I sincerely hope you're right, Jordan, and there's a paradigm shift underway. As a civilization, we badly need to reconnect with something deeper and more meaningful
I'm firmly agnostic in most things. (Except this: kale is a garnish, not a food.) In terms of religion, people say agnostic is fence-sitting and cheating and wishy-washy. But (a) if I do not have proof that God exists or does not exist, how can I believe anything with conviction? and (b) it's not wishy-washy to endure all the talk about fence-sitting and other grief agnostics get, anyway.
Further, I'm aware that I also have cognitive biases as you point out. This goes beyond religion. So what I "believe", religion-wise or otherwise, may not necessarily be true. That's why travel is so important to me -- when you live for a time in a different culture, it forces you to think in terms of perspectives outside of your own box and eventually break down some of your own cognitive biases.
I tend to land on science side of the question. But what if there is a God? What if Life, the Universe, and Everything was created by a higher being? My favourite quote on this topic is from Voltaire: If God did not exist, humans would have a need to invent him. That's part of the equation that can't be explained by physics. Humans are spiritual beings, whether there is a God or not. I am not religious and I would imagine I score relatively low on the spirituality scale, too. But it's there.
Anyway, my wandering point is this: it's always good to question. To me, it's not a matter of faith or belief. It's a matter of recognizing that all humans are faliable, that none of us has a monopoly on truth, and that everything can be looked at in different ways and with different perspectives to reach different conclusions. (Except the kale thing. Garnish always.)
I'm not sure what the right well-wishing would be in this situation, but good luck (?) on your journey next year! I hope you and your friends find what you're looking for.
Thank you for this piece, definitely one of my all-time favorites! The canon is open, thank God!
High praise! Glad to know you appreciate it as much as I hoped :)
We can’t possibly understand, and yet it is in our nature to try.
Sweet is the lore which Nature brings:
Our meddling intellect
Misshapes the beauteous forms of things: -
We murder to dissect.
[William Wordsworth - The Tables Turned]
I sincerely hope you're right, Jordan, and there's a paradigm shift underway. As a civilization, we badly need to reconnect with something deeper and more meaningful
Wild you left us in such a cliffhanger
I'm firmly agnostic in most things. (Except this: kale is a garnish, not a food.) In terms of religion, people say agnostic is fence-sitting and cheating and wishy-washy. But (a) if I do not have proof that God exists or does not exist, how can I believe anything with conviction? and (b) it's not wishy-washy to endure all the talk about fence-sitting and other grief agnostics get, anyway.
Further, I'm aware that I also have cognitive biases as you point out. This goes beyond religion. So what I "believe", religion-wise or otherwise, may not necessarily be true. That's why travel is so important to me -- when you live for a time in a different culture, it forces you to think in terms of perspectives outside of your own box and eventually break down some of your own cognitive biases.
I tend to land on science side of the question. But what if there is a God? What if Life, the Universe, and Everything was created by a higher being? My favourite quote on this topic is from Voltaire: If God did not exist, humans would have a need to invent him. That's part of the equation that can't be explained by physics. Humans are spiritual beings, whether there is a God or not. I am not religious and I would imagine I score relatively low on the spirituality scale, too. But it's there.
Anyway, my wandering point is this: it's always good to question. To me, it's not a matter of faith or belief. It's a matter of recognizing that all humans are faliable, that none of us has a monopoly on truth, and that everything can be looked at in different ways and with different perspectives to reach different conclusions. (Except the kale thing. Garnish always.)
I'm not sure what the right well-wishing would be in this situation, but good luck (?) on your journey next year! I hope you and your friends find what you're looking for.