Back ! ... France, England ; my Agnostic Theism
I graduated two months ago = SWEET FREEDOM! and my life since then has been quite a travel fest.
I traveled to France, to England, to Egypt and to Astor Place's Japanese food mart.
France: New president yet still same old same old. Although cab drivers' interests have slid from politics to the ex-wife of Sarkozy. My ride from the airport to Paris was embellished by a soliloquy on how nasty she was to him: "she cheated on him for years ... at the last minute, she just plain refused to show up at the Elysee where he was to give his inaugural address, he begged her ... she was the only woman who could wrap Sarkozy around her little finger, and she gave that up!"
England: Family time.
Although I did have a stimulating conversation with a Canadian-based writer. He had written a book about the chemical relationship between the brain part associated with religion and that with aggressivity. ie: "Well it's quite worrisome really, they are bound together." Meaning that we are physically wired to act aggressive under the influence of religion. Which is validated by the Islamic terrorism in the Middle East, yet invalidated by far more many instances of fervent religiousity unaccompanied with violence. (I haven't read the book, therefore I am ill-placed to judge and imagine that the argument is much complicated and convincing then the above.)
In my opinion, aggressivity is a very indirect product of religiousity. I just found out on wikipedia that I am an agnostic theist, which means that I believe in the existence of a supreme being (although in my mind, it takes the form of a blurb of sparkling mist floating around the universe). But that doesn't mean I can kick my recent conviction that religion is a human creation to cope with the inherent loneliness and purposelessness of life.
Religion gives human life purpose, meaning, identity by dictating actions. In that sense, God is much like a father for whom we get good grades, share toys with our little friends. For God, we are giving to people around us, we do or don't work hard to become successful ... Which explains why humans become aggressive when their religion/religious group is undermined. Attacking the structure they define themselves by (whether it be divine or human) is like destroying their identity, and by extension: them.
The same thing would happen though if any of the purpose-giving elements of our life was attacked: our job, our friends, our family ....
My personal variation on the clock-maker argument: life is a wonderful gift, who is the giver? (a big blurb of sparkling mist?)
too much on this subject ... on to Egypt (which actually turns out to be a related topic)
