Spirituality †<

“Follow your heart, but take your brain with you.”

Spirituality is not superstition and religious doctrine. It is our feeling a connection to the universe of which we are a part and to the rest of the human race. And in a very real sense this connection exists, we breath the same air, we drink the same water, we are part of the same ecosystem and as such we are all connected. Perhaps in someway we all feel that there is more to life than meets the eye, perhaps we are right, because nothing is certain even in science. Within a philosophy based on reason what part can Spirituality really play in life? My answer to this is, that to discount the possibility of spiritual aspects to the world in which we live is arrogance in the extreme. It would be the polar opposite of the fundamentalist Christian stance of blind faith, and just as extreme. All aspects of life should be approached with an open mind this includes the possibility of aspects which are currently considered supernatural. I believe that humans are more than the sum of their parts especially in respect of the mind, and that the possibility of future discovery of further dimensions by science is as likely as any other discovery. And as with any other aspect of life we should make the decision as to what we believe based on personal exploration and discovery. Blindly believing superstition and hocus-pocus is foolish; instead our personal belief as regards the spiritual should be guided by reason, by investigation and by study of the evidence for and against. We should in short make a decision based on the evidence as it stands. This means not to deny the possibility of supernatural occurrences, but rather to find the truth behind them, and doing so make that which is currently considered to be supernatural - natural. 

"Remember when American moms used to tell their kids to finish dinner because children were starving in Africa? Well, thanks a lot, Mom - Africans are still starving and American kids are obese." - Larry Baum.

The modern world is can be a confusing place; we have religions, society, talk shows and magazines, the government and our family and friends, all giving us conflicting moral advice. We are bombarded daily with advertising for food, alcohol and material possessions; whilst simultaneously being told we are eating too much and are becoming obese, we understand the dangers of drinking, and financial reality. And so we are living in confusing times, but although it may be confusing with the advent of the Internet and global television, information is more accessible than it has ever been. We need to seize the opportunity to seek answers, while at the same time understanding that with this new technology our freedom is more fragile than ever. We must as free people take action to curb the loss of personal privacy and freedoms in the face of current technology and political situations. As well as furthering the unique moral issues of modern society that have and will come about as a result of our increasing scientific knowledge, Such as cloning, data protection, environmental issues and overpopulation.

But more than ever in this confusing new world we must use our reason, our common sense, ask yourself does what you are being told make sense. Look at the evidence and weigh it up based on your experience, if the evidence points to it being a lie then the chances are it’s not true. I know that sounds simple but it is exactly what we do not do, we accept what we are told without proof, without reason or weighing of the evidence. Knowledge based on assumption and hearsay is not knowledge. to state that “everyone” knows it to be the case does not make it so. If history has taught us one thing it is, just because something appears to be the case it does not mean that it is. For example before it was proved otherwise everyone accepted the truth that the world was flat, and that Earth was the centre of the universe. Nowadays science has come a long way and we understand a great many things that were not clear in the past, with new technologies and scientific breakthroughs we have cured a great many illnesses that have plagued humanity and have learned many of the rules that govern the universe. In spite of this we still have more questions than we have answers, although we know a great many things we can only prove a small amount of them and much of the knowledge that the masses accept as fact is merely theory. And every time our scientists make a new discovery or come up with a new theory to answer a question, they simply raise more questions. It has always been this way and it always will be.

Just as scientific progress is marked not so much by its answers but by the questions raised by them, so we should question in order to further our own beliefs, as things are not always as they seem. We have to realise, to learn to accept that there are a great many things we just don’t know. We can speculate, we can guess, and we can reason, but we do this because in the face of all our scientific knowledge, we still know very little indeed and struggle to explain in any detail all the wonders of life here on earth, of our own mind, of nature, of physics and a great many other things besides. It is egotistical in the extreme to assume we can know all the answers, that we can explain everything. All we can do is keep asking the questions, and as individuals find a theory that works for us, a personal philosophy that we can accept. With so few facts our beliefs must be based on our own judgement. We must seek the truth to the questions we have for ourselves.    

 

- Duncan Rossiter