Masochistic Perceptions, Trials and Truths

These are my cyberfied cerebral synapses ricocheting off reality as I perceive it: thoughts, opinions, passions, rants, art and poetry...

Friday, June 01, 2007

Freedom In Our Journey


The local Letters to the Editor section of the Edmonton Journal has been battling back and forth over the concept of “creationism” in light of a new creationist museum that is opening here in Alberta. There appears to be three points of view:

(1) The Creationist who subscribe to a literal translation of Genesis as it pertains to the creation of the earth

(2) The Pure Scientific perspective which refutes all Biblical claims on the basis of scientific evidence

(3) The Theist who believes in God but that the Bible is not intended to be taken literally.

Clearly the divisions created by religion are being portrayed as people defend what they believe in oftentimes a harsh, hateful, vindictive and critical manner. I find those defending their personal absolutes with such vigour to be a bit on the scary side. If there is one thing we should take away from the study of our selves is that nothing is finite, nor have we positively answered all questions of science or theism with 100% clarity and accuracy. As progressive as we may believe ourselves to be, modern humankind will be viewed as primitive in 100 years time. Both Science and Religion are riddled with errors as any “objective” study will reveal - our subjective nature supports this premise from the start. Yet people are frothing on this issue, from which, ironically, stems hate and intolerance.

In my statement here, I am pressing the issue of tolerance the hardest. I am inclined to believe in the second point of view named above, but accept that this is my belief based on my life and my experiences. I am hard pressed to understand why Christianity, Islam and Judaism haven’t gone the way of myth, just as the Norse tales of Odin or the Greek Odysseus. There is a certain morality stemming from these religions that was necessary in our evolution, to hopefully keep certain parts of our world from becoming a Hobbesian reality, but that morality can oftentimes in its self lead to such a world as we can see in our present day pertaining to Fundamentalist extremists.

I do not believe in creationism as far as ethereal or metaphysical beginnings go, but one can easily see how the inclination to a supernatural origin might develop. I am also inclined to believe, taking a page out of Dostoevsky, that “2+2” might not always equal 4. Science is the best explanation for things based on what we know, but we can never conclude its findings to be absolute. After all, Science is a coding and theory translated into language and if numeracy, for example, is a product of language, then so too are the theories they purport = they are symbolic representations and not absolute. We might say the same of religion or myth in that they are explanations formulated on an absolute but encoded into language and syntax.

Interestingly, my wife and I recently had to make a decision regarding our daughter’s education: Public or Catholic system. We opted for a Catholic school with a Science focus. The reason for this was simply because the Catholic system does not slam the door on the spiritual side of things and, legally, the school is compelled to teach Science according to the curriculum. One might think it contradictory to have a Catholic school with a Science focus. In a polarised perspective, perhaps this is so. My attitude is to not be fearful of what theories are being put out there, but to allow my daughter the opportunity to find her own path and make her own decisions in life. My job as a parent is to present opportunities and assist in her critical assessment of the road that lies ahead. I am nearing 40 years of age and am still discovering my own route in life. I was brought up a Protestant, resolved to Atheism in high school, discovered Buddhism in my late 20’s. Today I would classify myself as floating the either somewhere between a Buddhist and Pagan, with a strong spiritual (though non-theist) contradicted by Existentialist dimension to my beliefs. Regardless, I’ve enjoyed the journey and the questions raised along the way, as opposed to fearing them. Long live freedom of speech, objective inquiry and the right to go our own ways in peace!

2 Comments:

  • At 9:14 p.m. , Blogger Tatiana said...

    whats up, man. i havent checked you out in a while. i'm glad you're still kicking. there's this kat out there named Michael Tsarion and he's very interesting. You just reminded me of him. Look for his videos on google search and watch one when you have many hours to spare. (no, i'm not a secret agent working for him or anything). But he kicks some KNOWLEDGE, i'm tellin ya.

     
  • At 4:47 p.m. , Blogger Ed Meers said...

    ...I'll have to check him out - thanks for the recommendation.

    Thanks for stopping by as well - always wonder if there's folk out there who actually read my stuff. Reminds me of back in the days when I did college radio... you sit in a room, talk into a mic and wonder: "is there anyone out there listening???"

     

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