And so - a turn of phrase.
Footsteps outside my door - footsteps, or is it the neighbor next door climbing noisily down the stairs, or the wind against the glass, or merely my own imaginings?
The search for meaning seems to preclude that there must be meaning, which seems to preclude a God. Or meaning, as a purely human construct, is simply a distraction, a waste of time. Meaning is only a fever dream.
Meaning, or justification, and the subtle difference between the two. Does inherent justification necessitate God? Can self-created justification be enough? Can I find peace in what I make for myself? Religion, it seems, gives us a path. Lantern-lit, illuminated, straight and undeviating. Without it, those Christians or Muslims or Jews presuppose, we wander aimlessly in darkness, searching for, but never finding, the true and brilliant purpose.
So first - is there a path that must be found? If so, can we reconcile living without it?
And next - if there is no greater goal that we should be pursuing, would our own individual aims suffice? Even without religion, are there somehow inherent oughts?
If to all of this the answer is no, how do we make sense of a world with no set path and no set necessaries? In this world, it seems the only thing we are bound by (and freed by) is our own obligatory choice.
But is this not difficult to come to terms with? Our world, once dizzy with musts and shoulds, with the judgments for those that did not, with the endless cycle of guilt and reward, has come to be nothing but a hollow shell. The outside, the socially-imposed meanings and demands, when cracked reveals nothingness, empty space, and negation. Our being, it would seem, is an end to itself.
Footsteps outside my door - footsteps, or is it the neighbor next door climbing noisily down the stairs, or the wind against the glass, or merely my own imaginings?
The search for meaning seems to preclude that there must be meaning, which seems to preclude a God. Or meaning, as a purely human construct, is simply a distraction, a waste of time. Meaning is only a fever dream.
Meaning, or justification, and the subtle difference between the two. Does inherent justification necessitate God? Can self-created justification be enough? Can I find peace in what I make for myself? Religion, it seems, gives us a path. Lantern-lit, illuminated, straight and undeviating. Without it, those Christians or Muslims or Jews presuppose, we wander aimlessly in darkness, searching for, but never finding, the true and brilliant purpose.
So first - is there a path that must be found? If so, can we reconcile living without it?
And next - if there is no greater goal that we should be pursuing, would our own individual aims suffice? Even without religion, are there somehow inherent oughts?
If to all of this the answer is no, how do we make sense of a world with no set path and no set necessaries? In this world, it seems the only thing we are bound by (and freed by) is our own obligatory choice.
But is this not difficult to come to terms with? Our world, once dizzy with musts and shoulds, with the judgments for those that did not, with the endless cycle of guilt and reward, has come to be nothing but a hollow shell. The outside, the socially-imposed meanings and demands, when cracked reveals nothingness, empty space, and negation. Our being, it would seem, is an end to itself.
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