"...meaning in life does not require that the process that shaped the brain have a purpose, only that the brain itself have a purpose." This quote is a summation of Pinker's rebuttal over the fear of nihilism, and though I can see that his idea can be very controversial to certain religious groups, I agree with him completely.
About a decade ago, my parents took me with them to one of their "friend's" place for Thanksgiving dinner. The reason I put quotation marks around the word friends was because they were Christian missionaries trying to absorb my family into the church. As new immigrants my parents wanted to be accepted by the community as quickly as possible, so they were interacting with those people and participating in different church events. Long story short during the dinner the host mentioned about someone's daughter in that church passed away in a car accident. It was terrible news and we offered our condolences, and the dinner table turned quiet as everyone needed time to process this tragedy. The missionary noticed, and was probably trying to comfort us, said, "God has a different plan for her, she is in a better place now." We nodded and moved on. After that dinner, my mom stopped going to all church related events, cut ties with that "friend" and never looked back since. Years later I asked her why, she said, "saying God has a different plan for over someone's death is just being lazy and cold blooded, and that goes against all my beliefs." As I try to make sense out of what my mom and the missionary said, I have to agree with my mom, when someone is dead, they are dead, period, what happens after death is not our concern, and we should not use what potentially could happen after death to justify death itself. By doing so we neglect all the efforts and achievements of that person in their life, and saying that we need God to have moral and values is also undermining life itself. I refuse to believe that I am here to serve some mystic higher power, I am here doing what I do because I have my own values established by the culture around me, through interactions with real people like me.
I'm not trying to start a war on religion, but what I am trying to say is we live in a multidimensional society, some people believe in Adam and Eve while some others believe in reincarnation or nothing. Those are cultural differences we all can live with, as long as we don't screw with others because they might be different. What's great about science is science is reality, some famous scientist once said, if humans vanish from earth one day and returns millions of years later, there will be completely different religions, but the science will still be the same, maybe with different symbols. Pinker said, "people who appreciate legislation and sausages shouldn't watch them being made." Religion is like the explanations clueless people have over the process of legislation and sausage manufacturing. The effectiveness of the legislation or the deliciousness of the sausage should not be influenced by production methods, enjoy life, eat a sausage.
I know I am all over the place.
Grammar was never my strong suit.
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Joe,
ReplyDeleteI take it from your stance on this particular topic you probably landed close to the front of the room standing near the wall on the left side on our classroom on our first day! I, like yourself, find myself questioning religion and the validity of it's roots as the evidence science has provided us with to explain the world around us has largely cast a shadow on religious beliefs. I find comfort in believing in the concrete evidence science provides us to make sense of our world, but I challenge your comment of religious individuals being clueless. Is it fair to think that like ourselves, those who believe in a God ultimately have the goal of making sense of our existence? We are both seeking out a means to explain why we are such complex beings and what exactly our purpose is on this Earth. The way I think about religion is that it gives people hope that our life means more than just propagating our species and while they cannot prove the existence of God, we cannot negate it either.
Kelli,
DeleteI want to apologize first for some of my wordings, I am not trying to downplay the importance of religion to lots of people, I completely agree with you that religion can provide comfort for many as the unknown can be frightening. What I really wanted to emphasize is that as the metaphor made by Pinker, that we should not let the origin of the sausage (human existence) to impede the day to day interaction between individuals, and let science dictate the policy making in politics, not some theoretical writings that have not been updated for hundreds of years. We can all sit down and enjoy the delicious meal without argue over where the components are from.
I enjoyed the personal story you shared in your post. It's always interesting to hear about events or situations that caused someone to reach a conclusion or belief. Overall, I used to think the exact same things about religion. The only thing that's really changed in my thinking is the realization that for some people, religion does allow them a certain hope and happiness in their day to day life. I came to this conclusion after years of working in the medical field and observing patients and their families clinging to the hope of something more while dying in a hospital bed. So, yes. I'm absolutely a stanch believer in science, and I love the idea of humans vanishing and science still being there, but I think there will always be some individuals who cling to that belief for some measure of comfort. And honestly, I'm getting to the point where I can't begrudge them for that.
ReplyDeleteKatie,
DeleteAgain sorry I may used some strong words in my post, I was caught in the middle of my emotion. It's not my intention to bash on religion, I think it is important for people to embrace an idea to lessen the fear of the unknown. What I am against is using one's religion to dictate the behaviors of others. In popular culture, left is perceived as science based, and right is religious; I am sick of the left keeps backing up and compromise while the right will never give in even a tiny bit. I am sure that most religious people are good, wholesome people, but I don't want their religion to impede with the day to day lives of all, and right now that is exactly what is happening.
I absolutely love the point you bring into perspective of the passage of time and the changing of religions vs science. I hadn't heard this thought put into words before, and I've gotta say, I'm a bit moved. I find religions to be extremely fascinating, especially their changes through time, and the comparison to the changes that most likely wouldn't be evidenced in science was very intriguing. Also, I enjoyed hearing your and your mother's perspective on religious beliefs. It isn't often that someone is so open about their views, and I liked getting to hear from a perspective that often is seemingly contradictory to the norm (at least the norm I grew up surrounded by but not able to participate in).
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