If you are a religious fanatic or otherwise sensitive with regard to all matters religious, skip this one.
Oh man, how I hate the church. Don't get me wrong: I'm of the opinion that everyone should be free to pursue whatever it is they like, and if they want to worship something they call 'God' and go to church, they should do so. I hate it, however, when these people 1) preach to people and try to convert them and 2) drag their children to church without them ever having a say in the matter. As it happens, I was dragged to church for the first twelve years of my life. At first I was so young I really didn't know better, but the last few years I had to go there I remember absolutely not wanting to go anymore, I so hated that nonsense. In the end my parents told me I had to come with them until my twelfth birthday. So you can imagine I really liked that particular birthday.
I was recently shown this book about the church I used to go to, having a number of pictures in it of kids making their first Communion. I have no idea if only Catholics do this, because I have never known what the hell its purpose was. When I did this (was made to do it..) I never knew what for, I just knew my parents felt I had to. In any case, it's some kind of ritual, and if I was meant to 'commune' with God or something, it failed utterly. I had to dress up in these moronic clothes and walk through the church with all kinds of people who had nothing better to do than watching this nonsense. In my view they celebrate converting powerless children to their cause because it's just so much harder to convert independent, sensible adults. Maybe that's why these Christians always have so many children...
Apparently, many of these children adopt their parents' beliefs. I don't know why some 'fall for it' and why some don't, but I'm sure as hell glad they didn't convince me there is some kind of higher being who created us and somehow rules the universe. All this seems so utterly ridiculous to me. I mean, jeez, they even think we don't evolve from monkeys! Instead, Adam and Eve were apparently created by God and every human being springs from that source? Seriously?! I can't believe anyone would actually accept this as truth. And why would they believe something this fairy tale-like but not believe in Poseidon ruling the seas or Thor hurling thunderbolts, for instance? I mean, this seems equally far-fetched and ridiculous to me...
Religious people say: "You cannot deny there is something out there because all over the planet people have developed religions. This cannot be a coincidence!" Well, no, it's not a coincidence, because thousands of years ago people didn't understand nature and they saw lightning and this frightened them, so they made up a story about some kind of higher being hurling these lightning bolts. And other peoples recognised the importance of the sun, and decided to revere it as a God. The Aztecs, for example, sacrificed thousands upon thousands of people to please their Sun God, Huitzilopochtli (I googled this :D), hoping (because they couldn't prove it - that's the point) that this would improve their crop yields. Of course, there are many more examples, but it all comes down to the same thing: they couldn't explain certain things and they made up a higher being or beings that explained them. But now, in 2010, we are so far developed that we have explained nearly everything. Hardly anything is unaccounted for. So why, in God's name :P, do people still believe in these fairy tales?! My theory is: they are insecure and feel lost in so big a world and therefore need something bigger, some kind of mysterious leader, to feel safe and guided. They feel they can't do it alone, and feel comforted by the thought that some divine being has a plan for them, and will tell them what to do. Even though he doesn't actually ever do this. Some people will take some random event as a sign from God, but this only reminds me of ancient shamans seeing an omen in every bird that flew over their village... You would expect people to wise up over thousands of years...
Also, they have thought up this concept about heaven and hell. I get it: you scare people into behaving, telling them they will go to hell if they kill somebody, or steal, or whatever. Sometimes, this will work, and I guess it used to be especially effective a couple hundred years ago, but they can't seriously think there is this place under the ground with lava and all that, and a horned devil monster torturing you or something, right? I have heard much better fairy tales than this one. And then there is heaven: so if you behave and you are a good person you will have this amazing afterlife above the clouds? Come on. This is like the biggest joke ever, spun out of control. Rationally they must realise this is complete nonsense, right? They must just be ignoring their common sense and stubbornly believe it anyway because they like the idea so much. Well, as much as I like the idea of having a harem of beautiful women to pleasure me all day long, this is no more than a dream (although there is actually some other religion that believes you will actually get this when you die... does this stupidity never end?), and if they don't recognise it as such, I think they are quite naïve, almost childlike in their beliefs. As if something will become real when they think it hard enough.
And then there is praying. Holding their hands together or folding them, believers 'speak' to God. In fact, they are just mumbling to themselves or thinking words when praying in silence. They think that this being that they made up listens to this, and grants them their wishes. But this doesn't happen. And suppose people prayed for, say, someone who was in a car accident to get better, and he is fixed by a doctor, their prayers have indeed come true, but not because this 'God' figure had anything to do with it. It was because this doctor is good at his job and had modern medicine at his disposal. But they will be like 'Praise the Lord!' How do you suppose this will make the doctor feel? :P
No, I cannot and will not ever understand this behaviour. I am an atheist, and I am very proud of it. It confirms that I am a creature of reason who doesn't fall for ridiculous, fairy tale-like lies openly embraced by people to repress their fear of life and the unknown. I am a realist. Does this make the world a pretty place? No. But at least I face it without any illusions to the contrary.
Monday 25 October 2010
Wednesday 20 October 2010
Memories and regret
In his brilliant novel Sphere, Michael Crichton said: "In a sense, all we consist of is memories. Our personalities are constructed from memories, our lives are organised around memories, and our cultures are built upon the foundation of shared memories that we call history and science."
It goes without saying that we consist of a little bit more than memories, but memories do determine who we are. In fact, everything we go through changes us. You could say that our personalities are sculpted by our experiences, our memories. And, invariably, we will regard some of these memories as bad, or even terrible. Consequently, many of us have regrets. Some people have a lot, and others claim to have none whatsoever. I used to have many, even though I already realised at the time that everything I had done has made me into the person I am today. But I just considered certain things in my past to have been such a waste of time! I asked myself: WHY didn't I realise then that this or that was a waste of time, and WHY didn't I do such and such differently?! The simple answer is: if I hadn't done those things, I would never have realised that I wanted to do those things differently, so I couldn't really have done them differently; I did what I thought was best at the time. So what I should do now is use these insights not to regret past decisions but to make better decisions now. And so I try. But sometimes this is difficult.
Reading Sphere and watching LOST made me wonder about something: would you forget certain things if you could? ...Would you really? It can be an attractive idea for something you consider to be terrible to never have happened. I sometimes think that I would want to forget certain things... things that just continue to occupy my thoughts. Like feeling betrayed by someone. But suppose I forgot this betrayal, I would proceed to make the same 'mistake' again or, rather, I would judge situations similarly as before, and perhaps trust people too easily, or be unprepared for their inevitable betrayal. In fact - sticking with this example - I now expect to be 'betrayed' by most people I meet, in a broad sense. Anticipating this I am attempting to shield myself from the sadness and anger I know I will feel after such a betrayal - anticipating the selfishness and cruelty most people are capable of. I also remind myself not to get too invested in people. If I "can't do without" someone, I am vulnerable, and that person can hurt me a lot. Keeping something of a distance protects me a little bit at least.
Writing this, I feel I sound bitter, but I guess that's preferable to being naïve. Without question, naïve people get hurt in this world - this world full of people who form all kinds of social groups but who choose themselves over others in the end, with the exception of a select few benefactors (you know, like Mother Theresa and stuff :)).
Carl Jung said that there is a shadow side to everyone, a side few people explore, but one that is there nonetheless. I tend to agree. Speaking of myself, no saint, I know I would be capable of terrible things if confronted with a certain situation. For instance, if World War III broke out and we would be faced with a struggle for survival in a lawless wasteland, I would most probably kill when threatened, something inconceivable in our ordered society as it is now. LOST comes to mind again (spoiler season 6!): Ben growing up to be a harmless, geeky history teacher instead of a ruthless manipulator and killer if certain events in the past had been different. (spoiler end) Suppose you had two "timelines" in which you lived your life, two different lives with a major difference occurring in your childhood, I think you could be very different people in the two 'realities', i.e. that you could grow up to be e.g. harmless or ruthless, as circumstances dictate. A more realistic (but horrible) example than the bizarre story in LOST would be: being the sole survivor of a car accident, your parents and siblings dying in front of you. I cannot imagine you growing up to be the same person as when your family had decided to stay at home that day.
What I'm trying to say is that your experiences - which later become memories - definitely have a major impact on who you are. Even when you believe that you have a soul that 'carries' in it the core of your being (I could write another blog entry about this..), your memories largely make you the person you are today. Thus I have realised that regretting things in my past, detesting certain memories, is an utter waste of time and energy. It is still difficult sometimes to see even (no, especially!) negative experiences as things that have made me stronger, wiser, but I continue to remind myself that the present is what matters, and the decisions I make now are borne from the lessons these memories have taught me.
And to enjoy and relish every day ahead of me.
It goes without saying that we consist of a little bit more than memories, but memories do determine who we are. In fact, everything we go through changes us. You could say that our personalities are sculpted by our experiences, our memories. And, invariably, we will regard some of these memories as bad, or even terrible. Consequently, many of us have regrets. Some people have a lot, and others claim to have none whatsoever. I used to have many, even though I already realised at the time that everything I had done has made me into the person I am today. But I just considered certain things in my past to have been such a waste of time! I asked myself: WHY didn't I realise then that this or that was a waste of time, and WHY didn't I do such and such differently?! The simple answer is: if I hadn't done those things, I would never have realised that I wanted to do those things differently, so I couldn't really have done them differently; I did what I thought was best at the time. So what I should do now is use these insights not to regret past decisions but to make better decisions now. And so I try. But sometimes this is difficult.
Reading Sphere and watching LOST made me wonder about something: would you forget certain things if you could? ...Would you really? It can be an attractive idea for something you consider to be terrible to never have happened. I sometimes think that I would want to forget certain things... things that just continue to occupy my thoughts. Like feeling betrayed by someone. But suppose I forgot this betrayal, I would proceed to make the same 'mistake' again or, rather, I would judge situations similarly as before, and perhaps trust people too easily, or be unprepared for their inevitable betrayal. In fact - sticking with this example - I now expect to be 'betrayed' by most people I meet, in a broad sense. Anticipating this I am attempting to shield myself from the sadness and anger I know I will feel after such a betrayal - anticipating the selfishness and cruelty most people are capable of. I also remind myself not to get too invested in people. If I "can't do without" someone, I am vulnerable, and that person can hurt me a lot. Keeping something of a distance protects me a little bit at least.
Writing this, I feel I sound bitter, but I guess that's preferable to being naïve. Without question, naïve people get hurt in this world - this world full of people who form all kinds of social groups but who choose themselves over others in the end, with the exception of a select few benefactors (you know, like Mother Theresa and stuff :)).
Carl Jung said that there is a shadow side to everyone, a side few people explore, but one that is there nonetheless. I tend to agree. Speaking of myself, no saint, I know I would be capable of terrible things if confronted with a certain situation. For instance, if World War III broke out and we would be faced with a struggle for survival in a lawless wasteland, I would most probably kill when threatened, something inconceivable in our ordered society as it is now. LOST comes to mind again (spoiler season 6!): Ben growing up to be a harmless, geeky history teacher instead of a ruthless manipulator and killer if certain events in the past had been different. (spoiler end) Suppose you had two "timelines" in which you lived your life, two different lives with a major difference occurring in your childhood, I think you could be very different people in the two 'realities', i.e. that you could grow up to be e.g. harmless or ruthless, as circumstances dictate. A more realistic (but horrible) example than the bizarre story in LOST would be: being the sole survivor of a car accident, your parents and siblings dying in front of you. I cannot imagine you growing up to be the same person as when your family had decided to stay at home that day.
What I'm trying to say is that your experiences - which later become memories - definitely have a major impact on who you are. Even when you believe that you have a soul that 'carries' in it the core of your being (I could write another blog entry about this..), your memories largely make you the person you are today. Thus I have realised that regretting things in my past, detesting certain memories, is an utter waste of time and energy. It is still difficult sometimes to see even (no, especially!) negative experiences as things that have made me stronger, wiser, but I continue to remind myself that the present is what matters, and the decisions I make now are borne from the lessons these memories have taught me.
And to enjoy and relish every day ahead of me.
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