After today's discussion in class, I couldn't help but think about the idea of whether or not I should seek truth or dwell in a stagnant happiness and contentment. For the rest of the day, I have been back and forth several times on this strong topic of concern. The first aspect of this query that hits me is why should I change something that already makes me happy? Why fix what's not broke, right? Well then I start to think if there could be something better, or even more truthful and valuable, out there.
For instance, I have a very strong belief that a book I once read titled, "A Child Called It" by Dave Pelzer, is a true story and all the stories are based directly on his experiences with child abuse, with maybe a few minor tweaks here and there. One day when word got out that the book was fabricated, I refused to believe it because I had empathized with this child from the moment I started to read it and had put my heart into the book's two sequels. I felt so much emotion while reading this book that knowing the truth would in someway lessen the passion that I once felt. After class today, I realized that maybe it is not right to believe or have faith in something that makes you feel emotion if it's untrue; I feel like I would be deceiving myself. However, this also brings me to another very controversial, yet important topic.
Religion is ubiquitous in our society today, in so many different ways. There are so many different Gods, Deities, and faiths that people believe in or bow down to daily. But what if someone told a true believer of God that he wasn't real? And that there is a much better God or even there is no God? If someone with a rhetoric as powerful as Gorgias's could convince someone to believe the latter, it just seems to be wrong. Religion has such a strong influence on so many people that it just seems wrong to make oneself look for a better way of life if he or she is already content with a faith or God. Of course there are more minor matters of life which can change a person's view, like being told "The Hills" is staged. But in the end, I think it is still the same idea.
I have always believed in karma. If I do good, good things will happen to me. If I do wrong, bad things will happen to me. But again, after today, we've realized that even those who lie, cheat, and steal can have good things happen to them if they can get away with their criminal acts. So what is the point of always being moral? I suppose to have an intrinsic fufillment- But does that bring success? This is a very concerning topic to me, and I feel that it will take more than a few days to realize what the right answer is..or if there is one.
1 comment:
Most interesting and important questions take much more that a couple days to answer. At least a week or two :-) These are questions that people have struggled with for hundreds, thousands of year. But, part of the point is, as I see it, to struggle. So, you are doing well.
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