Thistlewait
2007-06-18 01:34:54 UTC
What is Faith? What does that word mean?
Does not the word "faith" mean: acceptance without benefit of knowledge? So,
simply by declaring that one has "faith" hasn't one already admitted that
they DO NOT KNOW? If one has already admitted that one does not know, then
how can anything that one may have to say about their "faith" even possibly
be true? When I hear someone declare to me that they have "faith", and in
the same breath qualify that word "faith" with the word "truth", is there
anyone...anywhere on this planet that can explain to me why I should not
consider that I have just be LIED to?"
I think that humanity is facing a grave problem in the form of "faith". But
in a larger context the problem is really a problem of honesty. I don't
think human beings are honest. I thought that if I described to all of you
what it is that I KNOW has happened to me, that some of you may be compelled
to admit exactly the same truth about yourselves. So, this is what happened
to me:
Approximately nine months before I was born, I was summoned into existence
by two creatures...who, to the best of my knowledge, had no design or
purpose in their collaboration of summoning other than to satisfy an
immediate carnal compulsion. To the best of my knowledge, neither of those
two creatures (who I later came to understand as "my parents") every once
gave a single moment's thought to the idea that they may be summoning an
intelligence...sentience...sapience...into this universe that may one day
wish to ask them some very disturbing questions. Questions, as it turned
out, they were ill-prepared to answer with any degree of accuracy or
honesty.
That is what has happened to me! That is what has happened to all of you!
Of all the questions that I did ask, or wished that I had asked those two
creatures, one question is paramount. But I never asked this question of
those two creatures. By the time I had the experience and vocabulary to
understand what the question was that I wanted to ask...and the way I wanted
to ask it, one of those creatures (my father) no longer existed. Of the
other creature (my mother) I found that I had acquired a quality known as
"compassion" and I did not have the heart to ask her this question, because
I knew how disturbing this question would be in her mind. Now, that creature
(my mother) no longer exists.
So, now, I'm going to ask that question of all of you:
If, when you summoned me here, you KNEW that you would be summoning me into
a hostile universe, where I would face danger and hostility from a variety
of circumstances and creatures (including creatures of my own species); and
if you KNEW that you could not tell me with any degree of accuracy or
honesty what this universe is or what it represents; and if you KNEW that
one day I would come into the certain knowledge that one day I must die, and
you could not tell me with any degree of accuracy or honesty WHY I must die,
or WHAT death represents; and if you KNEW that I would have to carry this
knowledge in my mind all the days of my life; and if you KNEW that for
simply talking about these things, let alone trying to solve the problem, my
fellow human beings would ostracize me, ridicule me, and even seek to do me
harm...for nothing more than wanting to know the REAL truth; and if you KNEW
that all my fellow human beings, instead of trying to solve the problem, had
decided instead to wallow in ignorance and superstion; and if you KNEW that
my fellow ignorant, superstitious human beings had embarked upon a path in
which I and every other human being would be forced to bear witness to a
man-made cataclysm intended to justify the ignorant, superstious, insane
desires of "faithful" people in the practice of their irrational dishonesty;
THEN WHY DID YOU SUMMON ME HERE?
Faith, philosophy, systems of thought, paradigms of science...none of those
things are religion. All of those things are how human beings have RESPONDED
to what we all know religion really is: those questions we ask ourelves in
the dark of night that we KNOW we cannot honestly answer. How many of you
have lay in your beds during times of personal crisis or trauma and asked
yourselves questions like these:
"When I die, will I be judged for my actions in life?"
"When I die, have I earned a great reward for my actions in life?"
"When I die, do I deserve some horrendous punishment for my actions in
life?"
And then comes the most distubing question that any of us asks ourselves in
those "private moments":
"Are any of those stories true...at all?"
And isn't that the moment when we all KNOW what the REAL truth is? Isn't
that the moment when we all KNOW that we DOUBT the stories we have be told
since childhood? And isn't doubt like pregnancy, because we KNOW there is no
such thing as being "a little bit pregnant".
But don't mind me...go ahead...perpetuate your "armageddon". Try not to
think of these things when you see you children lying bleeding, broken, and
maimed...in the name of your "faith".
You all sleep well tonight...If...You...Think...You...Can!
Does not the word "faith" mean: acceptance without benefit of knowledge? So,
simply by declaring that one has "faith" hasn't one already admitted that
they DO NOT KNOW? If one has already admitted that one does not know, then
how can anything that one may have to say about their "faith" even possibly
be true? When I hear someone declare to me that they have "faith", and in
the same breath qualify that word "faith" with the word "truth", is there
anyone...anywhere on this planet that can explain to me why I should not
consider that I have just be LIED to?"
I think that humanity is facing a grave problem in the form of "faith". But
in a larger context the problem is really a problem of honesty. I don't
think human beings are honest. I thought that if I described to all of you
what it is that I KNOW has happened to me, that some of you may be compelled
to admit exactly the same truth about yourselves. So, this is what happened
to me:
Approximately nine months before I was born, I was summoned into existence
by two creatures...who, to the best of my knowledge, had no design or
purpose in their collaboration of summoning other than to satisfy an
immediate carnal compulsion. To the best of my knowledge, neither of those
two creatures (who I later came to understand as "my parents") every once
gave a single moment's thought to the idea that they may be summoning an
intelligence...sentience...sapience...into this universe that may one day
wish to ask them some very disturbing questions. Questions, as it turned
out, they were ill-prepared to answer with any degree of accuracy or
honesty.
That is what has happened to me! That is what has happened to all of you!
Of all the questions that I did ask, or wished that I had asked those two
creatures, one question is paramount. But I never asked this question of
those two creatures. By the time I had the experience and vocabulary to
understand what the question was that I wanted to ask...and the way I wanted
to ask it, one of those creatures (my father) no longer existed. Of the
other creature (my mother) I found that I had acquired a quality known as
"compassion" and I did not have the heart to ask her this question, because
I knew how disturbing this question would be in her mind. Now, that creature
(my mother) no longer exists.
So, now, I'm going to ask that question of all of you:
If, when you summoned me here, you KNEW that you would be summoning me into
a hostile universe, where I would face danger and hostility from a variety
of circumstances and creatures (including creatures of my own species); and
if you KNEW that you could not tell me with any degree of accuracy or
honesty what this universe is or what it represents; and if you KNEW that
one day I would come into the certain knowledge that one day I must die, and
you could not tell me with any degree of accuracy or honesty WHY I must die,
or WHAT death represents; and if you KNEW that I would have to carry this
knowledge in my mind all the days of my life; and if you KNEW that for
simply talking about these things, let alone trying to solve the problem, my
fellow human beings would ostracize me, ridicule me, and even seek to do me
harm...for nothing more than wanting to know the REAL truth; and if you KNEW
that all my fellow human beings, instead of trying to solve the problem, had
decided instead to wallow in ignorance and superstion; and if you KNEW that
my fellow ignorant, superstitious human beings had embarked upon a path in
which I and every other human being would be forced to bear witness to a
man-made cataclysm intended to justify the ignorant, superstious, insane
desires of "faithful" people in the practice of their irrational dishonesty;
THEN WHY DID YOU SUMMON ME HERE?
Faith, philosophy, systems of thought, paradigms of science...none of those
things are religion. All of those things are how human beings have RESPONDED
to what we all know religion really is: those questions we ask ourelves in
the dark of night that we KNOW we cannot honestly answer. How many of you
have lay in your beds during times of personal crisis or trauma and asked
yourselves questions like these:
"When I die, will I be judged for my actions in life?"
"When I die, have I earned a great reward for my actions in life?"
"When I die, do I deserve some horrendous punishment for my actions in
life?"
And then comes the most distubing question that any of us asks ourselves in
those "private moments":
"Are any of those stories true...at all?"
And isn't that the moment when we all KNOW what the REAL truth is? Isn't
that the moment when we all KNOW that we DOUBT the stories we have be told
since childhood? And isn't doubt like pregnancy, because we KNOW there is no
such thing as being "a little bit pregnant".
But don't mind me...go ahead...perpetuate your "armageddon". Try not to
think of these things when you see you children lying bleeding, broken, and
maimed...in the name of your "faith".
You all sleep well tonight...If...You...Think...You...Can!