20 years old, whats my direction?
Wheres my annual inspection they gave me back in school?
Am I a fool because I can't see my reflection as a man, an instrumental mind or tool?
This conception of life only breeds frustration not light,
because this rush of responsibility to be whatever I want to be,
something not nothing, successful, individual, its killing me.
Independence is bills, and problems, and work.
It's not your style, lifestyle, or worth.
But something is hard, and lacks compassion along the way,
and rations your desire to feel life everyday.
Those passions that sparked fire in genius teenage brains are extinguished by pacifyers and responsibility.
Disguised from your eyes and your mind closed so wide
we look for media to pacify our lives.
So addicted to distraction stimuli not worth reaction,
a poor substitute for freedom of the soul
because in so long I have not felt whole.
Theres just something about those times of dark grey smoke
that uncovered my eyes but leaves me now a wreck.
Because I felt so much more productive being so called self destructive
than I do when I am cashing in my check.
Am I brainwashed into thinking financial security
will let my worries be in vain?
Or can my dreams be my goal, my direction make me whole,
and my life, an imitation of soul?
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
the Omni vs. Omni argument
Just as theist will try to use scripture in a theological debate, atheists are guilty of the same nuance. Atheists constantly try to disprove the existence of god by using science, reason and logic. Just like theists, atheists frequently subjectify their case by confining the terms under which the debate is held. When theists try to use scripture to prove verses of the bible are literal or at least valid, atheists don’t accept their argument because they aren’t using a scientific standard. The atheists argument makes assumptions that are just as strong. One example of this is an argument that states that god cannot be at the same time omnipotent and omniscient. That gods capability to know everything is counterintuitive to his ability to control everything. To clarify this first imagine the implications of an all knowing god. This means that god knows every detail of every event that happens along the timeline of existence. Every fact, action, cause and effect is foreseen by god before it ever happens. Never mind the implications that this would have on our own mortal free will. God’s free will is also marginalized by this fact. If god knows each of his decisions before he makes them, than isn’t he powerless to change. If god decides that the way of the world is not going the way he planed, and decides to cause another great flood, he cannot do so unless it coincides with what he original foresaw his actions to be. And if he could change his mind and implement an unforeseen action on his part, his original prediction of the future would have been incorrect. Either his power is fallible and his omniscience is true, or his foresight is fallible and his omnipotence is true, but both cannot coexist. The third universal characteristic of god, Omni benevolence also cannot be combined with either previously mentioned characteristic. His omniscience or Omni benevolence make it impossible for god to change his mores, and makes the world a much to black and white scenario.
The bane to this argument against the existence of god is the plain that the argument takes place in. Just as physicists agree that the universe conscribed to a different set of rules prior to the big bang, religious figures can certainly argue that god subscribes to a set of rules outside of the natural universe. These contradictions of omniscience, omnipotence, and Omni benevolence are alleviated if you place god outside of a linear universe. If time doesn’t exist, than gods actions and powers to change them do not contradict his knowledge. Time is just a definitive term. It is a part of an equation that deals with distance and velocity, and measures the movement of the universe. Because more than anything the universe is defined by it’s movement. Time is just a mathematical tool to help us deride how vast and powerful this universe of ours is. A god outside of these parameters cannot be disproved in this example.
The bane to this argument against the existence of god is the plain that the argument takes place in. Just as physicists agree that the universe conscribed to a different set of rules prior to the big bang, religious figures can certainly argue that god subscribes to a set of rules outside of the natural universe. These contradictions of omniscience, omnipotence, and Omni benevolence are alleviated if you place god outside of a linear universe. If time doesn’t exist, than gods actions and powers to change them do not contradict his knowledge. Time is just a definitive term. It is a part of an equation that deals with distance and velocity, and measures the movement of the universe. Because more than anything the universe is defined by it’s movement. Time is just a mathematical tool to help us deride how vast and powerful this universe of ours is. A god outside of these parameters cannot be disproved in this example.
Monday, November 22, 2010
A Discussion about Freedom
A good definition of freedom is the ability to act as you wish without being stopped by an outside force. So what is the first problem with this? Each individual person probably wants to be as free as possible, but what are some reasonable parameters on what someone should be free to do. What laws need to be in place to assure that people are as free as possible, as well as live in a safe and stable society? I don't think we are going to argue against some basic laws like prohibition of murder, or rape, or other violent crimes. And one could also pose the argument that the legal system in our society and its predecessors has been even more involved in protecting people’s personal property, than protecting them from violence. Our constitution and declaration set us up pretty good in the freedoms department. We have the personal liberties of speech, thought, religious practice, assembly. Our government although not without fault goes to great lengths to ensure that it doesn't constrain our cultural practices whatsoever regarding to how we dress, speak, who we have sex with, hopefully soon enough who we can marry. And it also protects us from the government itself, setting up laws protecting us from self incrimination, home invasion, invasion of privacy, legal privileges. In countries with theocracies, or dictatorships, people don't have these rights. So I guess we should really consider ourselves pretty free right?
Well unfortunately the freedoms that we think are guaranteed are often literally lost in the fine print. Probably one of the most basic things that we should be able to do we can’t. We can’t stand still. There is a system of rules, forms, paperwork, red tape that binds you from ever truly being free. And if you so dare to step out of line they punish you. They can take away everything from you, your money, your family, your freedom, and your life. Think about all of the different forms you have to fill out just to live a normal life. You have your birth certificate, your social security card. You’re going to need these quite a bit. To get into school, to get a job, or even to just get state assistance, you have to prove that you are a real person. Person # 076 53 8942 your next. And if you lose or don't have any of these forms there’s at least weeks of more forms and lines you need to get these back. You need a car to get to work? Well you’re going to need a driver’s license, that’s about 6 months of waiting, tests, and fees granted you make it to the DMV and have two hours to wait for each appointment. Oh yeah, how are you going to get there unless you have a ride because you don't have your license. So there’s another things we need is a support structure. We aren't even free to be just left alone.
We need licenses for almost everything we do. In most states you need a license to hunt for your own food. That's right; you aren't free to hunt animals to feed your family. You need a license to build a house for your family. So they can have shelter from the elements. You need a license to do a large percentage of jobs or trades to earn an income to support yourself and your family. And worse than the licenses and forms that you need just to live, if you plan on living in that house that you built, even if you have owned the land for generations, you have to pay the government taxes on what they think its worth. You even have to keep the house up to codes, or they can tell you it's not suitable to live in. Because the government would rather have you be homeless than living in a rundown house.
God forbid you have a child, whether you wanted it or not. You have to care for that child. Whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing, it’s true. If you don't take care of your child by at least paying child support they will put you in jail. And when you get out of jail, you can either get a job or be given a mandatory minimum wage job by the courts.
Work takes up most of everyone’s time, with our busy schedules we spend less and less of our time with friends and family as we get older. All those close knit friendships from primary school went out the window when half of the class moved out of state to go to college. The average person takes out over 2000 dollars in credit a year because they have to spend more than they make working. Because in the little bit of spare time that we have not breaking our backs working for a barely livable wage, we require the disposable income to be able to pacify ourselves from the reality of an unfree world. So some of us go to the movies, or go get some food, some of us have hobbies, some of us play golf, none of this is free. How often do you do anything that is free anymore? But the worst thing we do to pacify ourselves is shop. We spend money just for the hell of it. Because it makes us feel good. It relieves a lot of stress.
So when I say that it is illegal to do nothing I truly mean it. No matter how uninvolved in society as you want to be there are systems that will always drag you back in. You can’t run away, and there is literally no place to hide. Do you know of any land that is not owned by somebody? Do you know a place where you can go to live, and not need an income just to pay the taxes?
What about inner freedom? In my opinion this is the ability to do what you want, without being influenced into changing what you want against your better interest. Think of all the values and ambitions you had as far back in your memory as you can go. For me at least that person is a much more wholesome an innocent person and my dreams were more defined by who I wanted to be rather than material or worldly things. I wanted to be a good person, good to my friends and family, and I wanted to have deep meaningful relationships with the people in my life. I also wanted to be compassionate for people not in my life, and not judge or fear people who were different from me. From every direction society has fought to change that. When I was growing up I was poor, really poor. Neither of my parents was able to work for the first 14, 15 years of my life, I lived in a condemned building, with no other income except welfare. Everything I had was a hand me down, and I didn't have anything close to a name brand piece of clothing until my late teens. But the strange part was... I was happy. My family has never been as close together as we were when we were poor. I and my siblings and neighbors actually played together, outside. We didn't have a whole lot of stuff to do inside. We didn't have a whole lot of stuff distracting us or making us think that we wanted or needed it. And we had a lot of fun. I and my siblings ate a homemade dinner almost every night. We needed food stamps to buy the basic ingredients but my mom or dad did a great job of turning it into a great meal every night. We even sat at the kitchen table and ate together. I think I probably have only had a dozen or so meals like that as an adult, all of them holidays. Sure I got teased for not having name brand clothes, money to do stuff outside of school etc. but that only made it easier for me to find kids to be friends with that weren't stupid mindless assholes.
As I got older my situation started to change, my mom went back to school and got a job, we bought a house, and I had disposable income. That carried into my adulthood as I went to college, I’ve had good jobs, and I made almost 50,000 dollars in one year. I don't think my parents had 50,000 dollars over the course of the 1980's. My wife has a good job, we have a nice place, a nice car, the money I've blown on music instruments, technology, video games, clothes could support a 3rd world household for a decade. But my quality of life just seems to get worse all the time. Because the more emphasis I put on working and collecting these chotchkies, the less time I have to spend on the relationships that give life real value. Me and my wife are about 5000 dollars in debt just from stupid credit cards we took out so that we could buy shit at the mall. This doesn't count the car loan we needed for 15 grand because we don't want to drive a clunker, or the student loans we need to actually get a job that pays living wage.Things like clothes and home décor, Nothing that we actually needed or couldn't get much cheaper somewhere else. I mean who can actually afford to buy anything they have at the mall? Either the people who actually have a significant disposable income are sneaking into the mall when the rest of us aren't there or people like me are taking out credit to buy this shit, or even worse spending their rent money because they can't control themselves not to buy stuff. Who are the actual people behind the brands of everything we buy, and why are we listening to them. Why do we want what we can't afford? Why are we doing this? I know there has to be an alternative for the consumerism, which we all feel entrapped by. There has to be something we can do to be free from boredom without spending money. There has to be something more than shopping, and chotchkies, and branding that will give us back our self esteem, and make us start acting like children again. I want the world around me to stop competing with and judging each other, and to figure out how we can be happy and free again.
I would love to hear what you think about freedom. I will try to respond to as many responses or comments as possible.
Well unfortunately the freedoms that we think are guaranteed are often literally lost in the fine print. Probably one of the most basic things that we should be able to do we can’t. We can’t stand still. There is a system of rules, forms, paperwork, red tape that binds you from ever truly being free. And if you so dare to step out of line they punish you. They can take away everything from you, your money, your family, your freedom, and your life. Think about all of the different forms you have to fill out just to live a normal life. You have your birth certificate, your social security card. You’re going to need these quite a bit. To get into school, to get a job, or even to just get state assistance, you have to prove that you are a real person. Person # 076 53 8942 your next. And if you lose or don't have any of these forms there’s at least weeks of more forms and lines you need to get these back. You need a car to get to work? Well you’re going to need a driver’s license, that’s about 6 months of waiting, tests, and fees granted you make it to the DMV and have two hours to wait for each appointment. Oh yeah, how are you going to get there unless you have a ride because you don't have your license. So there’s another things we need is a support structure. We aren't even free to be just left alone.
We need licenses for almost everything we do. In most states you need a license to hunt for your own food. That's right; you aren't free to hunt animals to feed your family. You need a license to build a house for your family. So they can have shelter from the elements. You need a license to do a large percentage of jobs or trades to earn an income to support yourself and your family. And worse than the licenses and forms that you need just to live, if you plan on living in that house that you built, even if you have owned the land for generations, you have to pay the government taxes on what they think its worth. You even have to keep the house up to codes, or they can tell you it's not suitable to live in. Because the government would rather have you be homeless than living in a rundown house.
God forbid you have a child, whether you wanted it or not. You have to care for that child. Whether that’s a good thing or a bad thing, it’s true. If you don't take care of your child by at least paying child support they will put you in jail. And when you get out of jail, you can either get a job or be given a mandatory minimum wage job by the courts.
Work takes up most of everyone’s time, with our busy schedules we spend less and less of our time with friends and family as we get older. All those close knit friendships from primary school went out the window when half of the class moved out of state to go to college. The average person takes out over 2000 dollars in credit a year because they have to spend more than they make working. Because in the little bit of spare time that we have not breaking our backs working for a barely livable wage, we require the disposable income to be able to pacify ourselves from the reality of an unfree world. So some of us go to the movies, or go get some food, some of us have hobbies, some of us play golf, none of this is free. How often do you do anything that is free anymore? But the worst thing we do to pacify ourselves is shop. We spend money just for the hell of it. Because it makes us feel good. It relieves a lot of stress.
So when I say that it is illegal to do nothing I truly mean it. No matter how uninvolved in society as you want to be there are systems that will always drag you back in. You can’t run away, and there is literally no place to hide. Do you know of any land that is not owned by somebody? Do you know a place where you can go to live, and not need an income just to pay the taxes?
What about inner freedom? In my opinion this is the ability to do what you want, without being influenced into changing what you want against your better interest. Think of all the values and ambitions you had as far back in your memory as you can go. For me at least that person is a much more wholesome an innocent person and my dreams were more defined by who I wanted to be rather than material or worldly things. I wanted to be a good person, good to my friends and family, and I wanted to have deep meaningful relationships with the people in my life. I also wanted to be compassionate for people not in my life, and not judge or fear people who were different from me. From every direction society has fought to change that. When I was growing up I was poor, really poor. Neither of my parents was able to work for the first 14, 15 years of my life, I lived in a condemned building, with no other income except welfare. Everything I had was a hand me down, and I didn't have anything close to a name brand piece of clothing until my late teens. But the strange part was... I was happy. My family has never been as close together as we were when we were poor. I and my siblings and neighbors actually played together, outside. We didn't have a whole lot of stuff to do inside. We didn't have a whole lot of stuff distracting us or making us think that we wanted or needed it. And we had a lot of fun. I and my siblings ate a homemade dinner almost every night. We needed food stamps to buy the basic ingredients but my mom or dad did a great job of turning it into a great meal every night. We even sat at the kitchen table and ate together. I think I probably have only had a dozen or so meals like that as an adult, all of them holidays. Sure I got teased for not having name brand clothes, money to do stuff outside of school etc. but that only made it easier for me to find kids to be friends with that weren't stupid mindless assholes.
As I got older my situation started to change, my mom went back to school and got a job, we bought a house, and I had disposable income. That carried into my adulthood as I went to college, I’ve had good jobs, and I made almost 50,000 dollars in one year. I don't think my parents had 50,000 dollars over the course of the 1980's. My wife has a good job, we have a nice place, a nice car, the money I've blown on music instruments, technology, video games, clothes could support a 3rd world household for a decade. But my quality of life just seems to get worse all the time. Because the more emphasis I put on working and collecting these chotchkies, the less time I have to spend on the relationships that give life real value. Me and my wife are about 5000 dollars in debt just from stupid credit cards we took out so that we could buy shit at the mall. This doesn't count the car loan we needed for 15 grand because we don't want to drive a clunker, or the student loans we need to actually get a job that pays living wage.Things like clothes and home décor, Nothing that we actually needed or couldn't get much cheaper somewhere else. I mean who can actually afford to buy anything they have at the mall? Either the people who actually have a significant disposable income are sneaking into the mall when the rest of us aren't there or people like me are taking out credit to buy this shit, or even worse spending their rent money because they can't control themselves not to buy stuff. Who are the actual people behind the brands of everything we buy, and why are we listening to them. Why do we want what we can't afford? Why are we doing this? I know there has to be an alternative for the consumerism, which we all feel entrapped by. There has to be something we can do to be free from boredom without spending money. There has to be something more than shopping, and chotchkies, and branding that will give us back our self esteem, and make us start acting like children again. I want the world around me to stop competing with and judging each other, and to figure out how we can be happy and free again.
I would love to hear what you think about freedom. I will try to respond to as many responses or comments as possible.
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Cold Crisp Air
Here's a poem that I wrote a few years ago...it personifies how I feel about the fall and holiday seasons.
I dream of cold crisp air.
Its rejuvination brings hulloucinations
of highlights,
the only memories that withstand the
ware and tear of this bleak causal
chain,
no reaction from worth noting, no joy,
no pain.
Just a monotony that melts the
memories into one bleak boring string
of routine.
So that now nothing to me is obscene.
Beauty has no truth, and truth no
beauty.
The everyday emotions my television
screens, only decieves.
I experience none of it and have no
dreams.
Just this heat that leaves me cold and
uncomfortably numb.
There is no doubt i feel the sting of
purgatory down my spine,
and the fear that my time has not
passed, my freedom won't come.
And the only time I am aware that I've
died is when I feel cold crisp air.
The highlights redeem the mind of this
niave humble child,
wild with dreams but cursed with false
ambition
who fought for his position in that
mediocre hierarchy we called school.
And afterwards faded away into
obscrurity, a memory of a fool.
These memories of cool nights, free
flowing conversation,
gossipping falsations brewed by
chemical elation are the only instances
I can walk,
and feel familiarity to the voices and
detailed faces who talk.
And evoke more than a streamline of
comotion and plot,
but feel the emotions created, parties
motivations sought in each situation
around me.
Transforming the molded clay army
that surrounds me back into the scene
it once was.
Where the shadows of people have
souls.
And the sorrows of lonliness
temporarily grant me peace.
A peace only found in spirit, and rarely
found in me.
So many cold crisp nights have kissed
my life,
granting me the bright shine of a
blackened light.
People, places, and moments
illuminated by the black backdrop of
vibrant heaven lend serenity to me.
The defiant, alienated, dying young
man. Lost in life, and lost of care.
Lost of memory in absence of cold
crisp air.
I dream of cold crisp air.
Its rejuvination brings hulloucinations
of highlights,
the only memories that withstand the
ware and tear of this bleak causal
chain,
no reaction from worth noting, no joy,
no pain.
Just a monotony that melts the
memories into one bleak boring string
of routine.
So that now nothing to me is obscene.
Beauty has no truth, and truth no
beauty.
The everyday emotions my television
screens, only decieves.
I experience none of it and have no
dreams.
Just this heat that leaves me cold and
uncomfortably numb.
There is no doubt i feel the sting of
purgatory down my spine,
and the fear that my time has not
passed, my freedom won't come.
And the only time I am aware that I've
died is when I feel cold crisp air.
The highlights redeem the mind of this
niave humble child,
wild with dreams but cursed with false
ambition
who fought for his position in that
mediocre hierarchy we called school.
And afterwards faded away into
obscrurity, a memory of a fool.
These memories of cool nights, free
flowing conversation,
gossipping falsations brewed by
chemical elation are the only instances
I can walk,
and feel familiarity to the voices and
detailed faces who talk.
And evoke more than a streamline of
comotion and plot,
but feel the emotions created, parties
motivations sought in each situation
around me.
Transforming the molded clay army
that surrounds me back into the scene
it once was.
Where the shadows of people have
souls.
And the sorrows of lonliness
temporarily grant me peace.
A peace only found in spirit, and rarely
found in me.
So many cold crisp nights have kissed
my life,
granting me the bright shine of a
blackened light.
People, places, and moments
illuminated by the black backdrop of
vibrant heaven lend serenity to me.
The defiant, alienated, dying young
man. Lost in life, and lost of care.
Lost of memory in absence of cold
crisp air.
Saturday, November 20, 2010
You're All Agnostic (you just don't know it)
I've always found that the most difficult people to argue with are those that have closed minds. Most of us have at least one unshakable belief that cannot be swayed, whether it is something we learn as a child, a religious tenant, a more, a conspiracy, there is something in all of us that even insurmountable evidence is not adequate to distinguish. And perhaps that is necessary to even hold an intelligible conversation. Imagine talking to the most adamant and biased political pundit, never listening to your words, your logic, your argument, only postulating on his next statement. He is Infinitely confident that no matter what you say you cannot diverse his logic or change his opinion in any regard. But also postulate talking to the completely open, non argumentalist. An open canvas of an individual who will accept anything you say based on even the most frail logic and evidence. It would be like talking to a mirror that never gives you any new information, and simply regurgitates the data you input, never putting any thought or analysis in, never coming up with a worthwhile computation, never coming up with an opinion about anything. This is why we have discourse. This is why argument is necessary for an intelligent species to thrive. Perhaps this is all a bain to the nihilist (me being partially favorite to this stance) who believes in nothing, but for the rest of us there exist things like values, things like truth, beauty, good and evil, and all that wonderful stuff that Kant drags on and on about.
But who are we as a people today? From a religious perspective, do any of us adhere to every tenant of their religious text? Does any member of any religion, besides one who can dictate the analysis of their texts to their followers (the pope, cult leaders, etc.) understand 100% of the structure of their own "chosen" faith? Most of us blindly affiliate ourselves with a religion based on the conditions we were raised. If you were raised Mormon and found balance and joy in your life, you would be completely sold on extending the religion to your friends, family, and offspring. Even if you don't truly understand how some John Smith character carried out some utterly improbable means of developing the tenets of your religion, you will probably practice it, at least at some limited extent. And when someone asks you the severely unpopular question of what faith you belong to you wont hesitate to say "I am Mormon!". The same goes for the person who experienced the very same relationship with religion and had a negative experience They will question the contradictions and improbabilities that are scattered throughout every one of the world faith, and they will do one of two things. They will find a new faith, or they will disavow their belief in their specific faith and most likely the concept of god.
The problem with this is that a very short amount of people delve deeper into the introspective process of analyzing the question; "Is there a god?" For this question is hard. It doesn't deal with your parents idioms, and idiosyncrasies you practiced in your upbringing. It has nothing to do with your belief in Santa or the Easter bunny, or the betrayal you felt when you found out the truth behind such innocent ruses. It doesn't have anything to do with the anger you feel towards the priest who harmed you, or the pastor who manipulated you. It has nothing to do with your fear of inevitable death. It is philosophy. It is science, physics, and math at the highest possible levels, that lamens like myself often feel they have no business even touching the subject. But at the same time it is something that we should all be responsible for asking ourselves. We should be asking ourselves the big questions about life. Why are we here? What is, if there is a meaning to life? Is there a god? Not nearly enough of us ask ourselves these questions.
So that's the question that I would like to ask every person I meet, no matter if they are the closed minded assured, the blank slate, the existentialist, or the nihilist, how are you not agnostic? How can you prove that some things are possible while some things aren't? If you are a religious person, how do you rectify the fact that you have personal beliefs that don't adhere to your exact religious tenants? I hear people contradict their own beliefs all the time. People who's doctrine specifically tells them that they are a chosen people, who admit they they believe all inherently good people go to heaven. People who proclaim that they are nihilists, but make exceptions for things that have more than just a utilitarian value, who admit that there are a few exceptions for things they see intrinsic value in. Christians who believe in evolution, or even aliens, Amish who use machinery. There was an author AJ Jacobs who tried to follow every rule in the bible in it's closest literal sense, only to find that it is impossible in today's world. Personally I think that all major religions are so illogical and improbable that my arguments, and discussions rarely give them any consideration, but my piety in realizing that all I have for evidence is what my senses, and what the nature of our universe can tell us never lets me deny a possibility. If you have any experience in philosophy you already know that it is impossible to disprove a negative. So I can't prove that anybodies Deity does not exist. But if you are one of the certain people out there, why doesn't that rule apply to you? Why don't you realize that you can't prove Richard Dawkins Flying Spaghetti Monster doesn't exist. All I have to say is that he exists outside of our natural universe and therefore does not have to adhere to natural law. There you go. You can't prove it wrong because you don't have the tools to do so. I will never try to say that Yahweh doesn't exist because there is no natural evidence for him. So don't try to do the same for any possibility. I believe you are all agnostic, you just haven't thought it through.
But who are we as a people today? From a religious perspective, do any of us adhere to every tenant of their religious text? Does any member of any religion, besides one who can dictate the analysis of their texts to their followers (the pope, cult leaders, etc.) understand 100% of the structure of their own "chosen" faith? Most of us blindly affiliate ourselves with a religion based on the conditions we were raised. If you were raised Mormon and found balance and joy in your life, you would be completely sold on extending the religion to your friends, family, and offspring. Even if you don't truly understand how some John Smith character carried out some utterly improbable means of developing the tenets of your religion, you will probably practice it, at least at some limited extent. And when someone asks you the severely unpopular question of what faith you belong to you wont hesitate to say "I am Mormon!". The same goes for the person who experienced the very same relationship with religion and had a negative experience They will question the contradictions and improbabilities that are scattered throughout every one of the world faith, and they will do one of two things. They will find a new faith, or they will disavow their belief in their specific faith and most likely the concept of god.
The problem with this is that a very short amount of people delve deeper into the introspective process of analyzing the question; "Is there a god?" For this question is hard. It doesn't deal with your parents idioms, and idiosyncrasies you practiced in your upbringing. It has nothing to do with your belief in Santa or the Easter bunny, or the betrayal you felt when you found out the truth behind such innocent ruses. It doesn't have anything to do with the anger you feel towards the priest who harmed you, or the pastor who manipulated you. It has nothing to do with your fear of inevitable death. It is philosophy. It is science, physics, and math at the highest possible levels, that lamens like myself often feel they have no business even touching the subject. But at the same time it is something that we should all be responsible for asking ourselves. We should be asking ourselves the big questions about life. Why are we here? What is, if there is a meaning to life? Is there a god? Not nearly enough of us ask ourselves these questions.
So that's the question that I would like to ask every person I meet, no matter if they are the closed minded assured, the blank slate, the existentialist, or the nihilist, how are you not agnostic? How can you prove that some things are possible while some things aren't? If you are a religious person, how do you rectify the fact that you have personal beliefs that don't adhere to your exact religious tenants? I hear people contradict their own beliefs all the time. People who's doctrine specifically tells them that they are a chosen people, who admit they they believe all inherently good people go to heaven. People who proclaim that they are nihilists, but make exceptions for things that have more than just a utilitarian value, who admit that there are a few exceptions for things they see intrinsic value in. Christians who believe in evolution, or even aliens, Amish who use machinery. There was an author AJ Jacobs who tried to follow every rule in the bible in it's closest literal sense, only to find that it is impossible in today's world. Personally I think that all major religions are so illogical and improbable that my arguments, and discussions rarely give them any consideration, but my piety in realizing that all I have for evidence is what my senses, and what the nature of our universe can tell us never lets me deny a possibility. If you have any experience in philosophy you already know that it is impossible to disprove a negative. So I can't prove that anybodies Deity does not exist. But if you are one of the certain people out there, why doesn't that rule apply to you? Why don't you realize that you can't prove Richard Dawkins Flying Spaghetti Monster doesn't exist. All I have to say is that he exists outside of our natural universe and therefore does not have to adhere to natural law. There you go. You can't prove it wrong because you don't have the tools to do so. I will never try to say that Yahweh doesn't exist because there is no natural evidence for him. So don't try to do the same for any possibility. I believe you are all agnostic, you just haven't thought it through.
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