From star dust we come,
to star dust we return.
In living memory, we remain.
In written knowledge, we persist.
A bench spotted at the new science museum in Dallas.
“The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood, the carbon in our apple pies were made in the interiors of collapsing stars. We are made of starstuff.” ― Carl Sagan, Cosmos
Is the tragic event in Santa Barbara, California symptomatic of a viral social media behaviour?
Ever since cases such as Columbine, we seem to be getting steady occurrence of such events. It’s not just localised to the US, this phenomenon has gone global. With school shootings globally on the rise, not to mention the Norwegian tragedy, violence in schools in China etc., there has been a tangible increase in troubling violent events happening outside the scope of war, general crime and terrorism.
The world may be getting smaller but certain problems appear to be getting bigger. Is this a case of higher visibility due to pervasive media or higher population density, or a real issue of mental disease spread through social networks. We know the active use of social networks in “organised” conflicts such as war and terrorism and even it’s use in organised crime. It is also known for it’s direct influence in the success of viral marketing and social influences. The term “going viral” can take on a real serious and scary place in dark teenager’s bedrooms around the world.
The phenomenon of social media in youth lone-wolf violent behaviours should not be overlooked.
A person who believes his faith is fragile and easily bruised does not have any faith to begin with.
If we lose our religion, do we lose our insecurities?
We were born naked, stupid and scared,
Discovering questions with no knowledge for answers,
We think “the sun shines so there can be light”,
The world spins so there can be day and night.
The season change so we till the land,
For this frame of mind, we are thankful to a god who created life.
As we gain knowledge to answer these life questions,
We know that the causes are incidental and not the purpose.
There is light because there is a sun,
Day and night because this rock turns,
Winter is not a good time for planting crops,
Society are the ones busy creating their perfect gods.
There is no purpose for life but to live to give purpose.
We do not overcome a fear of the unknown by giving it a name,
We overcome it as how evolution has prepared us for it.
As sentient explorers, constantly discovering and learning
There is a place for religion for some.
For others, we satisfy these insecurities in other ways.
These other ways have shown the world to be round,
that the universe do not revolve around us,
that we can conquer the seas, the sky and finally,
the gravitational pull of the earth.
We must see the world through the eyes of the blind. We will then realise that our bias has no basis. Skin colour, how we look, what we wear are all insignificant stereotypes. They judge only by what we do and how we do it. Only then do we truly know who stands before us. Close your eyes and open your heart.
There is only one true god in this world.
Everyone living on this planet worship and idolise this god. If they have not already found god, they are naturally predisposed to worshipping it.
From the earliest moments of our lives, we were prepared to be able worshippers. We were indoctrinated with basic skills so that we can answer our calling to partake in our holy journey. All this while, our parents were already serving god and hopes that we too can be successful servants when we are ready.
For such a powerful god, we spend our whole lives answering all its calling. We form daily, weekly, monthly rituals and even lifetime rituals. We wake up for it, go to sleep dreaming of it, create rituals around it, we build altars around it and have monuments erected with his help. With him, we cure the plague, we go to war, we turn water into wine, we break bread to feed billions and we have even conquered the moon. Without this god, none of this can happen.
The true god which we all worship is money. The obsession of money fueld the world we know and without it, life as we know it today will not be the same. How we truly worship money, how it can motivate people for good and for bad. All other gods are mere distractions.
“I may give in to your demand of censorship because I fear your BARBARISM. But don’t, for a moment, confuse that with respect. I don’t respect you, I despise you.” – Richard Dawkins, June 2012.
Someone asked me this question out of the blue. The context was: I posted “When you realise there are more things you do not know than the next person, you have gotten ahead.”. Someone responded and asked me “what would happen to me if I suddenly realised there is a god”. I know it’s troll bait so I might as well document it here so I do not have to repeat myself.
If indeed there is a god, it has a lot to answer for. Also I’d like to identify which god it is, out of the
3,000+thousands that’s documented in the history of the world.Nothing really happens. Why should the world change or something happen because of me, 1 out of 7 billion people? What am I? A point? If god appeared before me and struck me down for failing to believe, I’m sure it’ll come out as the loving god it represents (I just hope someone documents it properly so my obliteration will not go to waste). Not too good a public relations job for god unfortunately. If god came forward and hugged me, I’d ask god why am I so special while millions of children are starving?
If a miraculous cure came to me if I was critically ill and a note said, “thanks to me, you are cured”, I’d ask the omnipotent being, why did I get sick in the first place? A joke? A reminder that I need to pay my tithe? If I walked out of a plane wreck while most of my fellow passengers died or were seriously injured and there was a god… I’d be very angry that god made a point on me with the expense of other lives.
How can you love without god? Hmm. Do you need god behind you in order for you to love? Do you love out of fear? Or how can you be good without god? Morals has nothing to do with religion or god. Altruism and love and all those stuff are what I’d call the human condition. Sam Harris has those topics covered, I need not repeat them or try to be an expert in this field. From my readings and understanding of religion, there are more text describing ways to punish than love. To subdue and keep in order. If we take things into context, in the accepted Christian bible, god created 2 humans, Adam and Eve and killed many many more. Hmm.. this is cited from the bible, not any anti-Christian text. So, let’s try and tone down the “god of love” bit… If there is a god, god is not known as a god of love but one who commands obedience without much mercy.
No, there is no god. Not because I say so but because I do not use a belief system to form my thoughts. I use reason to form logic, not a faith based logic.
I probably know less than the average person who only reads just religious books. However, I hope that the things I KNOW I DON’T KNOW is a lot more than him. For there are three knowledge categories. Known knowns, known unknowns which connects the person to the unknown unknowns. What you know you don’t know is where learning starts and always be hungry for more unknowns. The curious minds leads the way, the satisfied rests.
Our assumptions, modeled and then proven become science. We can sit around and listen to stories but the truth is so remarkable. Scientific truth.
There is no point fearing things we do not know when we find comfort in lies.
As an atheist, I don’t think there is a need to fear death. The correct emotion to cast at the state is probably anger or hate.
I hate death because it robs us of consciousness. It robs us of experience. It robs us of our dreams. It snatches away our purpose.
Because I hate death, I live. I want to push boundaries of my experience and enjoy what my senses can absorb while I’m lucid.
There is a funny spin to life. If there is no death, life cannot be sustained (besides the overpopulation issue). There is no purpose or drive to live. There is no point to fall in love, procreate and have an improved version of yourself. Why do we die? So we can live forever.
Sumo Articulations 