Plumbata
Well-Known Member
I never declared anyone's beliefs as "wrong". Beliefs are inherently subjective and personal, and as such, not an adequate reflection of the entirety of the objective reality of the universe, but if they help you lead a truly better life then more power to you. Leading a good life is the goal, not being right about going to heaven. Keep that in mind, good sir.
It all depends upon the manner by which you encode your experiences and actions in life. Personally, certain aspects of the Buddhist mentality works best for me, though I have formulated my beliefs in a different way. You can believe that there is a conscious entity breathing down your neck and judging everything you do, or you can believe that every action that you take reverberates through the cosmos and all eternity; for good or for bad. Every smile you offer to a nameless person walking on the sidewalk, every greedy action, and every selfless sacrifice creates minuscule ripples in the universe which continue to act upon future events well beyond the lifespan of an individual human. That smile could save a suicidal person's life, and that one extra bit of litter could send an ecologist off the deep end. When you look at the stars, that light is not the light coming from that star in that moment; it is hundreds or thousands of years old. Even the light from the sun which warms our face and gives rise to all the verdant life on the planet is several minutes old by the time it reaches us here on Earth 90,000,000 miles away! If the sun ceased to exist this instant, the plants would still photosynthesize for a while longer! Just the same, our actions are not isolated within whatever mental construct we have created, or the theoretical closed-system of thermodynamic inquiry. Every step you take, even though it is not perceptible with the technology available to us today, reverberates across the cosmos and acts upon entities far removed from us in space and time, however small the quantum mechanical effects may be. If you do "good" in life then your goodness will spread across the world and universe like ripples in a pond, and if you do "evil" then that evil will, in some form or another, be transmitted through space and time even though it would be currently technologically impossible to trace it back to the root cause. If I live a "good" life, then my reward at the termination of my existence will be the beauty that I have engendered and the lives that I have improved, and through those people, places, or things my "spirit" will continue to live on for eternity, whether it can be measured/isolated or not. It doesn't matter, really. I know that i will die, and I am pretty much convinced that there is no spiritual plane of conscious individual existence where I might be able to reside forever, so I derive my comfort from knowing that my actions on this earth will influence the future, in some way or another, until the whole universe ceases to exist as we know it, and even then, it will continue acting in the smallest of ways for eons afterward. This intimate interconnectedness of every molecule, particle, and action within the universe to everything else that exists is far more comforting than the social construct which claims that I will go to heaven if I follow the 10 commandments. I am an atheist, yes, but my system is far more beautiful than the belief in that which makes no logical sense. I may not be religious, as you and most other people are, but that doesn't mean that I don't have significant spiritual depth. I chose to look at the big picture, not our society's picture, and I found something that is far superior to every belief system I've yet encountered. The calling to lead a truly good life should not be based in fear and a selfish grasping for the eternal existence of the ego; it should spring forth from a selfless love of the beauty of other people and of the universe, and a desire to preserve and enhance that beauty to the best of our ability for as long as we are alive. I have seen many Bible-thumping Christians who are convinced that they are "going to heaven" treat the world as their toilet and other people as their servants. It would be impossible to convince these fools that they are wrong about the way they live their life, so all I can do is try to live a life that embraces open mindedness, reason, and a sincere love of all of creation.
I understand your position, but it is one that has been rote-memorized by millions of people who have been taught to defend their Judeo-Christian beliefs. If you actually care to be enlightened regarding this matter, please go read about Entropy. Entropy is a force in this universe which, in its reduced essence, encompasses almost everything that has ever occurred. It is the tendency that all matter and all energy (chemical and potential) in the universe moves towards a state of lukewarm inertness from which no usable energy can be derived. Within this model, the evolution of life makes perfect sense, as all creatures use-up energy and resources far more quickly than a lump of stone of the same weight would. Humans burn oil, take foods provided by plants and animals (which all fall within this model) and use it to go about their business. Think about all the energy sequestered in a seam of coal. Humans, the most intelligent of the objectively stupid creatures on this planet, dig it up and burn it, thus adding to the entropy of the universe. Life in general uses-up chemical and potential energies to fuel its ineffecient goals. Life is, was, and will always be a product of the forces which push the universe toward a state of inertness, with all the chemical and potential energies used-up far more quickly than would be the case if life had not evolved. The complexity of multicellular organisms is not confusing at all when you look at universal physics! We are a product of the dynamics which guide matter and energy, not necessarily the product of a benevolent god. Think about a piece of meat placed on a windowsill (and separate yourself from the fact that meat is a product of entropy). If entropy (and thus life) did not exist, the meat would maintain all of its ordered energy just fine, but the unicellular bacteria in the world invades and breaks-down the proteins in order to derive energy, some of which can be used to perpetuate its goals and most of which is lost. What is left? Energy which cannot be harnessed to do any Work, and a pile of bacterial crap nowhere near as useful as the meat which existed beforehand. Just the same, us humans are the bacteria which are sucking the resources of this earth dry far more quickly than would be accomplished if no life existed. If we look at the proposed origins of simple prokaryotic life (proteins and amino acids, etc), which would take far more space than I have already wasted here, then my statements would still hold equally as much merit.
It is called entropy, and it provides all of the proof needed to justify the existence of all life; human and otherwise. It makes perfect sense to me.
The truth is out there, but you have to look for it. Think BIG, my fellow human. I don't care if you continue to believe in he Christian construct, I just hope that you understand that every other GOOD human being alive deserves whatever you believe that you are entitled to, whether it is a reality, or a social fabrication. All the people on this earth possess compatible genetics, so why are some cultures and societies favored over others?
Does it make sense? If so, please explain it to an ignorant 22 year old. It would be much appreciated.
