The Made Up Answer Won’t Do

When it comes to blindly believing in something without any evidence or logical justification, we have religion. Lets explore what the absence of logic and reason can do to a person.

We all had that time in our lives when we turned to ‘the lord almighty’ for guidance rather than measure up the odds and make an informed decision. For me, it was when I was a teenage – you know, young and dumb. Everything was god’s guidance and I used it to justify that it was out of my control. This is how I accepted my grades and lack of abs, the strange reasons girls gave me for not wanting to date me, and why some people just straight up didn’t like me.

I’d think things like ‘oh it was just that god didn’t want us to cross paths!’ or ‘The lord has a plan.’ Basically, anything beside ‘is it actually just me?’.

What a load of responsibility delegating bullshit. Seriously, if I could go back in time and grab my 15-year-old self and smack him across the face and be like, ‘Dude, take some responsibility’ I would in a heartbeat – but the lord would probably stop me so I won’t bother. Luckily, this infinite wisdom can be shared on the internet so I can part my shame upon you guys to learn.

Religion in a nut shell gives people a lazy answer. It allows us to blame an almighty power for our own circumstances and dismiss responsibility for taking action by delegating it to a made up figure. It stops us from learning for our failings or negative experiences and teaches us values to blindly follow and not develop within ourselves. It teaches us to know rather than seek, and expects us to follow rather than discover for ourselves.

In these blogs, I’m going to talk about religion quite a bit, not because I hate it but because it’s interesting how the “oh, that makes sense” answer wreaks our mind to accept rather than change. It is fascinating how we (people) blindly accept rather then continue to question even what we think we are.

Moving forward though, as someone who has a profound respect for questioning, the works of late Christopher Hitchens have always fascinated me.

He taught that people should always seek truth even if it meant revealing an error you made in judgement. Just because you don’t know the answer to something doesn’t mean a made up answer must be true.

I’m going to leave this post with a quote from Hitchens which might help you best understand this thought;

“Beware the irrational, however seductive. Shun the ‘transcendent’ and all who invite you to subordinate or annihilate yourself. Distrust compassion; prefer dignity for yourself and others. Don’t be afraid to be thought arrogant or selfish. Picture all experts as if they were mammals. Never be a spectator of unfairness or stupidity. Seek out argument and disputation for their own sake; the grave will supply plenty of time for silence. Suspect your own motives, and all excuses. Do not live for others any more than you would expect others to live for you.”