I used to think I was "enlightened," but now I know I'm not enlightened at all... Paradoxically, that realization might just be where enlightenment begins.
I mention this because all I have done - and all many others like me have done - is admit that we don't have all the answers, that we just don't know. I didn't consider myself an atheist when I started this blog; naturally, then, I don't consider Dead-Logic to be an "atheist blog," but simply my blog, reflecting my thoughts, feelings, et al. I consider this to be a critical thinker's blog, a freethinker's blog, even a heretic's blog (for what is a "heretic" but one who holds views contrary to the views held by the people in power?), a philosopher's blog, and should remain that way regardless of where reason leads me, by virtue of reason leading me rather than dogma, fear, faith, unquestioned authority or tradition holding the ideological reigns.
It's easy to see atheists and theists as two sides of the same coin: both having taken a side, both ruled by prejudices and cognitive biases, both hurling verbal javelins at their opposition. Perhaps it's easy to see because many atheists and theists actually act this way. Maybe it's easy to see because a lot of people are miseducated and/or undereducated, which leads them to make errors in their reasoning which would otherwise be easy to avoid, such as calling oneself "agnostic" because one thinks it's a tertium quid, or some sort of middle road between atheism and theism.
All I've done is try to rid myself of my biases. Admittedly, such a goal is impossible to attain, but all goals worth working for should be impossible. We should always reach for perfection, not because we expect to attain it, but because in doing so we can exceed our own expectations, for more often than not we can accomplish more than we think we can, and when we set the bar lower, we risk hindering ourselves by not maximizing our potential due to the limits of our own self-perception. Reaching for the impossible, then, is not to achieve such a goal (because it's impossible), but to make the path toward perfection one's goal.
So... the road to enlightenment begins by shedding one's intellectual biases and admitting to oneself that the answers - particularly the comfortable, well-worn, familiar answers we hold most dear - are easily asserted, but not easily affirmed; easily proclaimed, but not easily proved. In fact, they may very well be wrong. People don't particularly care for this idea, so they reject it, holding fast to their established beliefs as a child clings to the blanket he loves so dearly. They grow angry, they mock, they scoff, they judge and condemn when someone admits a lack of knowledge and/or a lack of belief. For such people, nothing is more offensive to the ears than the words, "I don't know" and "I don't agree."
But I don't know, and I don't agree. Telling me I'm a bad person or that I'm going to hell because of this only serves to confirm my suspicion that there's something wrong with the religious systems that currently rule the roost, because I'm being judged as "wicked" for simply being honest, maintaining my integrity, not being fake, and caring only about the truth.
— Dead-Logic
The Road to Enlightenment
The Road to Enlightenment
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