The Rogue Philosopher reaches out

[Victor_Wrath]

I have long prided myself as a philosopher and seeker of truth above all other things. At times I have been Christian, and later have embraced a combination of mainstream faiths. Then I came to envision a faith for myself, one which I uncovered with the path that my heart leads me on. As of late I have taken up shelter under the umbrella of the pagans, but my core beliefs set me aside even from them, though they are still happy to embrace me as one of their own. It is one of my favorite attributes, among many, of the modern pagan cultures.

 

In my quest for truth, however, I find few allies and few like minds. In my wonderings I have come across this place, and I wonder if there might be some with answers to questions I seek. First however, I must figure out how best to ask the questions, for it is the questions which then become the answers.

 

I come seeking, not proof of any particular ideology, nor to be ensnared by the faith and path of another’s heart. Instead, I come seeking guidance on my own path of discovery. What I seek is some tangible evidence, either internally or externally of any force of life or nature that is suggestive of the existence of our spirits or souls. I come with an open heart, but a skeptics mind.

 

While I belief absolutely that there is so much beyond human comprehension, dimensions of reality more complex than any being in any existence is capable of understanding, I also find highly possible, even probable, that our existence is still limited to the physical lives that we lead and that it ends when that life ends.

 

Like most people, I long to believe otherwise, but I will not let that longing lull me into a faith that is not my own. I will not let fear blind my eyes to the quest for truth. This, is the common thread in all the faiths and religions that I have cast out of my life. Those faiths which came into existence to calm a fear, to sing a lullaby to make promises based on nothing but blind hope, those are faiths that I cannot abide. I have found that within such faiths, questions are not encouraged, and soul searching not appreciated. I cannot abide a faith that is blind, a faith that does not change and grow as those who walk its path do.

 

For the longest time I believed that faith was a thing that all should walk alone, a journey that was personal and need not be shared. Yet I have come to see that in all things, the hope of humanity exists only in cooperation. The greatest things we have achieved have always come when we work together. So, reluctantly, I am forced to realize that truth in faith, if it is ever to exist, is likely to only be reached by true, open minded cooperation and collective efforts.

 

I feel now I have gone as far as I can without aid, and I find myself falling toward a path of semi-atheism. The stigma of being an atheist is perhaps by itself enough to cause fear, for most cannot see how one can embrace nothingness. Yet I understand that it is not nothingness that is embraced, but a believed truth in the face of fear. It takes a strong heart to follow a path into fear, when a peaceful lie might guide one to greener pastures.

 

Yet I am not ready to fully embrace the atheist path, but nor will I walk the path of a lie, or embrace a faith that does not harmonize with my being. So I wonder, are there any of logical mind, and open heart with knowledge greater than my own that might guide me to touch something evident in the human spirit. Something more than the echoing thoughts inside my head, and the platitudes of mice and sheep. Is there a chain of logic that I have not found, evidence I have not considered? Is there a tried and true way of seeing the un-seeable, touching the untouched? Or is this the end of the question so far as it has been walked by any man.

 

Victor Wrath

_______________________________________________-

-To see the unseen

-To know the unknown

-To find the unfound

[coberst]

Whatsit all about, Victor?

 

I think that you might find the books written by Ernest Becker to be useful as you try to formulate your worldview on the place that spirit plays in human reality.

 

Ernest Becker has woven a great tapestry, which represents his answer to the question ‘what are we humans doing, why are we doing it, and how can we do it better?’

 

Becker has written four books “Beyond Alienation”, “Escape from Evil”, “Denial of Death”, and “The Birth and Death of Meaning”; all of which are essential components of his tapestry. Ernest Becker (1924-1974), a distinguished social theorist, popular teacher of anthropology and sociology psychology, won the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction for the “Denial of Death”.

 

Many months ago a forum member suggested that I might be interested in the author Ernest Becker and I was given the following web site.

Ernest Becker Foundation This is a great one hour audio about Becker’s ideas given by a very good lecturer.

 

Becker provides the reader with a broad and comprehensible synopsis of the accomplishments of the sciences of anthropology, psychology, sociology, and psychiatry. Knowledge of these accomplishments provides the modern reader with the means for the comprehension of why humans do as they do.

 

Becker declares that these sciences prove that humans are not genetically driven to be the evil creatures that the reader of history might conclude them to be. We humans are victims of the societies that we create in our effort to flee the anxiety of death. We have created artificial meanings that were designed to hide our anxieties from our self; in this effort we have managed to create an evil far surpassing any that our natural animal nature could cause.

 

Becker summarizes this synoptic journey of discovery with a suggested solution, which if we were to change the curriculums in our colleges and universities we could develop a citizenry with the necessary understanding to restructure our society in a manner less destructive and more in tune with our human nature.

 

The only disagreement I have with Becker’s tapestry is in this solution he offers. I am convinced that he has failed to elaborate on an important step that is implied in his work but not given sufficient emphasis. That step is one wherein the general adult population takes up the responsibility that citizens of a democracy must take on; adults must develop a hobby “get a life—get an intellectual life”. In other words, it will be necessary that a significant share of the general population first comprehend these matters sufficiently to recognize the need for the proposed changes to our colleges and universities.

[fresco]

Hello Victor,

 

Forget Becker. Coberst thinks he is the answer to everything !

 

Try reading some Krishnamurti if you have not yet done so. He's a writer that has rejected all organized religion and claimed that genuine spirituality can be found only by observing yourself. He attracted many intellectuals and was invited to address the UN assembly on these issues.

[Tormod]

I wonder...what is the "stigma of atheism"? If you're afraid to believe something that's wrong, isn't it better to choose *not* to believe until you have anything to actually believe in? :eek:

[Victor_Wrath]

I wonder...what is the "stigma of atheism"? If you're afraid to believe something that's wrong, isn't it better to choose *not* to believe until you have anything to actually believe in? :weather_storm:

 

No, I believe it is better to identify and set aside what you are afraid to believe, and what you want to believe, and from there to decide apart from hope and fear what it is you actually believe.

 

This is my quest.

 

Victor Wrath

_______________________________________________-

-To see the unseen

-To know the unknown

-To find the unfound

 

-All absolutes are lies