Tell me:
How is it that you are certain of anything?
posted by Maddog @ 7:53 PM
13 comments
House O' Maddog
Finally, that perfect mix of intelligence and belligerence you've been searching for!
Finally, that perfect mix of intelligence and belligerence you've been searching for!
13 Comments:
One caveat, this is more a question about belief and/or disbelief, not necessarily (but certainly possibly) religious. That is to say I’d prefer to keep the focus off any metaphysical arguments.
Because if you stand for nothing, you will fall for anything.
I can stand for things without being certain. However, if I interpret your statement to be akin to ‘if you are certain of nothing, you will fall for anything,’ then I rather like it- minus the negative tone. I would say if I’m certain of nothing then I’m open to everything. Of course I’m still not certain of any of it. So… recognizing all the different possibilities has yet to cause me to fall for any one of them. Additionally, I’m near certain that you are not certain of all that you are only because you do not wish to fall for something else.
Are you certain of all that?
No, that’s why I wrote this thread. I want to see what others are certain of and why. I did not want to re-examine my own uncertainties. I will admit I have a much harsher scale upon which I measure things, or at least I think so.
You boys are just too funny! I got a good laugh reading this. Auntof2ANG
Wow, another reader; I’m up to 2!
I should say that all I had planned to do here was argue that there is no certainty. In doing so I had hoped at least to find some inspiration. Currently, I see that whatever is, is, and is so apart from our understanding or knowledge of it. Moreover, the actual word transcends any logical or scientific explanation, while not providing enough justification for any particular theological one (which could account for such a phenomena). This makes my defense of a world without certainty easy, but then I can’t be certain of even that since there is no certainty. Even if such a world was proven- the conclusion offers nothing beyond that. Sure, arguing with Zeke is fun and all, but what’s the point of it if there is no point to it? I’m looking for the next step in my own understanding.
Maddog--I have looked this over many times but I have felt it would take me a long time to answer you and not sure how serious you are or if u r just looken for a debate--nice word for arguing. I am a simple lady and you use such deep physhological words I have to look them up in the dictionary--which I haven't done. (smile) But I am ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY CERTAIN of some things. Auntof2
spelling correction: psychological did I get it right now? Auntof2ANG
There are many things in life to be certain of. Being certain that you love your children and would give your life in their defense.
Death and taxes.
Aunt- I’m being serious and want to debate. I’ll try to more simply explain what I said.
Everything you think, say, remember, interpret, understand, etc. is wrong. What you experienced as you read that last sentence was real, or right. Additionally, I’m being a very strict in my evaluation of right and wrong. There could very well be things like what you think, say, etc, but they fail to be an exact match to what “is” as they are only reflections of what was. I’m thinking that as things are happening, your experience of that happening is real. Yet, even now the real feeling of the sentence you read is gone. Of course you can have a new experience by reading it again, but to know with complete accuracy precisely what you felt the first time is imposable. Sure, right now you still have the gist of what you felt. You could easily generalize the feeling to be any particular emotion- but that’s not exactly what you felt. I can know the concept of love, rage, happiness, sadness, etc but an actual experience of one of these emotions is always more profound than an explanation of them will be.
It’s the same with all other types of knowledge. Gravity does not hold you the Earth, gravity is a man made concept that closely explains what is actually happening in a way to allow future predictions given certain circumstance. Look at how much something as constant as gravity has changed from its discovery by Galileo, to Newton’s Law, to general relativity, to the many current theories ( like string theory) trying to make it compatible with quantum mechanics. If we “knew” what gravity was, how come it keeps changing to fit more accordingly to whatever we “know” at the present?
Dr. Ken Miller, a biology professor at Brown University, stated “We should regard all scientific explanations as being tentative” at trial during his arguments against intelligent design being taught in Dover PA. If scientific explanations are tentative, they are not absolute, and if they are not absolute, we cannot be certain of them.
That being said:
Zeke- I find certainty in matters such as the ones you presented only temporarily through doubting there truth. I have seen many people who are certain they love their children, but then do extremely selfish or neglectful things. If I question my love for my children, I won’t be content to sit on the couch assuming my love for them; I’ll have to go out and experience it again and again. That’s as close as I can come to defining love.
I do not think love can be defined by a "feeling" necessarily. Feelings come and feelings go. Romantic love for example may start out as feelings but over time that "love" will be proven by actions. (A man's idea of showing love for his wife is quite possibly different than his wife's idea of what would make her feel loved. I'll leave that topic alone tho.) However, We human beings are imperfect, therefore we do not always demonstrate that love perfectly. Unintentionally we can hurt those we love. But, we still love them. Greater love hath no man than he lay down his life for his friends..... Now I love my friends, but I am not sure I am at the place yet that I could give my life for them. That does not mean I don't love them. It would mean I allowed the fear to be stronger than my love for them. I have read many stories of military guys giving their lives for their friends tho. Now Jesus Christ, voluntarily gave his life for people who hated Him or wanted/want nothing to do with Him and mocked Him and scorned Him. He voluntarily left heaven and came to earth knowing what was gonna happen to Him. He was beaten beyond recognition by whips that had glass in the ends. (At any given point He could have called for angels to come and help him but He did not.) Then while he was on the cross in that condition, He prayed to the Father God (Jehovah) to forgive them saying they know not what they do. Now that is LOVE! Auntof2ANG
I am certain the time has come for a new post in 2015!
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