My personal religion
What I take from great books and people.
When I was 18 I discovered Alan Watts' lectures on YouTube, which introduced me more thoroughly to Buddhism and gave me a refreshing, insightful take on the human condition.
If I'm at a point in my life where I need reassurance I'm doing the right thing, the first place I gravitate towards is often the Buddhist canon.
In many respects, I find Buddhism more accessible, more peaceful and more relatable than Christianity.
"All that we are is the result of what we have thought
If a man speaks or acts with an evil thought, pain follows him
If a man speaks or acts with a pure thought, happiness follows him"
– Twin verses from the Dhammapada
Actually, I view both religions at trying to approximate towards the same goal, or answer the same question: how do we live a life that is in harmony with other people?
I like Buddhist teachings because they are simple, they are not dogmatic, and they are first principled and testable.
I like Christian teachings because they are deep in meaning, they are grounded in history, and they are grounded in the personal experience of the human condition in our relation to God.
"Do to others as you would have them do to you."
– Jesus Christ
I think the chasm forms between the East and the West on the question of what should be done.
Christianity tends towards construction, "be fruitful", "build the kingdom", "heaven will come".
Buddhism tends towards deconstruction, "let go", "be at peace", "nirvana will come".
Christianity implies humans are made in the image of God, and that God is knowable and understandable.
If humans are made in the image of God, we must be able to approach the limit of Gods plan for humanity.
If we can know and understand, we can do the right thing.
The Christian faith, with its intertwining with Greek philosophy, has produced many great and amazing works, such as the University, and to a broader extent modern medicine and science.
This brings me to what I actually believe.
I personally do not believe in heaven or hell, in the absolute sense.
I believe you're capable of creating environments through action which are either favourable or unfavourable which may be appropriately described as heaven or hell.
I think once you're dead, unfortunately it's over. Nothing more.
That can be considered quite sad and nihilistic. But I derive my meaning in life through my responsibility to God – The Christian God – and those made in Gods image.
I find this to be a source of comfort and meaning. I have faith that the Christian religion and its emphasis on peace and truth will lead to a better world, even if the creationist interpretation is not correct. Making sure to test these claims against evidence.
One might question if a progress towards intense investigation is a worthwhile pursuit, after all the world is going to end anyway, why not let go?
If the world is going to end, then why not test what the limits of human imagination are? It would suck to have a gift and not use it, right?
We should think, feel, love and explore to the voyage's end, remembering that our loyalty is to eachother.
"Those followers of the law, who may know only a few scriptures, but practice their teachings, who overcome all lust, hatred, and delusion, live with a pure mind in the highest wisdom. They stand without external supports and share in the joys of the spiritual life."
– Buddha
"You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."
– Jesus Christ
So why read the bible, if it's essentially just 'wisdom' which is implicit to human life which might be inferable and not actually a pathway which gets you into heaven?
To me, this is a quesiton of efficiency.
Why re-invent the wheel?
Software Engineers have a few sayings:
- Don't re-invent the wheel
- If it works, don't fix it – or you'll end up fixing it until it's broken.
I think one parabel in the book of Ecclesiastes summarises it well:
"What do people gain from all their labours at which they toil under the sun?
Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever.
The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises.
The wind blows to the south and turns to the north; round and round it goes, ever returning on its course.
All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full.
To the place the streams come from, there they return again.
All things are wearisome, more than one can say.
The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its full of hearing.
What has been done will be done again; what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.
Is there anything of which one can say, 'Look! This is someting new'?
It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time.
No one remembers the former generations, even those yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow them.
– Ecclesiates 1:3
The problem of how to act has already been solved.
Let's integrate this perspective into our wider worldview, remember to test its validity and move onto some bigger problems.
One thing I believe, which may be controversial, is that it may be possible to know the God of the Bible through means other than reading the Bible.
It may have been said implicitly above, but I don't necessarily believe the Bible is the only authoritative way to understand the truth.
I believe the truth is abstract, beyond human understanding, omniscient and transcendent and can only be approximated towards with language, mathematics and thought. The reality is, I beieve, that the absolute patterns and hyperparameters are not known or knowable to us.
Under these circumstances, it may be entirely possible to roll the dice on the authors of the Bible, the language used and the order and still approximate something equally as profound.
But this would be superfluous.
Its a daoist dance of ying and yang, or chaos and order.
The earth and humanity is precise and perfect, every atom and mathematical constant purposefully planned within a digit of failure, but also reproducible entirely with different parameters.
This is the nature of scale when we discuss large and ifinite numbers.