Sorry, I've been gone for awhile. Been busy at school. Homework comes as quite a culture shock to the full time employed. Here's a post you may have missed:
For my Anthropology class, my homework assignment was to define all of reality within 1-2 pages; whether I believe there is more in the universe around me than just matter and energy, what can be explained by science? If so, what?
It was a difficult fit--I could write a book about this sort of thing. But here is my condensed version, as written for class:
The truth of reality is like a light within the center of a jewel, which can only be glimpsed through its facets. Science is one such facet (or worldview), and perhaps offers one of the clearest views of what lies within. But such glimpses are distorted, by bias as well as other factors. Look in through a different facet, perhaps the views offered by Christianity or Buddhism, and the appearance of truth appears to be quite different. There are many such facets, and a vast number of them remain dark to us, because mankind has not yet discovered them. Each facet shows truth and offers much to learn, and yet each of these truths is in some way a distortion of what is actually real. I believe that there can only be one truth, one that encompasses all facets at once. But mankind is not yet ready to understand it directly. Perhaps we were never meant to. Yet searching for an understanding of ultimate truth is always a worthy pursuit, because in the struggle to understand it we better ourselves. We must strive to glimpse through as many facets as possible, compare them, and try to sort out the truth from the deceptions and misunderstandings. Only then can we extrapolate and reconstruct what the actual truth of reality might be.
Science has increased our knowledge about the universe tremendously, but it is limited to only that which can be tested and measured. It is easy for scientists to develop a bias against issues that do not fit into such rules, particularly with matters of the spirit. But despite any bias, science reveals some interesting clues about the spiritual world. In the study of quantum physics, it can be shown that there is a constant exchange of energy going on between everything in the universe, from the atoms in your hand to the atoms in your chair, for example. We are all interconnected in fundamental ways. Quantum physics also shows that there is essentially not much difference between ourselves and the other objects around us. We are all made up of the same materials. So why does reality and the laws of Newtonian physics seem so relatively fixed and constant at our level of reality? A rock remains a rock from one moment to the next only because it has a tendency to do so, according to science. Is it not more reasonable to suppose that some outside creative force designed the physical laws that are currently in place, and even now continues to enforce them? According to evolution, life has evolved from the simplest of forms over time. But how did life actually begin? How was there a pool of primordial goop at one moment, and in the next a single cell of life, moving about on its own volition and capable of reproducing itself into life as we know it today? Science tries to answer such questions, but I am not yet satisfied with their answers.
I do not believe in the literal interpretation of the Bible as ultimate truth, or any other religious text written by men inspired by contact with the spiritual world. I do not think that the earth was created in 7 days. But I also do not believe that creation myths such as Genesis are contradictory to science, as they make use metaphors and symbols. Perhaps 7 days should instead be thought of as 7 stages of development, and "Let there be Light" as equal to "the Big Bang." Or perhaps God condensed several millennia of development into a much shorter span. Does it matter? I think its more important to understand the world as it is now, and what we should do with it from here. What should our moral codes of behavior be? Religion has just as much to teach us about such matters as science, perhaps more.
I believe each of us possess a spiritual form, a creative energy or "soul," which does not die with our physical forms. Our bodies are like puppets, and would not move without our souls to guide us. But while we live, our souls are tied to the physical, and for the most part experience the universe through the limitations of our senses. The mind is the point where soul and body meet. Physical or emotional damage can cause that connection to be disrupted or limited in a variety of ways, thus explaining insanity, mental retardation, memory loss, etc. But ultimately we are eternal, and when our physical forms die, our spiritual selves move on. What happens beyond that? My theory is that all living things have some form of soul, even plants or single-celled life forms. The physical world gives birth to the spiritual, and vice versaa soul begins connected to a simple life form, not yet aware. Souls constantly reincarnate after death, and evolve awareness slowly over time, along with the physical bodies they inhabit. Mankind is not necessarily at the top of this spiritual food chain. There is always a constant exchange. At some point, perhaps over eons, a soul becomes capable of existing on its own, without the need for a physical form. Only then does it move on, to Paradise or Nirvana or Heaven, whatever you wish to call it. The physical world is a womb, a training ground; a place in which we are meant to learn and grow. That is why pain exists, and evil, and death. Without consequences for our actions, as well as influences outside of our control, how could we ever adapt and evolve into something greater that what we currently are?
For my Anthropology class, my homework assignment was to define all of reality within 1-2 pages; whether I believe there is more in the universe around me than just matter and energy, what can be explained by science? If so, what?
It was a difficult fit--I could write a book about this sort of thing. But here is my condensed version, as written for class:
The truth of reality is like a light within the center of a jewel, which can only be glimpsed through its facets. Science is one such facet (or worldview), and perhaps offers one of the clearest views of what lies within. But such glimpses are distorted, by bias as well as other factors. Look in through a different facet, perhaps the views offered by Christianity or Buddhism, and the appearance of truth appears to be quite different. There are many such facets, and a vast number of them remain dark to us, because mankind has not yet discovered them. Each facet shows truth and offers much to learn, and yet each of these truths is in some way a distortion of what is actually real. I believe that there can only be one truth, one that encompasses all facets at once. But mankind is not yet ready to understand it directly. Perhaps we were never meant to. Yet searching for an understanding of ultimate truth is always a worthy pursuit, because in the struggle to understand it we better ourselves. We must strive to glimpse through as many facets as possible, compare them, and try to sort out the truth from the deceptions and misunderstandings. Only then can we extrapolate and reconstruct what the actual truth of reality might be.
Science has increased our knowledge about the universe tremendously, but it is limited to only that which can be tested and measured. It is easy for scientists to develop a bias against issues that do not fit into such rules, particularly with matters of the spirit. But despite any bias, science reveals some interesting clues about the spiritual world. In the study of quantum physics, it can be shown that there is a constant exchange of energy going on between everything in the universe, from the atoms in your hand to the atoms in your chair, for example. We are all interconnected in fundamental ways. Quantum physics also shows that there is essentially not much difference between ourselves and the other objects around us. We are all made up of the same materials. So why does reality and the laws of Newtonian physics seem so relatively fixed and constant at our level of reality? A rock remains a rock from one moment to the next only because it has a tendency to do so, according to science. Is it not more reasonable to suppose that some outside creative force designed the physical laws that are currently in place, and even now continues to enforce them? According to evolution, life has evolved from the simplest of forms over time. But how did life actually begin? How was there a pool of primordial goop at one moment, and in the next a single cell of life, moving about on its own volition and capable of reproducing itself into life as we know it today? Science tries to answer such questions, but I am not yet satisfied with their answers.
I do not believe in the literal interpretation of the Bible as ultimate truth, or any other religious text written by men inspired by contact with the spiritual world. I do not think that the earth was created in 7 days. But I also do not believe that creation myths such as Genesis are contradictory to science, as they make use metaphors and symbols. Perhaps 7 days should instead be thought of as 7 stages of development, and "Let there be Light" as equal to "the Big Bang." Or perhaps God condensed several millennia of development into a much shorter span. Does it matter? I think its more important to understand the world as it is now, and what we should do with it from here. What should our moral codes of behavior be? Religion has just as much to teach us about such matters as science, perhaps more.
I believe each of us possess a spiritual form, a creative energy or "soul," which does not die with our physical forms. Our bodies are like puppets, and would not move without our souls to guide us. But while we live, our souls are tied to the physical, and for the most part experience the universe through the limitations of our senses. The mind is the point where soul and body meet. Physical or emotional damage can cause that connection to be disrupted or limited in a variety of ways, thus explaining insanity, mental retardation, memory loss, etc. But ultimately we are eternal, and when our physical forms die, our spiritual selves move on. What happens beyond that? My theory is that all living things have some form of soul, even plants or single-celled life forms. The physical world gives birth to the spiritual, and vice versaa soul begins connected to a simple life form, not yet aware. Souls constantly reincarnate after death, and evolve awareness slowly over time, along with the physical bodies they inhabit. Mankind is not necessarily at the top of this spiritual food chain. There is always a constant exchange. At some point, perhaps over eons, a soul becomes capable of existing on its own, without the need for a physical form. Only then does it move on, to Paradise or Nirvana or Heaven, whatever you wish to call it. The physical world is a womb, a training ground; a place in which we are meant to learn and grow. That is why pain exists, and evil, and death. Without consequences for our actions, as well as influences outside of our control, how could we ever adapt and evolve into something greater that what we currently are?
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nice thought though - I really appreciate it.