Never discuss religion or politics at the dinner table
You've probably heard the expression (title), but this is a blog so here goes:
Some intrepid guy was asking about people's views on atheism in a local forum website I visit now and then. This is a small-town America type community, and probably mirrors the national averages on religious population -- probably something like 80-90 percent Christian. Anyway, he's a self-styled atheist and was wondering what people in the local community's feelings were about that, like would they hold it against him or whatever. I replied something along the lines of being able to relate.
I have trouble just telling people I'm agnostic, which only means that I believe some things are unknowable, like whether there is a God or the nature of God or whether there's any meaning to life at all. It's really not all that bad, though, as far as how people treat you. In my experience, it's not like people hold it against you or anything. It's just harder to find common ground in deep conversations, especially with people firm in their convictions.
René Descartes famously stated Cogito ergo sum (I think, therefore I am). It sounds a bit narcissistic, but really all he was saying is that the only thing he could be certain of is his own existential nature, that because his mind is working he must be existent. Well, that's all good, but as a true agnostic I'm not even certain of that. For all I know I could be a character in someone else's play.
Agnosticism is pure unknowing and coming to grips with the limitation of knowledge. It's not doubt (skepticism) or disbelief (atheism). It's simply not knowing shit. It's being incapable of knowing shit to any authentic degree of certainty. It's coming to grips with those parameters, and then trying to make the best out of life. It's hard because you're left without a rulebook established by social and religious systems, and you pretty much have to evaluate each truth statement and value judgement on your own -- knowing full well that you'll never actually know if you're right or wrong.
Explaining that to people of faith, people who seem to be certain of how things work, is always a little awkward. On one hand you're mentally debunking what they're saying while they're saying it (because for you it's always "yeah, but"), and on the other hand you are deeply envious of their certainty. You know it's faith and not knowledge, and you know that they might even know that and be comfortable with it. If they don't, you're certainly not going to tell them because you don't want to be an asshole.
So, yeah, I can relate to the atheist though I'm not a disbeliever. Poor guy. For me it's just not knowing. For the atheist it's not buying it at all. Imagine having a conversation with someone you think is completely full of crap.
Some intrepid guy was asking about people's views on atheism in a local forum website I visit now and then. This is a small-town America type community, and probably mirrors the national averages on religious population -- probably something like 80-90 percent Christian. Anyway, he's a self-styled atheist and was wondering what people in the local community's feelings were about that, like would they hold it against him or whatever. I replied something along the lines of being able to relate.
I have trouble just telling people I'm agnostic, which only means that I believe some things are unknowable, like whether there is a God or the nature of God or whether there's any meaning to life at all. It's really not all that bad, though, as far as how people treat you. In my experience, it's not like people hold it against you or anything. It's just harder to find common ground in deep conversations, especially with people firm in their convictions.
René Descartes famously stated Cogito ergo sum (I think, therefore I am). It sounds a bit narcissistic, but really all he was saying is that the only thing he could be certain of is his own existential nature, that because his mind is working he must be existent. Well, that's all good, but as a true agnostic I'm not even certain of that. For all I know I could be a character in someone else's play.
Agnosticism is pure unknowing and coming to grips with the limitation of knowledge. It's not doubt (skepticism) or disbelief (atheism). It's simply not knowing shit. It's being incapable of knowing shit to any authentic degree of certainty. It's coming to grips with those parameters, and then trying to make the best out of life. It's hard because you're left without a rulebook established by social and religious systems, and you pretty much have to evaluate each truth statement and value judgement on your own -- knowing full well that you'll never actually know if you're right or wrong.
Explaining that to people of faith, people who seem to be certain of how things work, is always a little awkward. On one hand you're mentally debunking what they're saying while they're saying it (because for you it's always "yeah, but"), and on the other hand you are deeply envious of their certainty. You know it's faith and not knowledge, and you know that they might even know that and be comfortable with it. If they don't, you're certainly not going to tell them because you don't want to be an asshole.
So, yeah, I can relate to the atheist though I'm not a disbeliever. Poor guy. For me it's just not knowing. For the atheist it's not buying it at all. Imagine having a conversation with someone you think is completely full of crap.
Labels: philosophy
posted by Jeremy at
1:44 AM
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