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Thu 23 Jan, 2020 01:28 am
No one has certainty about Truth claims but everybody has in one way or another a set of beliefs whether one likes to admit it or not, or worse, whether one is sufficiently aware of it...those range from specific personal beliefs to socio-cultural tribal modes of belonging that are imbibed in our education from childhood...trivial forward-thinking "everyone knows that so what is the point", fact! Well, the point on this thread is not only to engage with traditional sets of beliefs like the ones we can see in Religion or pop culture but also wonder and engage with sets of beliefs that are present in Philosophy, Mathematics and even on the frontiers of Science.
Granted being skeptical is the best way of moving forward our knowledge, never being too sure on what one claims, Scientists, Philosophers, and Mathematicians just like everyone else have a personal bias towards this and not that theory, this and not that approach to any specific X problem...we all reach a limit on what we think we know, pragmatically speaking (we aren't sure of anything at all for that matter), but nevertheless start engaging with ranges of possibilities beyond what we more or less know we do not know at all. Far more dangerous are the unknow unknows than the known unknowns, but let us leave that for another occasion.
So finally we arrive at the opening question, what is it deep down your personal mode of being that your worship? Are you aware of your own self worshiping? Or do you believe that some of us can do well with nothing to worship about? If so why and how?
It's only fair that I start with my own situation so here we go:
I have spent almost all my life entertained with the belief that knowing more, and more, and more, ever digging more deeper, within my own cognitive limits, would eventually settle my disgust with what ignorance can do to mankind and specifically to myself. Avoiding mistakes, dreading the unpredictable, looking for terra firma, I was from the very beginning set of on a quest to learn what lays beneath every idea, every concept, every trivial word usage, that I stumble upon. What does it really mean I always wonder about...what is it beyond the cultural background of X or Y everyday usage of this or that "languaging software"...I worshiped for a long long time the idea that it was possible, at least in a figment of what is Universal out there to learn beyond pragmatical knowledge on our manifest image of Reality, some sort of meaningful "Metaphysics" I hoped...as middle-age crisis arrives I am not so sure I can grasp the vaguest, the most trivial of concepts, I am clueless and very aware of my absolute ignorance...I've reached my own personal limit and I am already far from my prime A days...
What is it fellow reader, what's your own case? What did you use to, or still worship?
I still among all my ignorance cling on to a single last word that cannot be downgraded to a scripted rockless algorithm that exists only for the sake of no alternative to the Reality we have.
That word is "connection"!
Do you have one last sacred personal word? What do you still NEED to believe in?
@Fil Albuquerque,
At first blush I would say I'm a believer in humanity, family, friends......I don't think I worship anything.....I'm happy that many find comfort in their churches., temples and mosques..I'd like to believe in God, I was raised in a Christian family with a ton of close relatives who attended or worshiped in different faiths......My family honored everything, but I've lost faith in organized religion...I respect the premise, but I am sickened by those who use any religion as an excuse to persecute or punish or diminish others. That is the dictionary definition of arrogance, false pride, and evil....... Just my off the top of my head. There is no religion that promotes hate, that's just the propaganda that zealots promote to prove that a God loves them more than any other being or creature on earth. Sure , that's what a creator would want, outrageous.
@glitterbag,
Well I was raised as a Catholic Christian in the '70s but very very early on I become an agnostic, around 10 years old or so...still, and that was the point of the thread, people "worship" more than they care to admit given the baggage of the word worshiping these days. The coinage here means reverence, what is that people respect and revere, everybody must have something to drag himself another day in a world of political and economic madness, misinformation, misunderstandings, and tribal warfare...
To your own frames of reference, I would love to believe in Humanity more than I did in the past but quite frankly Humanity is almost certainly headed towards extinction...the more we came to know people through the advent of the Internet and social media the less faith I have in the long term success of the species...we are smart monkeys at best and just monkeys most probably.
On Family, I would point out that my own was not the best, to say the least, and for that matter, most aren't statistically speaking so while there are exceptions family is no Universal guarantee of meaning. Presently I happen to have an unconditional loving wife but I am aware that I had cheer luck against statistical averages, we don't have kids...perhaps just perhaps, what we have now are dysfunctional families in a dystopian world and the lack of a true sense of community that we might have had in the past. In that case, what we have is a social disease that needs healing. I agree very much with your other remarks, I respect cultural diversity and "storytelling" whatever shape it might have, even in the case of institutional-like organized Religion or more personal introspective aproaches to the meaning of our own Life, in which we have a couple of Mary go round decades to spent.
Anyway glad for your input and all the best!
@Fil Albuquerque,
my, you are a big bag of sunshine . Thanks for filling me with optimism as I get ready to leave for the day. SO, I guess I will have an extra biscotti and give my cat a skritch on the head and just keep my gun close to my reach.
By the way, I worship my ignorance, its what most often got me to work.
I don't equate "worship" with the sorts of core beliefs being discussed here.
I agree that the term "worship" is not synonymous with "beliefs". To worship is to adore and cherish something or someone, whereas a belief if more like something one holds true, although based on incomplete or lacking evidence (if there's strong evidence for it, it's more a knowledge than a belief).
This said, the thread seems to be about "dearly hold beliefs", which are close to "worship" in that we're emotionally involved in them.
@farmerman,
Sorry for that...I am a bit cranky lately. Anyway, keep that gun close and you know the saying, ignorance is blissed...great to hear from you Farma all the best!
@hightor,
Well, do you have a founding rock to get up in the morning and move on? If not and you are still well I salute your fitness for the new age...
@Olivier5,
Yes, the coinage was used loosely but necessary as some beliefs move particular actions and others move our entire personal lives. Everybody must have a rock core set of beliefs upon which to build the necessary daily energy to keep on marching.
@Fil Albuquerque,
I was actually attempting a bit of humor . I only carry mu gun hen Im in the deep woods up north. A BEAR IN WINTER , IF AWAKE, IS USUALLY REALLY IN A SHITTY MOOD.
My new cat is a foundling and is doing fine learning the house rules ((In that there are NO HOUSE RULES).
@farmerman,
So, what you really mean is the new cat is teaching you the house rules. I'm not criticizing because I've owned many cats and dogs who have worked tirelessly to train me.
@glitterbag,
My cat scratched me today, but I couldn't get cross with him, it wasn't malicious. It's because he's a useless bastard who freaks out every time I put him down.
I do love him, but he really is a clumsy bastard who never lands on his feet and sticks his bloody claws in at the wrong place.
@glitterbag,
My Cat is trying to teach me too but I think he thinks I am dumb...
To worship is to present yourself at the feet of another. Who is worthy of worship?
@Glennn,
How about Money, Power, Control, and other trivial common cravings? No? Nada? OK!
PS - Perhaps pear recognition, status, we all love that one...
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