The Importance of Being Philosophical

What is God? Religion? Faith? What do they really mean? How do I apply them to my life? Should I even try? How do they impact what I say and do? Who or what is God, if it is at all? Did God create the universe, or did the universe come to being independently of any other sentient being? What if God did not make us any better than other organisms? Do we overrate sentience because our self-awareness is of course the thing which tells us that sentience is so great? Is God a force as natural as gravity, or something so powerful it created everything that we observe and experience? Does it pervade everything in existence? Does it sit apart from everything? Is its role in our lives nonexistent? Does it interfere intermittently? Or does it control EVERYTHING we think and do? Are the answers to these questions knowable? And do the answers make a difference in our lives? If they make no difference, then what do they matter? Why even ask? Does asking the questions make a difference in our lives?

Think about that last question for a second. We ask so many questions every day (see above) but few of them have the power to change our lives. "Will you marry me?" is an example of an important one, but the answer, "yes/no/maybe/other?" determines what happens next.

Do people gradually live better lives because they ask the BIG questions about God and religions? I can easily get caught in circular questioning (see above) without going anywhere, so that can’t be all there is to it. But those who ask these questions are most likely curious individuals who are investigating other mysteries in their lives as well, be they natural, political, social, psychological, etc. Their desire to know and understand how things work, to question why things are the way they are, predisposes them to do well in life.

Naturally, it is hard to focus on these and other questions when something lower down in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is not met, like food or security. Even if all your lower needs are met, there are other obstacles. Some are cultural – if you’re raised to believe word for word what you’re taught from a young age, then you’re less likely to question why things are the way they are. Some people are naturally more curious than others. I don’t mean to say that people who are more curious are better than those who aren’t. As kids, we were all more or less equally curious. We all wanted to know how things worked and why did that bug just eat that other one EWWWW GROSS ooooooo neato! As I said in an earlier post, kids have to have free time to explore their world to develop their natural curiosity, or they will eventually stop asking.

So asking these questions gets you to think of more questions, which beget even more questions... ad nauseum. Even though most questions have no definitive answers, they show us what we already think. They help shape and reveal to us our own personal truths. That is really the secret of philosophy. It gets you to figure out, not The Truth, but your personal truths. Even if you think that you know everything about yourself, you still learn more about what you believe about the nature of life, the universe, and everything. People who never ask what these truths may be never truly understand what makes themselves tick, and I believe they will always be searching in vain for an external source to answer those and other questions.

Religion is a handy way of getting bunches of people together who belief roughly the same thing about how things are run, but when used properly it’s not really an external source of meaning. I can’t stress this enough: I speak of what religion can do for mankind, not how people have used it to hurt others. When used to enrich lives and bring people together, it’s as if a bunch of people compared notes and realized that many of their answers to the above questions matched up. They shared views about mortal issues as well – social, policitcal, etc. – and decided to worship together because it gave them comfort and security knowing they were not alone. This is, of course, not exactly how it happened. People tended to believe that theirs was the only true religion with the only acceptable answers to the above questions. Religions developed in a variety of cultural and geographical niches, so that where you were and the race/socio-economic status of your parents determined what you believed. This is still very true in most of the world today, although many parents encourage their children to explore other religions before settling on one. Amish young adults are told to go out into the world explore other ways of life, a time in their life called Rumspringa, which can last as long as they choose. At they end they must decide whether they will join the Amish church and return to their community or join the rest of American society.

But I digress. My point in all this rambling is that I think that everyone should question their faith, their beliefs, in order to understand them, rather than to tear them down. People who know what they believe and how it differs slightly from their religion’s orthodoxy, what personal beliefs they have that no one else shares, and what aspects of their religion’s canon they completely agree with, these people are the happiest and most at peace with their lives. They think for themselves, and this allows them to believe for themselves rather than hacking up what someone else shoved down their throats. You must be able to (literally) play devil’s advocate in order to know yourself completely and to know that you are living your faith.

Walk in beauty.

Purpose

We make clear distinctions between things which serve a purpose and things which have no purpose.

On first inspection it may appear that those wheelie toys that I loved as a kid (and still love, to be honest) in which a wheel that has magnets on it moves up and down two metal rods, is a pointless toy. How does a wheel moving between two bars teach you anything? But you could argue that this toy's purpose is to amuse us.

Frivolity is a valid end in itself, and one that is often overlooked. Humans, especially children, need time to explore and discover things about their world that they can not learn through structured play. Without objectives, the mind can think wonderful, new, innovative thoughts that simply can not be forced because when the kid begins to ponder something he has no idea where his thoughts are going. He can also relax and completely be himself without worrying about whether or not he will succeed. Playing sports, instruments, video games, or cards can all be great things, but they need to be balanced with free play. Some studies suggest that kids get frustrated, aggressive, distracted, and sometimes physically sick more easily when they are not allowed any time to play without structure. Letting a kid go explore the woods or a field or run around a playground are excellent opportunities for free play.

And if I may get back to the wheelie toy for a second, while it delights us, it shows us an application of magnetism and teaches us a little about physics. A kid who thinks he hates physics could be taught something and enjoy learning it, especially if the kid has parents who are good at explaining how things work. (Thank you, Dad, that's a nod to you). And the kid improves his hand-eye coordination while he moves the rods up and down to make the wheel move. So this seemingly pointless object serves at least three important functions.

Okay, that makes sense. But what about a toy that's broken beyond repair and can't be salvaged for parts? It can be really sad for a kid to have to throw out favorite toys that have broken. But what choice does he have; what purpose does it serve now? They can be important reminders of the way things used to be. Many memories can be rekindled by the sight of an old toy. Most of us don't have room to store every single toy we've ever played with, nor would we want to do so. But I definitely save my favorites, even when they no longer work, because I want to remember what life was like back in the day for myself, and for my future kids and grandkids. Like photographs, these things serve no purpose per se but they are important aids for our memories as to how things used to be. For someone who's experienced traumatizing change, looking through old photos or old toys can be a painful but therapeutic tool for accepting new circumstances without forgetting everything that was.

Then there are things which seem incapable of ever having done anything for us. Some would consider bad art and awkward inventions (like toilet-paper dispenser head-gear, for a man-on-the-go with a cold) to be totally pointless. As for bad art, just because you don't like it doesn't make it Bad. Chances are he can find someone, somewhere who will buy it from him if he looks hard enough. And even if the artist has to give it to his mom, the piece can make her proud that at least he's trying. Or if his dad rags on him for being an artist instead of a doctor, he can destroy the piece and get out some pent up anger. The artist will either learn from his "mistake" and let it inspire him to do better next time, or he'll look harder for the perfect target audience. (Every minute another sucker is born.) Likewise, behind every great invention are many botched attempts or off-kilter ideas. It's unfortunate that someone may spend so much time trying to make a great invention only to be laughed at, but hey, there is real value in frivolity.

What about trash? This plastic wrapper used to protect my candy bar, but now it's going to take up space at a landfill. I honestly don't know what to tell you. But I hope that someday we can find a way to use only materials that can be re-used, and that, when they do go back to the earth, cause a minimal amount of harm, like packing peanuts made of cornstarch that decompose (and can be eaten if you feel like it).

So there are things which serve us and things which once served us, but is there anything that has never taught anyone anything about life or made a life better, easier, or more interesting? I mean something which serves absolutely no purpose whatsoever. I refer to things, animals, plants, people, emotions.... in essence, every noun. I can't think of anything, but please tell me if you do. I'd be very interested to know.

Walk in beauty.