What I'm learning at Luther #3

A question in psychology:

Have you ever been so tired after a late night of studying that when you sit down to drop a stool, you fall into a half sleep on the John?

Then when you wake up you can't remember if you pooped or not, but are too lazy to look and see?

Three means to occupy our human inquisition

I wrote this for my philosophy of religion class. Some of it is old news for anyone who's ever heard me go off. It's still interesting reading I hope.

I believe that there are three necessary means to finding an occupation for human cognitive faculties, as well as finding meaning in our personal existence. I categorize philosophy as one of these means. I realize though, that not all human beings have the luxury of being philosophical, as sometimes the quest to survive and meet basic needs prevails (as in Maslow’s hierarchy). But in any case, I feel there are at least some philosophical underpinnings in everything people do no matter what their station is in life.
In my observation, philosophy is best described with this equation:
Philosophy= Questions without answers.
With philosophy, there really is no ultimate answer to bring all questions to an end. Philosophy cannot produce an answer that fulfils the inquisitive void because philosophy is generated by human reason (which is fallible). Every time an answer is conceived, the fallible human mind conceives another question. I don’t picture the question-answer pattern to be merely circular but rather spherical because by the time we arrive at a familiar question again, it has taken on a whole knew meaning because of the path traveled. The sphere continues to grow on an eternal scale as there is no end in sight to questions generated by human reason. Thus, we are the eternal inquisitors.
Some might consider an endeavor such as philosophy to be a futile and un-useful means of passing our time, but I would argue that it is necessary. Necessary in that I believe it’s built in to us as a species to fulfill certain needs inherent in our makeup—an occupation of inquisition.
However, philosophy is but one of three means of occupying our inquisitive minds and persons in the quest to find meaning in life and existence. The most common, I would say, would be religion. This is because I observe that the more comfortable and secure one is in life, the less one needs a solution to its problems in the form of God—and consequently, that there are far more people in the world who need a God then people who don’t.
From my experience and observation, religion is best described as:
Religion= Answers without Questions
I say this because religion provides answers that require faith to believed. Though religion has been responsible for numerous evils (the crusades, terrorist attacks, the Hindi caste system), it has been instrumental in creating order and unity in society and in many ways, keeping the human species alive. I say this because I see morality’s primary function (at least from my own spiritual background) as being a way to control the human instincts that are potentially destructive (like homicide, theft, sexual promiscuity, abusive behavior). Much religious law is designed to keep people under submission to religious authority (i.e. to maintain measure of power), but otherwise, it’s meant to foster positive behavior amongst humans.
But the problem arises when people begin to question the answers provided for them—questioning the validity and reality of religious beliefs and doctrine. Since religious claims and doctrine cannot be proven to be true by tangible physical means, religion always relies on faith to be the ultimate answer to the unanswerable. This is why faith and trust are considered to be prime virtues among the religious. However, faith only works for the faithful, and that leaves the skeptics without a compelling reason to believe.
This brings us to the final means to the occupations of our psyche—that of science. To my understanding, science is just a mess. It is equal parts religion and philosophy mixed with fact. I’ll explain these outrageous claims momentarily. But first, I have deduced science (as the third means) to this equation:
Science= Fact and Fact= meaning
I have long claimed that science is a religion itself. This is because there are a great many people who look to science to fulfill all of their inquisitive needs. Unless something can be proven by the scientific method, it is not fact, and therefore has no value. People accept everything scientific theory has to offer without question—trusting science to be the ultimate truth (and scientists to be the sole custodians of truth). Science is used for two things: to observe (discovery), and to explain. In truth, science is only good for the former. That’s where human invention such as computers and vaccines come from. But where science falls short is explaining why a vaccine helps cure disease. Sure scientists can explain how vaccines work down to the molecular level but can they explain what causes the molecules to behave the way they do? There is no end to the scientific quest for explanation.
Science is used to produce fact, and followers of science look to fact as a source of meaning to their existence. The truth is fact itself is fallible. Who can count the so-called “facts” that have been proven false by science through the ages? In truth, there is no fact in existence that is not subject to the possibility of later being proven completely and utter false scientifically. Consequently, fact is not necessarily synonymous with truth. Like philosophy, science is an un-ending cycle of questions and answers, only like religion, it is looked upon as the sole authority on meaning and purpose.
Science goes even further into the realm of religion once it starts attempting to explain what cannot be observed. Try as they may, scientists cannot elevate scientific theory above logical guesswork without cold hard observation to back it up. Unfortunately, much of what science tries to explain is un-observable, and therefore requires just as much faith to believe in as religion.
After bringing these three necessary means of occupation together, I have decided that, as human beings, we need all three of these means in order to find the ultimate meaning that our natural human inquisition is after. I have concluded that the only meaning that makes sense is God. I say this because really, God is the only explanation that covers ever single question that could possibly be conceived by the human inquisition. Consider the three means, philosophy, religion, and science. Here is how an existing God meets the needs of those three methods.
A God who exists is real, and therefore, the questions over the validity of God’s claims and desires (what God’s followers do) are irrelevant. Furthermore, religion is a man-made means of explaining and relating to God, but an existing God is above its creation, and not bound by a creation’s perception and religious doctrine. Therefore, one cannot question God due to religious fault.
For philosophy, I believe that the un-ending cycle of questions lead to an eternal God. Ours is a never-ending road of discovery.
For science, an existing God is the origin of truth, and therefore the answer to science.
I see God as the natural conclusion to humans’ natural occupation of finding meaning to life and existence, and I worship him because I believe him to be omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent. I love him for reasons that cannot be explained through reason, only truth.