Figments 19.07.2009

I’ve just finished watching Waking Life. The movie is a giant philosophical discussion about the meaning of life, why we are who we are, time and other issues like free will and existentialism among others.  It’s a fascinating discussion but it got me to thinking about life and how it affects me.

I’ve had this idea that we are all just figments of each other’s imagination. That none of us really exists outside of our own minds. So why do we place such importance on others? Why was someone like George Washington important to all of these people? Of course I know the answer is because he helped mold and make America what it is today, duh, but in the grand scheme of things, Sara Quin means more to my own existance than Washington does. And yet, we make all of these historical figures our main focus, studying them, and almost worshipping them.

And then there’s the idea of religion. I am incredibly against religion, but there are BILLIONS of people in the world whose lives revolve around the worship and bullshit that religion feeds them. They don’t care about the intense and superficial and destructive extremism that is almost synonymous with it now. What happened to the basic sort of love for Jesus people used to have. I think I would be more open-minded to the entire idea of a religion like Catholicism or Christianity if there wasn’t so much politics or doctrines to compete with.

Michelle and I discussed this the other night. She said that God doesn’t expect much more from us than to live. That was his gift to us, and he doesn’t want more than that. I agree with that. Religion was man-made, the Bible was man-written. Why should we follow, submit to the word of other people? I would much rather combine all of the interesting philosophies I read about or study to create my own man-made philosophy. What’s wrong with this?

~ “You cannot live on hope alone, but without hope, life is not worth living” – Harvey Milk