AFL 2023: Day 11 Exist or not Exist: Why are we still asking the question?
I Posted this on the AFL Whatsapp this morning.
"I've been enjoying "Crash Course " YouTube philosophy breakdowns. With Gasking's poetic response to Anselm today... I thought this was an interesting video. (Anselm and the Argument for God) He makes things more digestible for me. This Hamlet dance of existence or not existence can be entertaining, thought provoking and conversation fodder for awhile, but I don't want this to be the focus for me in my relationships. I'd rather like to find myself a gathering of humans that don't need the answer to this. A gathering where our shared humanity is the reason we find ourselves together. Where "God" isn't the elephant in the room."
I have been in rooms where people are gathered because there is a shared humanity of sorts... but somewhere hovering over the room is the feeling that someone will mention the elephant. We didn't gather because of our shared understanding of the elephant... but people bring their understanding in to the room and it hovers like it's waiting to knock over some tables.
I asked the question two years ago... "Why are we still asking the question?" I realize that some people need to believe and some don't. So can't we leave it at that? Why the need to dance around the evidence or lack there of and try to prove anything? I have a narrative and I value it's place in my life, but I don't need to get up on a soapbox.
I still think that people need other people to embrace their own beliefs because it validates them for their own self. If someone else believes this, then I am okay to believe it. I'm not crazy. Well, maybe a little crazy is okay.
I like talking to the stars and the moon and my dead relatives and critters and even to myself on occasion. This doesn't require medication to stop my behaviour... this just requires understanding that we all need our own way of navigating life with its ups and downs. It doesn't have to look like my neighbour's life or even have a remotely similar vibe to it.
I spend decades in Evangelical Christianity... which I now call the "Borg" of world religions. As a Star Trek fan, I always admired the live and let live attitude I found in the cultures that showed up on that show. The Humans had no need to convert the Klingons. There seemed to be a beautiful co-existence among the the interstellar species. Then came the Borg. They took the Zen of the cosmos and just barged in and demanded that everyone become like them. It was "perfection" they claimed for everyone to be Borg. In the Star Trek universe, they were the ultimate enemy. Why was that? What is it in humanity that repels the idea of conformity? Why can't Christians see that they are doing the same thing with Planet Earth?
And if I had answers to all those questions... I wouldn't need to blog my frustrations on an annual basis.
