My musings The first for 2021

My musings today January 7^th 2021

A remark from a close friend. “At the beginning of the service we were given pieces of paper and a pencil and asked to write something about 2020 that we want to put behind us. (Many wrote 'Covid' and 'Trump' I think!). During the service we walked up to the fire pit and threw these pieces of paper into the fire pit. It felt strangely liberating! Try throwing away and burning everything negative about 2020 in a fireplace or bonfire, depending on where you live! It will feel good! Here's to 2021!”

Like most things in life, this type of symbolism will appeal to a lot and not so to others. All religious teachers used symbolism as well as parables. There is something about them which have a powerful influence on us. In fact in some "Thovil" ceremonies this is done with a lot of ritual chanting and the object to which the demon responsible for the client's illness is coaxed into a metallic object which is then disposed of. The secret is the faith or strong belief the subject has in it. There is a feeling of finality in getting rid of something which is affecting you- you literally "see" the problem being got rid of. Faith is one of the strongest human emotions, or so I believe.

A belief is something usually very personal but could be a shared view within a group of people. It does not need verification, just an acceptance. Truth on the other hand in philosophical terms can be questioned in many ways. First of all is there a "universal truth" independent of knowledge which operates throughout the Universe which could be "known" or "realised" or is the view that there is a "truth" also contestable. The truth might be that there is no truth! If you are physicalist, the only truths are natural laws that exist such as gravitation etc. For a physicalist, there is nothing spiritual and everything can be explained or could be explained if it has not been explained so far, on the basis of science. A belief could arise after examining the evidence but there is no agreement on what evidence is admissible. The only requirement is that is satisfies the believer.

You might sense that I am just a very confused man trying to make sense of the World and you are correct!

One of the burning questions I am dealing with at the moment is whether Human beings have the capacity to understand the world around them through what I call "insight" for lack of a better word. I am used to forming concepts and beliefs based on scientific enquiry and logic. I just wonder whether attempting to understand or comprehend phenomena through gaining knowledge, which is just the arrangement of data or information in a particular way, is ever going to yield the "truth", assuming of course that there is one, OR whether to entertain the possibility that we have within us a latent capacity to "realise" the true meaning of reality, which is essentially what the Buddha said. The idea that we all have this shining lamp within us which will illuminate and expose the true nature of reality is fascinating. The idea that it is there and if only we are able to access it by going through all the curtains that hide it, all will be revealed is enticing. But I find it difficult to believe that if I sit under a tree and just think deeply for long enough (contemplative meditation) that there would be an "aha" or "eureka" moment when I get up with a smile on what I "know"! But even Newton admitted that the falling apple story is not how it actually happened!

When you are retired you have much more time (what is time?) to grapple with these.

Or is it more sensible to just accept that birth (not your choice) is always followed by death (not usually your choice) and all we can do is to spend the time in between, as happily we can, by which I mean with minimum discomfort (mental and physical) and with maximum comfort? The problem is that comfort itself is relative. We wouldn't really know what comfort is if we have never experienced discomfort.

One thing I am convinced of is this.  The concept of an all-powerful, all-loving, all merciful God is something I cannot accept. For me either (a) there is no God or (b) he is not all-powerful or (c) he is not all-loving and picks and chooses when to use his powers. Furthermore, to attribute everything we cannot answer to God is a cop-out; "Let it be X", where X is something you are incapable of understanding but one day you may.....if you accept Jesus or Allah or Atlas on Faith. Secondly, I find it very difficult to accept the idea of the persistence of life after death. I find the Buddhist concept of impermanence very intellectually satisfying and the fact that there is nothing permanent in me and the "I" or "Me" concept is my own conceptualisation. Yet, I see some continuity in me from the past to the present, to the future. The "I" is continually changing but my "I" is different from your "I". You may call this a sort of "energy" but to me, the use of the term energy is very loose - like "X". This also leads me to wonder whether everything is physical or material or whether there is a spiritual element, yet to be understood. Not quite dualistic in the way of Descartes. Is the Brain the seat of all knowledge, emotions and perception? The spiritual query also arises from my question "why are we moral?". I do have some suggestions based on the theory of evolution as to why we are moral in a purely material sense without invoking non-material means, and on how natural selection would favour a moral code of behaviour.