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Some Thoughts and Wisdom from a Fifteen Year-old (but I am smart)
TW* This paper is my opinion only and contains many themes like religion, philosophy, principles, morals, etc. PLEASE DO NOT read if you are sensitive to anything relating to these topics because I do not want my opinion to shatter your worldview or upset you. I am fairly confident that many of my beliefs are controversial, unpopular, or unknown so please read with caution. After all, I am just some fifteen year old kid writing down his thoughts in hope that somebody will take something positive or meaningful away from this experience. This paper is simply my views, beliefs, and logic behind some big topics. I hope you enjoy it and gain something substantial whether it be a new perspective or just a thought provoking idea.
First off, before I get into what you're actually here for let me give you some background on me. All you really need to know is that I come from a loving and very catholic family and would be considered by many to be “well off”. This is important because it is a strong factor and reason that I am writing this paper. Now you are probably assuming that I am some rich Catholic boy who is just writing about religion or something along those lines. You would be wrong. I do not believe in God. I agree with most of the Catholic morals so it is not a huge deal that I am in a Catholic family because I still appreciate the positive impact it has made on people's lives, but I am not truly Catholic. I would consider myself more of an absurdist (not really a religion, more of a philosophy) but I understand the value that religion brings to people. It's a guide that often promotes good virtues and actions so overall I think it is awesome for most people. Now you might be wondering how I went from your average catholic boy to an absurdist (I will explain more later on what it is). For starters, here are the reasons that I do not believe in a god (especially the Christian one).
God has 3 main qualities that make him “God” : all powerful, all knowing, and all good (just and loving)
If God was all powerful, then why is the world really wicked and messed up sometimes or why did certain tragic events happen in history (holocaust)? Now Catholics will usually answer that question with some answer close to “God works in mysterious ways and we cannot understand him because he is divine” or “he loved us so much that he gave us free will”. Now I would be able to accept that if there wasn’t very simple logic to disprove his qualities or existence. So if God is all powerful and STILL let these bad things happen then there are two other problems.
He is either aware of these things (all knowing) and lets them happen because he is not all powerful.
Or he knows about these things, CAN do something to prevent them, AND STILL chooses not too. Now I may not be the best Christian but that doesn’t seem like a just or loving god to me.
Also the most common argument for Christianity in defense of atheism is that “ he is so divine and holy that we can’t fully understand how he interacts with us or why he lets events happen the way they do”. Christians will even point to this in good times so they will say things like “God’s looking out for me” or “God will put me on the right path”. Now take something as simple as the ten commandments where even if you want to make the excuse “it's open to interpretation”, you still fall short here. Thou shalt not have other gods. Plain and simple. Now imagine an innocent two year old in India who was born into a Hindu family. As a Catholic, you would believe that he goes to hell. Show me one person that would consider that just or loving. Another problem with religion is that you are basically saying you picked “the right one” which is why you will get into heaven or whatever your afterlife situation is. Not only are all of the above issues but even if you could somehow point to sound logic disproving all of them you're still left with one major roadblock. There are two factors that literally dictate our entire lives. Environment and genetics. When you are born you obviously inherit DNA that dictates your physical traits but also your internal ones. Furthermore, the genetics that you were given predispose you to falling into certain patterns, habits, and actions. This is huge because it means that every choice, although a choice, is not really a choice. The way we react to bad events, good events, average events, all of it. We make these choices based on our genetics and history (how we reacted to a similar environment in the past and the outcome of that all influence our choice subconsciously and usually show in the form of our gut feelings). All of this information is pointing towards one major point. Although we have free will, we can almost perfectly say that we are the result of our environment and genetics and therefore everything we have accomplished or haven’t accomplished can directly point to that. This all ties back to religion because if God knew this (all knowing) he wouldn’t have created people that he knew were already at a disadvantage from the start in an infinite amount of unique ways. That isn’t just or loving.
Now I am saying all this stuff not because I despise religion or anything even close to that. I just have a different thought process behind the higher power/ meaning of life stuff. As an absurdist I take reality’s random crazy nature and dance in the confusion. It's the acceptance that I can never know the answers and as retaliation for the helplessness that comes with not understanding my purpose or reason for existing, I simply do what I can control. I live. Because our perception is our reality and experiences are all subjective we can never truly know the nature or being of the universe, the world, or even ourselves. Heck, we can’t even be sure that there even IS a reality outside of our consciousness. Maybe we are just fabricating a reality to save ourselves from the inevitable dread and hopelessness of not having one in real life or not having a bearable one. We can only dance in the confusion and enjoy it while it lasts. One thing I want to make clear is that I cannot express how much religion has benefitted the world, however I needed to share my beliefs that go against it to give you context for the rest of the paper. I want to draw your attention to not the religion aspect of it but the questioning and thinking aspect of it. I feel that many people do not speak or think freely because they are so heavily influenced by their society and environment that it feels almost wrong to question or evaluate your beliefs. I had this problem for many years because of how strong my family’s faith was. Just thinking about God not being real made me feel super guilty. So the first thing that I want you to take away from this paper is to THINK FREELY. Without shame, guilt, fear, or anxiety. You have to be true to yourself and your inner beliefs because if you aren’t then honestly you're wasting your life. If you cannot embrace yourself and all your inner thoughts, feelings, and beliefs to the best of your ability, then you are simply wasting what could have been a fulfilling life. I believe that there is no happiness if the things we believe in are different from the things we do. At the end of the day, for most people the purpose of life is to attain and strive for self fulfillment which usually overlaps with true happiness. Here are some principles/beliefs that I believe lead to ultimate self fulfillment and gaining a better sense and perspective of the meaning of life.
Experience= Wisdom. All experiences whether they are normal, foreign, easy, hard, etc will all help shape you and give you better insight into everything. Especially uncomfortable experiences that force you to adapt and grow. Now the hard part about uncomfortable experiences is that they are stressful and awkward. This is not really a problem even when it may feel like it. Let me explain:
Nothing matters. Yep, absolutely nothing. You are an insignificant person who is merely a speck of dirt in the grand scheme of the world, and even smaller in the scheme of time and the universe. As depressing and dark as a truth as it may be: nobody will remember or care about you once you die. Maybe in the following years your family will remember you but they will only be memories. And maybe you're even lucky enough to get remembered by the next generation but only through little stories or traits that will not accurately describe who you once were. They will just be broad traits that are supposed to encapsulate your entire essence and life in a couple words. Then you will be forgotten. And the world will still spin. Life will move on without you and in the whole scheme of time… your life will be statistically meaningless and unimportant. HOWEVER, that is only one way of looking at it. The other, and much more preferable way is to take “nothing matters” as a breath of fresh air. That huge project you're presenting tomorrow. Don't sweat it. The life defining job interview. Whatever. It doesn't matter. Why stress about something that is not only out of your control but also meaningless in the grand scheme of your life. Stoicism is a very simple philosophy that revolves around the idea that external events have no control over you or your soul. Also the formula for never stressing or getting anxiety over anything is: Can I control it ? If so, why worry? If not, why worry? Also lets just say in the worst case scenario you absolutely bomb whatever it is that you're stressing about. Although I already said it doesn’t matter (nothing does), I understand that we are humans and in the heat of the moment it DOES matter. It feels like the weight of the world is riding on this one singular event. Newsflash. It's not. No matter how poorly it goes, you will still wake up tomorrow. And the people who just witnessed this embarrassingly terrible event/speech/etc, will not even think twice about it let alone remember it. Everybody is so worried about their own life because that's the only thing they know. This leads perfectly into my next point.
Enjoy it because it's not forever. If we lived forever life would truly be meaningless. Our mistakes and downfalls not only make us stronger but they make the wins so much better. Happiness doesn’t mean shit if we have never experienced pain or sadness.
Also, although nothing matters, we need to hold onto the things that DO. I know that makes no sense. The little things and the big things are what do matter. Because they give our life meaning and purpose. Like roles we have to fill. Brother, son, teammate, student, friend, cousin, etc. If everybody stopped performing their role, mankind would crumble. That alone makes our lives meaningful because the world is relying on us to be us.
The big things that matter- family, friends, what you enjoy, what you're passionate about. All these matter because they are major parts of you and your life. They are not only crucial to our life but they are also our anchors.
The little things- our toothpaste flavor, the feeling we get during a roller coaster drop. These are the things that we need to be grateful for (just as much as the big), because these are what make life amazing. Between the amazing and the terrible times of life everything is normal and routine. But in these routines is where we can find joy. The look your friends give when a classmate makes a stupid comment and you're trying not to laugh. The feeling of showering after school, lifts, and practice. These not only add up but also are the reason cliches like “live in the moment” exist. Cliches although sometimes cringey or overused are usually great messages or values which is why over time they have become “cliches”.
A common saying or quote is “our perception is our reality”. Now I wholeheartedly agree with this but I also specify and elaborate more deeply than most when using the phrase. Many use it to mean our perspective or view is how the world manifests itself to us which is true but not how I think of it. A simple example of what most mean it is “glass half empty or glass half full”. It's the same thing, just different wording because of perspective. What I am referring to when talking about perception is our actual perception and self awareness about the nature of our being and reality. These are not light topics by any means and I did not “crack the code” or anything like that. My hottest take and biggest concern is that humans don’t know anything about either reality or the nature of our being. I believe that strong and extreme beliefs like religion and philosophy were created for two reasons. The first is a good reason I agree with and the second is a necessary but unpleasant one for me. The first reason is that religion and philosophy provide moral codes and point blank tell you what values to have and how to live. These are all good things that nurture a benevolent society. However the second reason is to explain what we don’t understand or know. Now you might be wondering why I think this is unpleasant. Let me explain: let's use the concept of death. Christians for example believe that if you lead a good and holy life then you will go to heaven as opposed to hell. Not only does this make death seem like a starting point into entering paradise (if you live in a Christian way) but also it gives an incentive to follow christian teachings and to be a good person. The part that I find unpleasant is the idea of people having what I consider to be false beliefs surrounding death in order to make death “less dark and sad” and to make life more bearable. I think that making people happy is a great thing but I disagree with living in ignorance. I am not saying religious people are ignorant but I am saying that they are naive. My belief is that the concept of death and its answer is staring us right in the face. It may be dark but in my opinion death is simple: we die, then we become energy for the world to use. Maybe a rat eats us then poops our remains out which then becomes food for worms and the cycle continues. But I am not saying all of this to make you feel depressed or helpless. I am saying this to help stress the importance of living and living right by your own internal beliefs and feelings. Because life is gonna move fast and you don’t want to miss it because you were busy worrying about superficial things that have 0 meaning and then some.
All of the above are just some beliefs that I have to hopefully give you another POV or maybe just an affirmation of certain things that you believe in or relate too. Overall, I hope you took something away because I hate writing and this took a while. Just remember that life is short and sweet, nothing matters, take risks and experience the world (especially the uncomfortable experiences), dance in the confusion and absurdity of existing, don’t stress or take yourself too seriously, and always be yourself and be a good influence on the world in whatever ways you can. The world needs good people.
(also these are the main three beliefs of absurdism as well as the definition)
Defintion: a philosophy based on the belief that the universe is irrational and meaningless and that the search for order brings the individual into conflict with the universe
The world is meaningless
Our nature is to seek meaning
Rebelling against meaninglessness by living despite the nature of reality
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Thank you for sharing your thoughts!
ReplyI wanna kinda give my thoughts now. There was a time I was legitimately confused about the origin of life. Until you put one and one together, voila, your parents gave you life, and these your grandparents and so on. So, there’s a deep misunderstanding or confusion rather, about our current knowledge or what we perceive as knowledge. The things we often believe to be truth or even false, we wouldn’t put in practice. For example, as much as we think reality is an illusion, you wouldn’t go on your way to pinch or stab yourself, because pain feels pretty much real. I used to love philosophy, the love for wisdom. I have been a little bit all over the place in my entire life, thinking I’m the most gullible person on earth, to thinking I’m the only one who can handle the truth. In summary, all you said, which is fantastic, admirable for such a young age. I would go on my way to say that nature is this thing which takes all possible roads, and sometimes we feel bad, but everything returns to its original state in the end. At the end of the day, we are still humans and our journey may go on until the end of time.
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