Beware any “authority”, creed, or enterprise that sweeps inexplicable suffering under the rug called “God’s will”…
This seems to me, at best, an expression of impotence and despair…
It’s also a convenient way to rationalize your indifference to a world rife with man-made and natural evils.
What rational and decent person can possibly accept that the diseases, disasters, and human cruelties that plague us are all part of some greater goodness beyond our limited intellectual and moral comprehension?
I, Frank Joseph Peter, in good conscience, cannot make such a perverse leap of “faith”.
I’m with you 100% Frank. I stopped believing some 67 years ago, at the ripe old age of 5. I realized there were no answers forthcoming, at least none that made any sense, to my questions. Nothing … literally NOTHING I have seen in the intervening years has given me a reason to believe that there is a higher power “in charge”, or some “master plan”. Karl Marx referred to religion as “the opiate of the masses” and that is precisely how I see it. It is a tool used by the wealthy and the powerful to manipulate the masses and it seems to be working remarkably well for them.
Five year old Jill must have been quite the holy terror! : )
Total resonance with all that you said. Thus the shrill opposition by the right to censor anything that smacks of real education and moral autonomy.
Keep on fighting the good fight.
For what it’s worth, I’ve been driven to the edge of sanity, lived every day of my life in pain and actually am very likely to find within the next two weeks that my society has sent me to a grizzly and prolonged death with a sense of clean relief. But the “evidence of things unseen” in my life has been so overwhelmingly ubiquitous that my very high IQ is forced to get in line with my heart ~ I’ve not even been tempted to forego the certainty that there is much more here than we see, and that it ultimately does serve the Divine plan.
With respect ~ just a note of balance ~ nobody hate me, okay?
Thanks so much for sharing, Ana. Always good to hear from you. Rest assured you’ll find nothing but empathy and compassion here. Sending you a long warm (((hug))).
It has struck me that, whichever side of the intellectual issue each of your commentors lands on, we all do seem to advocate those qualities. An encouraging forum, ably administrated 👌
Thanks for the most kind words, dear person Ana. Your presence here is always a mindful, heartful, constructive addition.
You rock, my good brother 🙋✨
WE rock, my good sister! 🎶🌻
👍💖
This one is easy for me, Frank, as I share your views. I don’t know too many people who hold on to the belief in a higher being, but I think for whatever the reason–their education, their life experiences, etc.–those who do are entitled to my respect if they are ethical and try to be compassionate to others. I am especially empathetic to people facing serious illness who derive comfort from their beliefs.
100% agreement with all you shared, Annie. Nonetheless, I’ve decided to come out by speaking only for myself… with the hope that others still trapped in the closet of belief might follow suit… compelled to do so for reasons that are embedded in many of my other posts and posts to come.
Thanks, as always, for being a voice of reason and decency.
Got it, Frank. And thank you.
Good balance 👌
I, too, cannot make such a perverse leap of “faith.” I lost mine in Brazil when faced with children living in the streets. The captioned photo speaks volumes about our inhumanity.
Similar to you, I lost mine for good on my first trip to East Africa over thirty years ago. The suffering I witnessed there burst the insular bubble of ignorance and unjustified pride I enjoyed until then. I wept in humility and gratitude as never before and have been trying to honor that experience by live with more compassion, courage, and generosity ever since. Thank you, Rosaliene, for being a voice of reason and decency.
<3
Body and mind will never be free of potential pain and the world will continue to have natural disasters, this is how it is- but the human imposed agony and a lot of resulting suffering, is absolutely unnecessary and cannot be justified through any belief or faith, whatsoever.
If we could somehow ‘magically’ replace ‘God’ of every religion and faith (including the meaning, reverence, trust and authority bestowed to this word), with a direct immediate infusion of “Alert, Awake, Awareness” in everyone at each moment- then, perhaps all that we find deplorable in human conduct (across time and space) could eventually be avoided… a faint but only hope, in the face of enormous rampant suffering!
Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts, Ramble. Here’s hoping.
Of course, my hope is not a passive one… as I do my best to cast my vote for what exists in the world with my voice, hands, money, habits, occupations, possessions, pastimes, relationships, memberships, allegiances, and more.
A very admirable and inspiring attitude Frank…this world needs many more people like you- who are motivated, courageous and persistent, to actively live their lives aligned completely with what they sincerely believe in!
Thanks for the most kind words of encouragement, R. I’m fortunate to have been exposed to the wider world and to have the freedom to speak and act from that experience without fear of retribution. All the best!
Don’t know if you’re a Rush fan, Frank, but this post really reminded me of the song, “BU2B”, from their last album. “I was brought up to believe the universe has a plan…” I was brought up that way, as well, but have long since written off that notion as B.S.
Thanks for the honesty and nice addition, Larry.
I just had a listen… “While our loving watchmaker loves us all to death.”
You just turned me into a Rush fan.
Thanks & Peace, man.
Oh, good! They’re awesome.
🎶🤜🤛
I don’t see it like that. What is happening is not God’s will; it happens because we do NOT follow God’s will, because we follow our will. If mankind followed God’s law of universal love, we wouldn’t be in this mess. There will still be disease to an extent because we have physical bodies that are quite miraculous but not perfect. But then, death is not the end (in my opinion), but a transition. Energy, in what shape ever, does not get lost.
Thanks for sharing your beliefs, Stella.
Alas, I cannot imagine a supernatural creature so sublime or afterlife so glorious to justify so much hell on earth.
The hell on earth is our doing not God’s doing. We have a choice, and we choose wrong.
It has always been the big question, Frank. There are many good people who have bought into the long conventional answer. Like you, I have a hard time with it. Thanks.
Not meant for you, Gerald, but for the lurkers:
“There is Auschwitz, and so there cannot be God.”— Primo Levi
As for the “many good people”, I hear what you’re saying, Gerald. I might be wrong, but I’d bet a nickel that they’d still be decent people without reliance on wishful, magical thinking. Nonetheless I still feel compelled to challenge such beliefs for reasons that are embedded in many of my other posts and posts to come.
As always, thanks for being a voice of reason and decency.
Perhaps, Frank. It is one of those experiments we can’t run. On the face of it though, some of it is taught and the philosophy of being good and the stories that reinforce that attitude support their behavior and undergird their lives. The terror of life might otherwise complicate the act of living, their generosity, etc. We will never know.
Indeed. Alas, we’ll never know.