Ignorance is Our Only Enemy

Nations go to war for greed, fear, ‘protection of assets’ and sovereignty. Neighbors argue and feud over domestic issues and friends sever over misunderstandings. Confrontation seems an essential part of human nature. Evolutionist would say conflicts and aggression has been necessary to the survive as a species, and creationist would say the conflicts is how God sometimes tests and teaches us.

Regardless of belief, faith or scientific method our real enemy is ignorance. No matter how foul our nemesis, whether terrorist, communist, imperialist and no matter what tactic “they” choose nothing will defeat “us” like our own ignorance.

Wisdom favors untainted facts. But too often a nation, a man, a woman, an organization, an establishment chooses to build up their wisdom on myths, half-truths and bias; a house of matches in the middle of a forest fire. The real enemy is our own ignorance. Any perceived enemies are only the puppets and pawns of ones own master, ignorance.

Even forces of nature and states of human suffering are not the enemy. Famine, poverty, sickness can all be defeated with the proper knowledge of “how”. What defeats us is lack of knowledge, ignorance.

The human species is capable of knowing but we project our enemies outside of our selves. The real enemy is within… it is ignorance. There is not a single person, place or thing, no force of nature more cruel and unforgiving as our own unchecked ignorance.

Why do we continue to serve this callous master? Sufferings seems limitless and our ignorance is no excuse. Above all hypothesis, and bias, and prejudging assumptions and long held beliefs, factual information is the greatest ally of humanity.

think out side the god-box

We can not even say or write the word “God” “Allah” “Yahweh” “Jehovah” without being immediately wrong.

Perhaps, one day theists and atheists will be able to agree on that statement. Because if your a believer and you think that God is infinite than you can understand that there is no way a finite mind can understand it. So words about the infinite are meaningless. And if your an Atheist you don’t believe in a creator at all so the words point to nothing.

There is no God but no-thing.
It is the ultimate contradiction such that we can only look in awe at the mere concept of infinity. It is something literally beyond belief because it is completely beyond logical understanding. So nothing at all can be said about it that is either true or false.
To look at the mere concept of it too long through the lens of rational thought is suicide and madness like staring directly into the sun. Just ask mathematician Georg Cantor.

Its fair to say that what ever event, situation, point, being, incident, accident created us, is our “creator”. For a true skeptic, “creator” is perhaps too much to commit to, but it is fair to say some phenomenon started what we are now experiencing. Language and mathematics can only go so far in explaining the phenomenon because no matter how accurate and/or beautiful it sounds, it is still just a symbolic representation of what is really going on. Symbols and language are our revolutionary methods of interfacing, but also the walls that box us into our filtered little worlds for this reason the wise realize that they really don’t know much of anything.

Whether you are atheist or true believer or somewhere in between we can all agree that something or nothing we can currently understand began what we now experience. We are the seeds of that amazing occurrence; we are the fruits of something (nothing?) that originated time/space matter and energy. We are of something that is much greater than matter, space, time, energy. Why shouldn’t we access that greatness? A better question is How can we?

The Universe Allows Extinction and Genocide
I watched a movie called “Sometime in September”. It is a very sad and moving movie about what happen in Rawanda in the ‘94 in which nearly 1 million Tutsi’s and moderate Hutu’s were killed. The most power part for me is when the Hutu extremist sought to divide up a girls Catholic school by Tutsi & Hutu and the girls told them “We are sisters” and died together.

The movie made me think of other atrocities such as slavery and the holocaust. I thought of the 6 million Jews that were killed in Nazi Germany and about all the genocides and extinction level events that have been successful in this planets history. It is clear to me that there is some natural order of things that does not respect any individual, group or species. But the irony is that the human mind at its full potential could really survive and/or conquer most of natures destructive events (including our very own self-destructive tendencies). I don’t believe that Rawandan genocide had to happen (and could have definitely been stopped quickly), the holocaust did not have to happen, and humanity does not have to self-destruct or be taken out by catastrophic events.

Unfortunately, our greatest fault is that we (as a species) do not value life enough. We value our OWN lives (little egos) but can not usually see too far beyond that. I’m sure it will be different one day, but currently, we are a species that values our own egos over life itself and that is very sad. Life is the most valuable commodity on this earth.

We are the miracle we have been looking for. There is no God but the light of life shining within each of us. The body dies but life is an energy subtle enough to be called “nothing” that can neither be created or destroyed. We are that.

No truth, no meaning — words betray us

We often ask: why are we here? What is the meaning of life?

Some people have the answer to this. They express it in their religion or philosophy or reasoning. But I think that our language structures betray us. Perhaps our reasoning, meaning and philosophical understandings are the very cages that keep us from any deeper realization of something beyond us.

Any concept we create becomes an idol hindering us from the true expression of something beyond anything we can even pretend to comprehend. Something so incomprehensible that it renders everything we think we know about life and death meaningless and irrelevant. Often we get caught up and swept away by the words and dogma. We settle for our concepts of God rather than something beyond any type of superficial description or noble language adorned with wise quotes from this or that book.

As a species, that is where we are and right now all we can do is understand things how we understand things, but I am certain we are as small as a one celled organism in a petri dish being examine by something incomprehensible.

p.s. when i say beyond god, I’m addressing the fact that we need to address our concept of what it is. We need to realize that our concepts no matter how grand or clever do not even come close to what maybe beyond.

God is Dead

Along time ago people lived in constant fear that a deity would smite them should they do wrong. Every civillisation had some onipotent force who ruled their life and ruled their hearts. But as time passed people evolved, they grew and understood. They asked where was this “God” in times of need a worry? Why did the “Sinners” not be struck with lightening like those in the old stories? And they understood slowly that this “God” Whether he existed or not, was no longer with them. God had Died.

Thats what I would like to say about society.

 But instead all I can say is that people never really moved on from these dark times. So many people still fear the wrath of a Shadow. A story. A legend.
 
 I don’t want to go on a rant like so many people do on this forum. I don’t want messages filled with hate or Zeal or ignorance. I want an intelligent discussion on why people think a God or power external to them, exists. What is the cause of it, and is there anyway to retain these beliefs, but avoid the negativeside effects like Terrorism, unwanted births etc…etc.

 From conversation on stevepavlina.com/forum

I think what is dead and/or dying are the symbols that point to something greater.  But that is not necessarily a bad thing.  Unfortunately, people worship the symbols and forget what those symbols point to.  Words like God, Allah, Jehova are symbols and hold ZERO relevance outside of their respective contexts (bibles, stories, korans, torrahs).  They are mere pointers to explain something greater.  For science “something greater” is evolution, species survival, the big bang… none of us has answers, all we have is perspectives of what is real.

But we ALL know that “something greater” definitely exists. 

Take a look at consciousness:
Some would reduce awareness to the side effect of the human brain, but there is something very special about consciousness.  Given time and the knowledge, is there any doubt that humans will eventually be able to manipulate the solar system and the surrounding universe.  What can’t be done with a sentient mind? 

Is it such a stretch to believe that there is a sentience beyond humanity?  With billions of stars (some of which we now KNOW can harbor life as we know it) is it such a stretch to believe that some life can do what we can do and more. 

Our know universe (that which we can currently perceive) has a begining, a middle, and an end.  Something (be it sentient, accidental, or natural unexplainable phenomenon) started the universe.  That (whatever it is) could be called God.