Section 10
I’m
glad I had a chance to write about this before the end of the semester. I feel
like religion is always one of the first topics people think about when talking
about philosophy. I was taught from a young age to not pay attention to things
like philosophy or my doubts about God, because I was told that was the work of
Satan. Pretty ridiculous, right?
I
think so too. I think it is toxic to tell a child he can not think. But I am
not the only case of this. This has been happening since the birth of
Christianity. Did you know there was a time when people could’ve been sentenced
to death for acquiring scientific evidence that opposed the bible? This is only
evidence of how restraining this religion has been on mankind.
All
my Christian life I wondered where my god was. I constantly called out to him
with no response. This is my eternal life on the line and you aren’t going to
respond? That’s not love in my eyes. That’s isolation. Why was god isolating
me? Me? I don’t even have it bad. God has isolated the world it seemed. There’s
was too much pain in the world to have a loving god. Years went by and I still
didn’t find the answer I was looking for, so I started asking different
questions.
When
I started finding answers I ran with it. I am now an entire different person.
Getting over religion was tough but I’m way more comfortable with the way I see
the Universe now. A Universe where I don’t have to worry about a rathful god,
or an eternity in hell. My new outlook on life was a huge weight lifted off my
back. Everything made so much more sense. Shortly after this “awakening” I
found philosophy and fell in love. Nothing I have studied has been as logical
as philosophy. One of my favorite topics was Platos, “The Allegory of the
Cave.” Take a look at this video for a detailed break down of the subject. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWlUKJIMge4
In my
opinion, the cave shadows represent religion, media, and everything else that
can be blinding to our senses when it comes to the truth about anything and
everything. I saw the cave dwellers were people I had been surrounded by my
entire life. When trying to speak with them of my enlightening experience, I
was shamed and insulted, as the man in the video was. Trying to help them
understand only lead to lashing out and being accused of trying to make them feel “stupid.”
Hearing
about his cave I already knew I had been in my whole life was moving. I had
these ideas about the cave and could even tell the difference between people in
and out of this so called cave. I related to this lesson that man wrote
thousands of years ago. Yet I saw that a majority of the people throughout
history did not. And this to me, is very saddening. How could this, and other
philosophy, not have went across the world spreading as fast as Christianity
did? I know exactly why. It doesn’t promise a loving god. It doesn’t promise an
eternity in heaven where you can have anything you want. It doesn’t promise
anything. To me, I don’t need comfort when searching for the truth. All I want
is the truth, regardless of how scary it seems at first.
"And the truth shall set you free"... but of course, caves and shadows come in many forms. It's possible to liberate oneself from one cave, only to tumble into another. I know people who once were blinded by dogmatic religon and have now fallen into an equally dark corner of irreligion. Even Plato's version of the "light of reason" places us at risk of sacrificing our personal independence and autonomy for a rationally structured autocracy of "enlightened" governance. So we need to guard against smugness and superiority, when returning to visit those in the caves we've left behind.
ReplyDeleteBut, it's always wonderful to learn of someone who's freed himself from the twin yokes of superstition and fear. Congratulations!