Something Vaguely Inspired By Light Blue Circles

Usually I start my blog posts with a hint of witticism and sardonics but today's post is not for that-- this time I really have something to say.

Recently I've discussed ideologies a lot, mainly religion and all things related to that. Most people who have talked to me for more than ten minutes know a little bit about my religious upbringing, since it doesn't take someone too long to be caught up on the lack thereof an organized belief structure.

The question has been coming up a lot lately, the one that has always haunted me in conversations, I almost feel like I suffer an ignorance for never choosing a firm belief.

I've realized now it doesn't matter.

I'm in no way saying that beliefs don't matter, they do, and very much so. In the history of human life on the planet beliefs seem to be the most constant thing. People live and die for these beliefs, they build their lives on them, fight wars for them and defend their stand on this Earth for the sake of what they believe-- so yes, belief is important.

I don't believe you even necessarily have to believe anything, I wouldn't ask that, I don't care if what you believe is completely insane-- but what I just hope is that people learn to question what they believe.

Question does not always mean to doubt, and I don't ask you to ever doubt what you believe, rather question what you believe to reinforce your conviction. Beliefs shouldn't be black and white, you should be willing to accept the changes in the world around you-- but don't let your convictions be dulled by misunderstanding, make sure what you believe is truly what you wish to believe and that should be what matters.

It seems like lately the discussions have been so pointed, the blame always has to be cast upon people for some reason. The staunchly religious are castigated for all the people who are deemed as crazy who have faith, and perfectly good people are punished for not believing in God by those who do.

Once upon a time science was something that we used to castigate with religion, labeling those people as heretics, and now we're seeing quite the opposite-- science is being used to discredit religion. If you can see this irony, I really appreciate your thought process, and if you don't-- damn, I'm alone.

I had this discussion with my fiancee the other day, and it was only when I looked it over that I actually felt like I'd finally unearthed that part of me-- so I'll share an amended version of what I had said to her.

"Religious" is a weird description for me because people aren't a religion, they just have one and you shouldn't be labeled by something like that. It's superficial to say someone is religious because there's so much more to content of character. I think atheists are just as crazy as anyone with a theism because it's just as stupid as labeling someone by race or ethnicity, just believe in what you believe and let that be enough. By classifying someone as their religion you're just not getting to which know them-- it shouldn't be what defines the type of reactions or personality traits you have. it's just one of those things about you that is part of you. I don't like those debates either solely because everything is a little crazy--plus, I like to tell people that sometimes crazy works. Did you know that the common bumblebee can't aerodynamically fly? it defies all the logic of physics, they've used science time and time again and found no logical explanation. In this case, the bumblebee doesn't know it can't fly so it just keeps going. I feel like faith in anything is like the bumblebee, you just have to believe it works and don't let people tell you otherwise. People are so quick to blanket these terms and I just think it doesn't matter if you have a religion or not. I will respect if you do because you see the things in life that I can't yet, because lord knows science has been wrong before and will continue to be wrong. We basically know nothing, the whole world is one giant discovery in the making so in the meantime all you should be is yourself, whatever that is. It doesn't matter what the people before you have done, or what people like you do and will do-- just be a good person, be a humanist and let nothing else matter.

My name is Edward James Paxton, I think that sometimes there are things that neither science or religion can explain-- I believe the bumblebee has the right idea, I'm an Agnostic Humanist-- what are you?