On the lack of absolutes and the Golden Retriever Syndrome
Note: This has nothing specifically to do with Mormonism
Just before, I have spoken to a Mormon missionary on the phone for some 30 minutes. I wanted to know why I would want to be exalted. This question came in relation to something discussed in Brutus' "Mormon teachings" thread.
I know the drill well -- get on your knees, and pray with sincere intent, and you'll get an answer. You'll find out why you would want to be exalted. You'll find out whether Joseph Smith was a prophet or not. And so on.
And if you don't get answers, then ... then you haven't prayed with sincere intent to find out.
And it hit me: That way, one would have to believe anything!
At the threat of ... and if not, then you haven't been sincere, one eventually has to admit that anything can be true.
I can get on my knees and pray to find out whether Jospeh Smith was a prophet.
I can get on my knees and pray to find out what God wants me to do.
I can get on my knees and pray to find out whether I should turn Muslim.
And when such requests come at the threat of ... and if not, then you haven't been sincere -- then, to keep my sincerity, I have to admit that anything can be true. And be like a Golden Retriever who welcomes a burglar the same as he welcomes his owner and expects a caressing just the same.
As for that Golden Retriever, all humans are nice. He doesn't know any other. He has no doubts.
Anything can be true, and good for him, he thinks.
How is one to be sincere when it comes to religion?
If we take the position of total sincerity, we seem to have to admit that anything can be true, and if we don't see it as such, this can be due to our failing, due to our psycho-social and other conditioning.
But where is the sincerity in allowing just anything to be true?!
Allowing just anything to be true is relativism. But if sincerity is about truth, and relativism says anything can be true -- can there be a sincere relativist? Is this not a contradiction in terms? If truth is to be pluralistic, then there is no one single truth.
Sincerity is also about distinction, choice, discernment -- eventually, one truth. One tangible, individual truth.
One certain God. Either Yehowah or Allah. Or some other. Either Joseph Smith was a prophet or he wasn't.
If we say anything can be true -- alright. But can we live that way? *Do* we live that way? Do we actually walk all paths? No. We choose one at a time.
We act like absolutists.
To be sincere demands a choice. To be sincere demands one to be an absolutist.
I get on my knees and pray to find out whether Jospeh Smith was a prophet. I get no particular answer.
Have I been insincere? Is it not true what I have been told?
How do I know?
I could go on in this loop ... for a long time.
But something happens that cannot be predicted, something that a thought experiment cannot make one realize, but years bring their earnings: What has seemed like endless doubt and banging my head against the wall, that "Have I not been sincere?" -- do lead to something. It first seems like stubborness. Then, like a vague, general feeling of surety, not particularly directed at anything. And then comes a mental state that is both wonderful and frightening.
And wondering whether Joseph Smith was a prophet or not, whether Christ is our Saviour or not, whether Allah is the true god or not -- those wonderings don't come at the threat of ... and if not, then you haven't been sincere anymore, but I don't take them lightly either.
There is more to this -- and those who know, know.
Note: This has nothing specifically to do with Mormonism
Just before, I have spoken to a Mormon missionary on the phone for some 30 minutes. I wanted to know why I would want to be exalted. This question came in relation to something discussed in Brutus' "Mormon teachings" thread.
I know the drill well -- get on your knees, and pray with sincere intent, and you'll get an answer. You'll find out why you would want to be exalted. You'll find out whether Joseph Smith was a prophet or not. And so on.
And if you don't get answers, then ... then you haven't prayed with sincere intent to find out.
And it hit me: That way, one would have to believe anything!
At the threat of ... and if not, then you haven't been sincere, one eventually has to admit that anything can be true.
I can get on my knees and pray to find out whether Jospeh Smith was a prophet.
I can get on my knees and pray to find out what God wants me to do.
I can get on my knees and pray to find out whether I should turn Muslim.
And when such requests come at the threat of ... and if not, then you haven't been sincere -- then, to keep my sincerity, I have to admit that anything can be true. And be like a Golden Retriever who welcomes a burglar the same as he welcomes his owner and expects a caressing just the same.
As for that Golden Retriever, all humans are nice. He doesn't know any other. He has no doubts.
Anything can be true, and good for him, he thinks.
How is one to be sincere when it comes to religion?
If we take the position of total sincerity, we seem to have to admit that anything can be true, and if we don't see it as such, this can be due to our failing, due to our psycho-social and other conditioning.
But where is the sincerity in allowing just anything to be true?!
Allowing just anything to be true is relativism. But if sincerity is about truth, and relativism says anything can be true -- can there be a sincere relativist? Is this not a contradiction in terms? If truth is to be pluralistic, then there is no one single truth.
Sincerity is also about distinction, choice, discernment -- eventually, one truth. One tangible, individual truth.
One certain God. Either Yehowah or Allah. Or some other. Either Joseph Smith was a prophet or he wasn't.
If we say anything can be true -- alright. But can we live that way? *Do* we live that way? Do we actually walk all paths? No. We choose one at a time.
We act like absolutists.
To be sincere demands a choice. To be sincere demands one to be an absolutist.
I get on my knees and pray to find out whether Jospeh Smith was a prophet. I get no particular answer.
Have I been insincere? Is it not true what I have been told?
How do I know?
I could go on in this loop ... for a long time.
But something happens that cannot be predicted, something that a thought experiment cannot make one realize, but years bring their earnings: What has seemed like endless doubt and banging my head against the wall, that "Have I not been sincere?" -- do lead to something. It first seems like stubborness. Then, like a vague, general feeling of surety, not particularly directed at anything. And then comes a mental state that is both wonderful and frightening.
And wondering whether Joseph Smith was a prophet or not, whether Christ is our Saviour or not, whether Allah is the true god or not -- those wonderings don't come at the threat of ... and if not, then you haven't been sincere anymore, but I don't take them lightly either.
There is more to this -- and those who know, know.