Individualists like myself leave it all up to you, but they do set the creation point |
After reading Anthem by Ayn Rand, a new (or new to me, correct me if I'm redundant) idea struck me: why does philosophy have to be set in stone? Why not have a philosophy of the holy "Whatever" and "Not important at the moment"? That's the way life is, but why is it that philosophers think that you HAVE to reform somehow? I mean, Nihilists say you need to hate everything, Objectivists say love yourself, Christians say always right doing and thinking, &c. But after realizing the main theme of Anthem (congenital brainwashing), I thought more and more about my background. Raised as a Christian do-gooder, Jesus was shoved down my throat. Now, I find more and more that I don't agree with much that my parents said to me. For instance: God knows all, so therefore he knows the future. Somehow, you have free will, although he already knows what you'll do. He also is all powerful, so he has the strength to change what you do; yet miraculously, he doesn't. For some reason, I don't believe that. It seems too open for us to be taken advantage of. Plus, He wrote his own book stating that he was perfect in every way. I can write a book myself saying that I'm perfect, yet no one will believe me. Why? None of this I understood when I was young, but now, as a teenager (no, I'm not an emo poet, if that's what you're thinking) I realize that they were wrong in many ways. Rand's Anthem showed me that one must reevaluate everything. Not just difficult things like religion, but also little things like the order of a church service. Then I took it a step further: why not just say to yourself: "OK! I'm going to sit down and think of life" like Gautama Buddha did. Then just rearrange things in an order that makes sense to you. For instance: I'm part Nihilist (I hate a lot of things, but not everything), part Agnostic (something tells me s/he needs a name), part Aristotelean (Logic makes complete sense to me, but everything else....not so sure), part Existentialist (life DOES serve no purpose, but I'm still apathetic towards the whole thing in general.) Why can't I be all that? No reason at all! Just as you can be not punk, goth, or emo, but just yourself, you can also belong to one or more philosophy. That is the core of my "Individualism". So, In Review: *1) Assume everything you were ever taught is wrong. *2) Separate things that you can agree with, or are certifiable, from the moot. *3) Reconstruct in a manner that makes sense to you When you come across a new situation that makes you change your mind, CHANGE IT! No one's stopping you! Plus, if you want to be Buddhist, but 2 weeks later decide on Santeria, and 3 months later decide on Satanism, go ahead. Like I said, no one's stopping you. If ever you need something cleared up, just comment me or PM me or something. Whatever floats your boat. |