Dear Reader,
I have been promising some interesting questions posed by my good friend Casey Vachon. We met my freshmen year at the University of Kansas, and during what I so affectionately now refer to as "the good old day" we spent a lot of time playing guitar as well as, err, playing guitar. But who would've thought Casey would become such an intellectual. It's funny... Our arguments over what kind of beer and pizza to get have turned to discussions about philosophy and religion. But as my Dad says, "Why quibble over a minor point?"
It is a tragic commentary on our times to see what has happened to us since that time in our lives. Our lofty dreams of living by the river and abject poverty have been smashed by the wrecking balls of graduation, grad school, and gasp... CAREERS! Well, as Jerry Garcia said, "Don't look back." The past is hard to leave, however, when it is (falsely) lit in the sunset of nostalgia, and I have to say we weren't too bad on guitar either.
But here are some interesting questions Casey posed to me in reaction to my notes on freewill (I ultimately had to side with the compatabalists on that one-basically a synthesis of libertarianism and determinism). But please, no one get huffy and puffy about his comments because we're all just talking and thinking out loud...
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Casey writes:
Hey michael,
I read your blog, interesting stuff. the thing is, if u didn't believe in
free will, would you really study such questions? could we even ask them? if
everything could actually be so simply attributed to external factors, would
those factors require of us acknowledgement? why do we pray to god? does an
omnicient, omnibenevolent, omni-everything good being really need the
vainglorious satisfaction of making such dim little stars as you and i
acknowledge what he already knows? or could he possibly indulge in veiling
everything else in his own light? this is not so much a shot at religion as
it is at the establishment of organized religion. i have a hard time buying
any of it, except maybe existentialism (which, i realize, is getting off
topic), which has a hard time being anything other than depressing.
END OF CASEYS EMAIL
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OK, so there are a few thousand books written on these topics including one called the Bible, so I will steer clear of them all. But, they are food for thought. I have become quiet fascinated with existentialism in the past year or so, and will devote a later blog to some of those issues perhaps.
Here is one quick thought: Lately in Science, there seem to have been a plethora of scientific findings and theoris that not only are investigating the small, but the large as well. On one hand, space seems to be growing at an exponential rate as it is perhaps in a state of infinitely doubling itself. Of course, I feel the actual conception of this idea is out of the realm of our imagination and consciousness. On the other hand, we are continually finding more infinitesimal building blocks of matter, as can be seen with the string theory and quarks (quantum mechanics/theory).
My point is, it is safe to say the bar will only be pushed even farther in both directions; smaller and smaller and conversely, larger and larger. It would seem like the dichotomy or even void (some might say) can do nothing but widen and grow. Almost like a monster who will swallow everything caught between. That might be a bit much, but you get my point I hope. I've heard of the much sought after "theory of everything" or TOE (as they call it) but with the ever widening polarization of size and matter I just don't see how it can be synthesized or reconciled. I don't know! I don't know! I don't know! All I know is how little I know.
Ahhh, what does it mean... There is a great song by Jack Johnson that has the line
"There were so many fewer questions when stars
Were still just the holes to heaven"
I fear that we have too much knowledge for our own good, and am envious of the simpler times when stars were simply glimpses into heaven. But then again, we would not have blogs, and life would be empty and sad. So I'll call it an even trade off.
Until next time, I remain, with the mind reeling,
MW Rice
Quote for the day:
But who prays for Satan? Who, in eighteen centuries, has had the common humanity to pray for the one sinner that needed it most? (Our good friend Mark Twain... He seems to be making regular appearances here doesn't he...)
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