Thursday, November 1, 2007

Who are these people?

“People are smart!” That is what the commercial says. The audience in question watches the T.V. and says “yea, people are smart, I’m a person, and I’m smart!” The inference is that you are smart if you use the product that is being sold by this particular commercial. Of course I am reminded daily not only of how people really are not smart but also of how I fall into that category with everyone else.

Take religion for example. At some point in history there was someone who was born, as many are, except this man/woman was born smart. By smart I mean that they were a genius, had special talents, or the ability to see the world in different ways. In some way they came up with some sort of knowledge about life or how to live better. Being that they had a love or some compassion for their fellow human beings they wanted to share it with them and help enrich everybody’s life.

The problem here is that people are not smart. People internalized the new information, took it literally, and made it apply to their lives on a personal level. Passed it down as tradition. Eventually it became ingrained into the human psyche. We are so dumb that we don’t comprehend that there are those among us that are not like us. We figure that their knowledge must have come from a supernatural or alien force. Suddenly we are worshipping things we can’t see and killing others who don’t worship the same way.

We miss the point so often and it is sad. We shun those that don’t think like us. We don’t help those that don’t worship like us. We are less likely to see evil in someone who goes to the same church as us. Our judgment becomes clouded. There will always be smart people and there will always be stupid people. It will take religion to make the smart people do stupid things though.

God is a concept, an idea. The reason that there is no proof for him is because there is no substance for him. He does exist though. He exists in the thoughts and minds of millions of human beings. When they talk to him, he talks back. When they tell their friends what He said, they validate each other. Nothing can shake their faith now because they have had a “true” experience, a “real” encounter with god. The problem is that the same stupid people are controlling both sides of the conversation, so who knows what will be said.

At some point, no matter what the original intentions were, the egotistical maniacal, side of the human emotional roller coaster is going to convert to its childlike state and start demanding a list of services. The ones that are granted will be attributed to god and the ones that are not will be excused as not being in gods will. When all is said and done, the world will unfold in the same manner that it was originally going to anyways. With that being said, even if you do believe in god, you are on the same playing field as the rest of us. So please try to keep the damage to a minimum. If there were a god, I am sure he would want the same thing.

2 comments:

Byshop said...

Great post!

The concepts described here play to the root of all societal ills. Yes humans are smart animals but man is overall stupid. This causes a bit of internal turmoil and frustration for me. I want to believe all people should be thoughtful and come to their own deteriminations in life, but I know that not all are able or willing to do so either by lack of ability or social conditioning.

Evolution is an exasperatingly slow process, and the gaps in mental/conscious evolution seem to be widening. To paraphrase with a quote from my favorite band, ( and one of yours too based on your profile)

"The industrial revolution has flipped a bitch on evolution"

Something a bit more personal...

I hope that bastard that hit you gets what he deserves, namely a long, long stay at the Federal Hotel. I cannot fathom the experience and hope to never have to. If you are anything like me (and I venture a guess to say you are) you don't want pity and I hope you don't take my sympathy as such. Suffering of any kind touches me deeply and profoundly.

anyway, I am glad to have found your blog and I look forward to the discussions you provoke, in all honesty though, it seems we agree on quite bit and you say it better than I, so there may not be a whole lot to talk about...

Byshop

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