you must concede to the authority of the Church, and by no means should you ever question the authority, beliefs, traditions, history, or endeavors and undertakings of the church... or they would torture and kill you and if you're lucky they might even spare the torture part. And so the Church became one of the biggest, richest, and most powerful entities that man has ever seen...and much of our christian beliefs descend from that. in fact the Inquisition and its tools of torture were not banned by the Vatican until 1834. Not only did you have the church to worry about if you questioned anything about them, you would be shunned by society as well...as soon as your friends found out you had a bone to pick with the church they suddenly were not your friends anymore. But all of that was hundreds of years ago. Today is only a far lesser version. There isn't quite as much killing at least in America but with roughly 80% of Americans claiming Christianity as their religion and I say "maybe there is no God, and here's why"... some people are interested in hearing why, some people are irritated and leave, some people are irritated and stay to hear what i have to say and then counter with their own evidence (i like these people), some people are so irritated that they get irate and lash out in verbal or even physical ways. (come on guys, we're all friends here) But it is still a very touchy subject and wars have been fought and are still being fought today in its name: Religion. I do think it's funny that religion has instigated wars when most major religions preach peace and harmony and love...ha.

But despite all of this "religion bashing" I do understand the concept of religion. I know what its about and why it exists. Historically, even though the Church wasn't very nice to many people, people embraced this newfound religion because...well...their lives pretty much sucked. They were peasents that would get up every day and work their asses off for ten, twelve, fourteen hour days with little to eat to come home to next to nothing. They didn't have "niceties" like we have today. No cars, phones, TVs, board games, video games, books (most of them couldn't read anyway). In short, they really had nothing but work and family. All of a sudden religion is born and it gives them all time out of their arduous exhausting days to worship God...it even gave them a day off where they didn't have to do anything but worship...sweet! no work for a day (obviously the Sabbath). It also inspired hope in these people...'if you worship God, and do everything the Bible and the Church tell you to do, and you give some of your money to the Church...Your Goin To Heaven Baby! Yeah!...Religion gave answers... it said "this is how you got here and if you do what your told, you get to live in paradise when you die...no more work all day...paradise!" So, everbody loved it...breaks from work...and paradise; hope. good deal. Today, it's really the same concept...but now we have a work week..so we get breaks anyway and work isn't really near as hard as it once was. As for the hope of paradise, well...nobody knows for sure and some just dont care or believe...maybe that's why religion is slowly dying away...because it's becoming obsolete. But hope is another story. I sat in a temp work office one morning and listened to a man at the table next to me tell his companion how he used to be addicted to methamphetamine and how "Jesus" (referring to Christianiity) saved his life...he had been clean for a year... and i thought"wow," if religion is powerful enough to overcome addiction, especially one as tenacious and evil as meth, then religion is worth it. That's what religion is truly about; guidance, hope, happiness." You see most religions follow a specific set of rules and they say 'if you follow these rules you'll live a good life and be happy,' because isn't that what we all want in life anyway; to be happy?, the problem, however, is that very very very very seldom do people actually follow the rules when they claim a religion. you call yourself a Christian but how many times have you said "Goddamn" or stolen something, anything, or cheated...on a test, on a boy/girlfriend, on a spouse, hated someone, wanted something so much you'd do anything for it, lied about something, anything really, disrespected your parents...yeah, its tough to be a christian...im pretty sure i've done plently of that. the point is, people break the rules and that's where religion fails. Religion is pure, it's people that corrupt it.

The reason behind this entire note is to encourage you all to believe what you want, understand what you believe, and believe for yourself not because it's how you were raised or it's what the masses (society) tells you to believe, but because it's what you feel in your mind, and your heart, and your soul (assuming we have souls). But, when it comes to God and religion...God may or may not be real, and when you die there may not be a Heaven, but if you follow your religion with everything you have, when you die you might go to Heaven, or there might be nothing, either way you've still led a good life; nothing lost. here's my take on it all.

Jeff's Take:
I think there is a lot to learn from the worlds religions and it is good for anyone to look into them and learn from their teachings. I don't claim a religion because I don't know that the history and accepted beliefs about any religion are true and I don't agree with the actions and oppressions that certain religions bring with them.I don't like some of their rules. I don't like that the Catholics, Jews, and Muslims killed hundreds of thousands of people in the name of their religions. I don't like that I can't say "Goddamn" if I don't want or that I can't lie or envy... although i shouldn't anyway but we all do it so dont call me a heretic or a heathen or blasphemous because c'mon... we all break the rules usually without thinking about it much. As for the existence of God I don't know for sure but I do believe in a Higher Power that exists beyond what we know that created it all in the beginning. Look at life, how it works, how it moves, how it flows... it's a test for something greater... most fun and enjoyable things are bad for us in some shape or form. parties, intoxicants, drugs, infatuation, materialism, candy... all great but bad for you; love, work, exercise, vegetables...all sucks but good for you... everyday we are tempted with the things that will end our life sooner but it's the easier, convenient way... I think if we resist temptation enough in our life there will be a reward when we die...what that is I cannot say...

Like every philosopher their work is open to criticism so tell me what you think...how am I right? how am I wrong? whats your opinion on God and Religion and why? Go ahead, become a philosopher and prove me wrong...or right...or both!