We have in the last post looked at certainty.
we shall continue this look at certainty by other means.
This however requires us to engage in theology and we all know how
much I dislike theology, but it must done.
This question has been at the forefront of modern philosophy since Descartes.
and the outright search for certainty lasted until Kant, slightly less then 200 years.
But the search for certainty didn’t stop, just changed directions.
We all know the story of Adam and Eve and original sin. This is where we begin.
The story looks like this, god created Adam and Eve and place them into
paradise which was named, The Garden of Eden. god had but one demand,
that the two of them, did not eat the apple of knowledge. They disobeyed
and that was the real original sin, the act of disobedence to god, insubordination.
And for this “crime”, Adam and Eve suffered punishment. Both were tossed of
paradise, Eden and Eve was made to additionally suffer by the pain of childbirth.
By this act, this crime of disobedience, this original sin is the reason that
evil was released into the world. For the punishment of original sin was
the creation of evil. To be absolved of our crime, we must confess our sins,
our original crime and thus be able to return to paradise.
What we lost in the commission of the crime of insubordination was the certainty
Eden. With the crime of original sin, we were tossed into an uncertain world.
With our “crime”, we lost certainty. So how do we find or rediscover certainty?
The bible tells us we must confess and thus might, might be able to get
forgiveness from god. Thus the finding certainty or heaven, involves a
confession. OH Lord, I have sinned. And the only hope of forgiveness lies
outside of us. This is important. The only hope of salvation lies outside of us.
Salvation is found when we are forgiven for our transgressions, our original
act of insubordination. This act of forgiveness cannot, cannot originate
inside of us. We cannot find certainty by any act of our own. According to
religions, we cannot find salvation, certainty by any means within us, within
our own works, words or prayer. Salvation can only come from outside of us.
The question thus becomes, can we find, discover if certainty, forgiveness,
salvation can exists within us? Can we with our works, our words, our beliefs find
certainty, salvation, forgiveness within us?
We know that the outside of us, the world, reality is uncertain, random, chaotic.
Science has told us so. There is no certainty that lies within the scientific theories of
our day. There are simply theories that get modified when some new discovery is made.
What truth can be found in the theory of Gravity? What truth can be found in the theory
of evolution? For theories evolve and adapt and change with every new bit of information
or data that scientist find. How can we find certainty with scientific theories when
they are so easily modified by new data?
The outside world cannot provide us with any sort of certainty because
of the problematic nature of reality, of the universe we see.
Certainty must be found within us, but how do we find certainty within us?
By the use of values. We can create certainty with values that begin within
us and are the means by which we can use to judge and understand our
actions and meanings. We can find certainty with our use of the value
of Justice. Justice as a value can give us a meaning of life. We can base
our life upon a search for and a finding of Justice…………
The act of Justice can create meaning, value, certainty in our lives.
Justice which is equality, if practiced correctly, gives us a certainty
that we cannot find in any other way. Justice/Equality which as been
the same since the beginning of time and will continue to exist till
the end of time, is a certainty we can use in our lives. We can hold values
which create certainty in our lives of which Justice/equality is one.
We can hold values that mark what it means to be human and the use
of those values create certainty. For to be human means one who holds values.
That is the working definition of a human being, one who holds values.
The values we hold can be positive ones or they can be negative one.
The problem with holding negative values is that they aren’t sustainable.
The negative values cannot be used to sustain a system like a political
system or a family system or an economic system. Values like hate, greed,
lust, anger, by their very nature, disrupt and creates entropy within
any human based system. The loss of entropy in a human system can be from
the use of negative values which drains a system of energy. Negative values
drain energy from a system, positive values increase energy into a system.
And that energy either coming or going, increases or decreases energy which
going out is entropy and coming in, makes a system stronger.
It cannot be denied that positive energy comes from positive values.
A family with positive values is a energy plus system and a family with
negative values is a negative loss system. Positive values like truth,
justice, peace, love, honesty creates energy, positive energy in people,
groups and entire systems. Positive values are sustainable energy in
a system. Which system would you contribute your energy too?
a negative value system or a positive value system?
Unless you are lying to yourself, you want and people want
a positive value/energy system and that type of system is
sustainable. If we can, we will pick, choose an positive energy/value
system every time.
We can find salvation, forgiveness, peace in a positive energy/value system.
We cannot find salvation or peace in a negative energy/value system.
Your choice of values that are positive energy/values can create
positive energy/values in a system which is the opposite of entropy.
Entropy is the result of energy leaving a system and negative values
helps drive energy from a system. Negative values are values which
encourages entropy, the loss of energy.
and we are lead back to our original question, which is how do we find certainty?
we find certainty by values and the energy those values create. the values we
choose creates certainty in our lives as long as the values we choose are
positive values and not negative values. You can find certainty, forgiveness,
salvation in choosing positive values which lead to positive energy. Values which
form the basis of our understanding of our actions in the world. Values create meaning
within any action we take. We must choose our values then and only then
can we act with an understanding of what that action means. That understanding
comes from the certainty of knowledge that we have positive values/energy.
Our actions is understood best by the values we have. we must base our actions
upon our values… values come first, then actions. Justice as a value can give
meaning and purpose to our lives and create meaning and purpose in our actions.
If we apply values to our actions, we create meaning and purpose in our lives.
And that meaning and purpose is certainty of our values and actions.
To be just is to create energy/value/meaning/purpose and certainty in our lives.
If we apply justice and love and peace and honesty to our lives, we create
better lives with more meaning and energy and value and purpose.
we create certainty…………
So the path to certainty is the path of positive values which creates
positive energy and meaning in our lives. If we adapt positive values,
will there be no failure? of course not, but failure itself can be
a positive thing if we realize that “to fail is to be human”.
that there is no failure, just a new understanding of the universe.
If we are to achieve forgiveness, salvation, certainty, it begins
with values that we choose for ourselves. Positive values.
Kropotkin