The Importance of the Pursuit of Happiness

The importance of the Pursuit of Happiness is obvious. Life is short; enjoy it. Make every effort to be happy. Personal happiness is the most logical goal in life. Perfection is impossible. Problems—world hunger, extreme poverty, war, etc.—will continue to plague mankind. Fighting for ideals—justice, order, human dignity, etc.—is great, for progress is possible, but perfection has been and always will be unattainable. Personal happiness, on the other hand, is entirely possible. Personal happiness depends on the individual alone, whereas the aforementioned problems and ideals rely on society’s cooperation. This single principle makes personal happiness the most logical goal in life

True, religious beliefs uphold doctrines such as reincarnation or eternal life after death. Under such beliefs, life does not end with death, a comforting notion. However, without proof of life after death, it is in the best interest of the individual to doubt. Make life on earth enjoyable, there may not be another chance at happiness. Of course, this is a subjective truth. Perhaps for some, belief in life after death contributes to the individual’s personal happiness. Whatever works, whatever cultivates happiness, passionately pursue.

The Nature of Religious Truth

The Roman Catholic Church believes it is the One True Religion. All other religions have some truth, but only the Roman Catholic Church possesses the Fullness of Truth. However, does not every religion claim the Fullness of Truth for itself? If a religion did not possess Truth, its followers would all switch to the religion possessing the Truth. That is the purpose of religious truth, to be absolute Truth. No religion would ever imply fallibility. For Catholics, the Pope is infallible. For some religions, the Bible is inerrant. All religions have something of this nature: scriptures, a spiritual leader, their deity/deities.

Religions feign possessing Truth. Theoretically speaking, only one Absolute Truth about God/gods, the creation of the universe, the afterlife, and the proper ethics can exist. Yet, there are myriad religions. One of two things must be true: either every religion on earth is wrong, except one. Or, every religion on earth is wrong. An examination of these two claims is in order.

Assume every religion on earth is wrong, except one. How does a person figure out which one is the True religion? Well, every religion is based off faith—strong belief without proof. To persuade someone using faith is ineffective, especially when the person in question possesses no faith or possesses faith in a different religion. For example, a Christian telling a Jew to believe Jesus Christ is the Messiah probably would not go too well. The two would probably walk away from the encounter as a Christian and a Jew. A Christian telling an Atheist to believe in God would end with a similar result. Faith is not a solid basis for persuasion. This fact complicates finding the one True religion.

Obviously, a person is welcome to research every religion in the world in order to judge which one deserves the title, The One True Religion. However, the task can never be accomplished. Religions are based on faith, not on reason. Therefore, it is impossible to objectively investigate the validity of religious Truth. Religion is a subjective truth masquerading as absolute Truth. Religion is only as true as the individual makes it. Religious truth and the faith of the individual are directly proportionate. Put simply, if you believe, then it is truth to you.

Truth and the Right of the Individual

Truth can be divided into two subcategories, subjective and absolute (objective). Subjective truth lies in the mind of the beholder, much as beauty lies in the eye of the beholder. Absolute truth, or Truth with a capital “T,” is undisputable and based upon fact. In the decimal number system, 2 + 2 = 4—only a fool would argue otherwise. However, people often mistake subjective truth for absolute truth. For example, religious truth, although considered by the faithful to be absolute truth, is actually subjective truth. This concept is a crucial component of the Right of the Individual.

Assumedly, all humans accept the Truth because it is undisputable and based upon fact. If they do not accept the Truth, persuasion or education can cure their doubt. If a person is convinced 2 + 2 = 22 (in the decimal number system), a quick and easy mathematics lesson will enlighten him/her. Subjective truth, on the other hand, cannot be controlled so easily.

What is truth to one may not be truth to another. For example, blind people perceive the world with their remaining senses, creating their own subjective truth. Sighted people, able to use all 5 senses, will have a very different perceptive subjective truth. Neither the blind nor the sighted person has a monopoly on perceptive truth. They are both equally right. Subjective truth is as true as the individual makes it, and for blind people, lack of sight is indisputably true.

The Individual has a Right to his/her subjective truth. This Right deserves equal reverence as the famous Rights to Life, Liberty, Property, and Pursuit of Happiness. This Right may only be taken away if one’s subjective truth presents a clear and present danger of taking away another person’s rights; or will cause harm to oneself and/or others. Hitler’s subjective truth regarding Jews is unacceptable. Apart from these extreme situations, subjective truth merits tolerance.

Thoughts

In addition to reading and reviewing YA fiction, I have spent a lot of time reading books on philosophy. Similar to the way stepping in a lake kicks up a cloud of sand, wading into the ocean of philosophic thought raised a cloud of doubt: thereby changing my perception of the world around me. However, the cloud of doubt did not hinder my vision as a cloud of sand underwater would. Instead, the doubt presented the world from another point of view, a wonderfully unique point of view. Just as time causes the kicked up sand to settle to the bottom, the doubt which had altered my point of view settled into personal ideas, a personal philosophy.

I write this as a prelude. I have written down some of my philosophy into short essays. I plan on posting them on this blog every two weeks throughout the summer. Unfortunately, I do not have enough to fill up the entire summer. This is where you, the reader, come in. I invite any reader of this blog to ask questions or suggest topics for my future writings. If you cannot think of anything off the top of your head, maybe reading my posted essays will give you ideas.

The first essay will be posted on Friday, June 11th.

Yours truly (assuming truth exists),
Gabriel Gethin

A Modest Proposal for Preventing Religious Wars and Exterminations

Before Reading it is important to know some background. The following essay is based upon A Modest Proposal by Jonathan Swift. It is satirical.


A quick look into the history of violence brings the inquirer to a wretched conclusion: the greatest, most terrible violent acts of men are not caused by power, greed, or difference in political ideals, but by conflicting religions. There was the Holy Inquisition, where heretics, Jews, and Muslims were often burned alive, the massacres of Indian Independence in 1947, where over a million Hindus and Muslims were killed and ten to twenty million people were moved from their homes and the separate nations of India and Pakistan were established, the ongoing conflict in Northern Ireland between Protestants and Catholics, and the Crusades between the Christians and Muslims in the Holy Land. These are just the tip of the iceberg. Pages upon pages can be filled with the names, dates, and number of people murdered.

In order to fight a war effectively, each army must be united under a cause. Nothing unites people better than religion. If all people had the same religion, not only would religious wars and exterminations cease to exist, people would be united when solving social, political, and economic problems. However, there are countless barriers to a unified religion. People speak different languages; therefore, when religious doctrines get translated from language to language over and over again, the beliefs and teachings get lost in the translation. People also come from different places, geographically, making the parable of the mustard seed nonsensical to someone who lives in a place without mustard trees. Furthermore, people are firmly rooted in their own belief system, making massive conversion difficult.

Surely, the greatest minds in history have looked upon the idea of conversion to a single religion as complete and total folly, a fool’s errand, a waste of time. This is not so. Total conversion to a single religion would be the greatest accomplishment in the history of mankind. Perhaps it can be done.

First of all, the universal religion must be completely new. If any existing religion were used, the people who believed before the mass conversion would consider themselves superior, thereby creating disharmony, which cannot be allowed. This new religion should be easily adaptable to every culture in the world as well as every language. Ideally, the foundations for the new religion should already exist in every culture and language worldwide. Secondly, the new religion should include beliefs from different existing religions to make conversion easier. However, it should not be too similar to any existing belief, so as to avoid the aforementioned disharmony. People get pompous when they feel they are right and others are wrong. Creating a religious melting pot is easy enough, finding the correct balance of beliefs from different existing religions will prove more difficult.

Thirdly, the religion should be based on reason supplemented by faith. A religion based on reason can be proven, thus eliminating any skeptics or heretics. The presence of faith allows for different people to experience the religion in their own unique way. Speaking of which, the religion should be able to grow and evolve. It is unwise to make a religion too static. Overtime, certain acceptable practices and beliefs become less acceptable, for example, slavery, men’s superiority over women, and religious sacrifices. With these three principles in mind, a universal religion can be contemplated, and even formed. Here, I would like to take the opportunity to offer my own humble creation, a new religion, created with the above principles in mind.

In order to satisfy the first principle, the religion is based upon Mathematics. Mathematics exists in every human culture. The Laws of Mathematics are uniform across oceans, languages, and religions. The value of two is constant whether it is written as two, dos, duex, due, zuei, II, and so on. The angles of a triangle add up to 180 degrees regardless of language, location, and culture. This makes Mathematics the ideal basis of a universal religion.

The toughest part of organizing a new religion is the balance of the second principle. How can existing beliefs be represented in a new religion based upon Mathematics? First of all, most beliefs are two sides of the same coin. Monotheism and polytheism can be combined in pantheism, the belief in one God manifest in everything. This is easily adaptable to Mathematism, a possible name for this suggested universal religion. The laws of nature are written in Mathematics. If God is manifested in everything, then God is the underlying cause of everything. God is every law of nature discovered and undiscovered. Therefore, Mathematics is the way humans interpret the Will of God. The flexibility of Mathematism makes it ideal for balancing the second principle. For instance, Christians believe God is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. This is true in Mathematism too. God is all-powerful because His natural laws dictate how the universe functions. God knows all because God is every natural law, whether it has been discovered or not. Lastly, God is everywhere because everything is part of God. However, the way Mathematism says God is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent also satisfies philosophers, atheists, trandscentalists, Deists, and Pagans. Mathematism also satisfies the third principle. Mathematics is reason based. Mathematicians do not say the area of a triangle is half the base multiplied by the height because they have faith in the formula. They have proven the formula through logic and reason. However, Mathematism does involve certain amounts of faith too. Mathematicians have faith the digits of pi are endless and will never repeat, but they cannot prove it. Mathematicians have faith in the existence of infinity, even though infinity cannot be measured or counted.

Mathematism is quite a beautiful concept. It satisfies all three principles a universal religion should possess. Its properties in regard to the second principle are especially extraordinary. I strongly recommend complete conversion of the world’s population to Mathematism, or a similar universal religion, to end the hideous problem of religious wars and exterminations.

Overthinking

Lately, the news has become obsessed with over-talking topics to the point people would rather watch paint dry. For instance, Tiger Woods was giving 15 (or more) days of fame as opposed to the standard 15 minutes. Why? There was nothing else to talk about...

Another such over-talked topics is the "hidden message" of James Cameron's Avatar.

On a side note, I simply love how people must refer to the movie as James Cameron's Avatar to avoid confusing it with the amazing TV show Avatar the Last Airbender.

At first, people were upset Avatar's message criticized white settlers for basically exterminating native populations. I use the word exterminated because I grow bored when people use euphemisms. Now, people call the movie racist for having a white guy save the day. They clearly did not pay attention to the movie. Clearly, the white guy preferred his wildly realistic, 10-foot tall, blue skinned, 3-dimensional Na'vi avatar!

I saw the movie twice, so I understand why people are so upset. How dare a guy make a movie with leftist beliefs and biases! What's all this protect the environment, love nature, life is a balance of energy crap? Clearly, box office hits are only allowed to include supernaturally sexy, unbelievably moody vampire boys!

Here's my honest, humble opinion. It's a work of art. I see Avatar in the same light I view Lord of the Rings. It's a wildly fantastic work of fiction, not an allegory. Cameron says he never intended Avatar to be viewed as racist, or as an allegory for settlers conquering natives. Tolkien insists Lord of the Rings is not an allegory for World War II. Both artists created new worlds to explore, filled with new races and new languages. Their creativity and their ability to share their creations with the world make them unique and worthy of praise, not of such rash criticism. I marvel at the power of their imaginations. To be able to form entirely new worlds, beings, languages, and weave it all together with a fascinating story is, in my eyes, an ethereal achievement.

An Ideal Education (Excerpt from "Philosophy of an Ideal Education" by Yours truly, Gabriel Gethin)

Children begin elementary school at age 4 or 5 and end elementary school with 6th grade. When they graduate elementary school, they are equipped with the most basic tools education can offer, how to read and write, how to add, subtract, multiply, divide, how to show up on time to school, how to raise your hand to answer a question, and so on. Once in high school, 7th grade, the student begins a rigorous liberal arts training in subjects including mathematics, rhetoric, history, government and politics, philosophy, literature, psychology, sciences, and world language. Upon graduating high school after completing 10th grade, the 16 year old is equipped with knowledge of how to learn, interdisciplinary knowledge across a broad range of subjects and, more importantly, has developed enough self-knowledge to know what his/her own talents and interests are. After graduation, the individual decides what path is best for him or herself. The choices are nearly endless. The individual can study marine biology with actual marine biologists at vocational school while gaining real life experience at the same time. The individual can go to junior college to continue with the liberal arts. The individual can go onto college and choose a major he/she knows will both earn him/her a job and will be interesting and pleasing to learn. No matter what path the individual takes, the outcome is an educated human being who has amassed an abundance of knowledge and wisdom and is valuable to society in some way—economically, politically, scientifically, militarily.