On Being a Spiritual Chameleon
I try not to believe in things. I either know something or I don't.
I look at contradictory beliefs as the same reality seen from different perspectives. We're all looking at the same thing, but we each have a preferred language to express what it means to us. Over time, I've learned to talk about the things that are meaningful to me in a variety of languages. I speak Buddhist, new age, Christian, and scientific materialist, to name a few. I can usually have a conversation with people of various spiritual and political leanings without anyone wanting to strangle me. There have been some epic exceptions to this, but mostly when rigid dogma was involved.
I mention this because I generally choose to use the language of the person to which I'm speaking. I let them begin talking while my inner babel fish does some fancy translation. "Ah, I see we're talking nihilistic agnosticism. Ok."
However, now that I have a blog and am speaking to an audience, however small, I find that I don't know what language to use. Is it time to settle down and pledge loyalty to a single language? Maybe using multiple languages, in the spirit of the awkward he/she acrobatics of gender-neutral literature, is the best thing to do.
I think some of the reason I'm not writing regularly is that I'm afraid I'll use Discordian language that offends a Sufi, or existentialist philosophy that offends a Jungian, or street jargon that offends a bibliophile or...
You see the dilemma here?
The truth is, I have no freaking idea what reality is or why we're here or what our purpose is. I realize that a lot of you do, and I'm very happy for your certainty in the face of terrifying ambiguity. It must be a much easier way to live. For me, I just can't seem to get to the point where I "know" anything beyond a doubt, except the undeniable truth that my cat will eat the toilet paper roll if I leave it on the counter.
I have a rich inner life, and I try to give those experiences labels, but for the most part, spiritual or inner world labels are interchangeable to me. You can call it intuition or the subconscious or higher self or guides or ESP or the voice of the divine. I'm fine with all that. I have no idea what it is and see no point in arguing about something I don't fully understand. I know what science has to say about it, and I know what religions have to say about it, and I still don't know. So I'll just speak to you about it in your preferred language, so we're on the same page. Unless "you" are an invisible audience that could be speaking any language at all. In that case, I'm left with no option but to lay it out on the table and let you decide whether or not you want to translate my writing into your language or click the X at the top of the page.
In my mind, beliefs are things we don't know. If we knew them, we'd call them facts. I like to use a scale I stole from Robert Anton Wilson for these things. Everything I know is true is rated at 10, and everything I know is not true is rated at 0. For the most part, the only things at these levels are the certainties I'm forced to rely on to go about daily living. The rest of the scale is like a field day, with things I don't know running wildly all over it, depending on the information I have, who I'm talking to, and my mood. I have friends who just being in their presence can move the likelihood of unicorns from a 1 to a 4. In that spirit, if you find me having a hearty discussion about ghosts, it's unlikely they have made their way to 10, unless I have become one.
To be clear, I'm not saying beliefs are bad. I just don't feel comfortable having them. The ones I do have are stealthy and tend to hide in the back of my head where they think I won't notice them. I'm also not saying your religion is true or not true. I'm saying I don't know. I have the same spiritual experiences many people do, I'm just less inclined to trust that my interpretation of them is the "right" one.
In the long run, I don't think it matters. These are concepts that live in our heads and are too insubstantial to use as weapons for judging each other. I'm interested in what you do. In how you treat people. In how we interact with each other. Regardless of what concepts you hold about it, life is what it is. The labels are just a way of communicating our experiences to other people. When we fight about the labels, we lose the beautiful and immediate reality of each other. And to me, that's just not worth it.
I know what you mean.
I don't really believe in things for the same reason. I either think a thing is true, and have a reason for it, or I assume a thing is true, but then it feels like a leaf I'm lightly holding in the wind.
Just a tiny breeze and it'll go flying, and that's ok.
Or I feel skepticism for things. There are an incredible amount of things that seem untrue to me, so I think I have more ideas that I look at as untrue than I do as true.
But I dunno, I've never really made a list.
Wow. That's a great metaphor. That's exactly what it feels like. And holding it more tightly doesn't help at all.
I believe that if more people shared this way of thinking, this world would be a better and more peaceful place. So much conflict seems to come from people trying to convince others of the "truth," or just doing things based on belief. And I'm not just talking about war, though that's a big one, often based either on religious belief or belief about who owns what.
Conspiracy theory is a funny one. Some people are absolutely convinced they know the "truth" based on stuff they've read on the internet. And if you don't believe it, you're not "awake." Sorry. If you're not directly involved somehow, I'm gonna have a hard time buying it. Doesn't mean I believe a particular theory isn't true, it's just that I don't care enough who killed Kennedy to find out. I know it was either some nut job in the government or some nut job not in the government.
One thing I'm 99% certain of though, is that whoever killed Kennedy did it because of their beliefs. And maybe if they had not been 100% certain of their beliefs, Kennedy might still be alive today.
Either way, there's probably nothing I can do to fix it, or prevent it happening to someone else in the future. Except, maybe, by spreading the idea that you don't need to have an opinion on everything.
I agree that one of our biggest problems is people being absolutely sure about things they don't have enough information to be sure about. Maybe it's because we spend the first twenty or so years of our lives being rewarded if we believe what we're told and repeat it back correctly.
Uncertainty can also be scary as hell, so I understand why many people grab hold of beliefs with both hands and won't let go.
Being offended is it's own religion, no matter what religion the offendee claims. I'm glad these people make themselves so salient: it makes it easy to identify them as the emotionally immature children they are. Personally, I can't think of a single example of any religion that encourages emotional immaturity, can you? ;)
I tried really hard to think of one, but yeah, you're right. (You'd think there'd be one crazy cult somewhere, but no.)
I sometimes enjoy offending random strangers, but I worry about driving friends away with my ever-shifting, non-standard views. I think what you just pointed out is that if anyone gets offended and runs away, I should throw a party when the door hits them in the ass. Thank you. :-)
I just remembered that Discordianism has a name for these kind of people : Grayface.
I just now discovered this, followed by an instant follow, upvote and
resteem. (can't find the button for some odd reason.) Thanks for following me so I could discover this. Sorry I'm late to the party.What all the above said:
Permission to long form comment?
Thank you! It's such a cool thing when someone whose posts I enjoy also enjoys mine.
Long form comments are always welcome here. :-)
Unrelated to post, but I thought you'd like this: http://gizmodo.com/5893196/slime-mold-and-highways-grow-in-the-exact-same-way
That is really cool. And also kind of creepy, since it doesn't look like he made any effort to represent land features like mountains or bodies of water.
I love slime mold. I ran across this article about them a year or so ago.: http://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/how-slime-molds-make-decisions/
First; I'm sorry that I've missed so many of these posts of yours, I saw a comment on @ddschtein's page where he said he wished that you would write more, and I realized I hadn't checked your page in forever-- now here's this from a month ago, and it's great! I've been missing out here, and I apologize for only just now coming by again.
The way that your post is written sounds like a good language to me, but I don't know how it would be labeled. maybe Steemglish? I still have to wonder what version of English to use with each post, and they are all different, but mostly I'm writing here at Steemit knowing that there are people from all over the world here, so I most often try for a universal English that will hopefully make sense after it's run through a translator.
You gave a great description of the little translator in the brain that decides what flavor of religion or philosophy is safest to throw into conversations. I'm pretty sure I have that app in my brain too, while usually just listening with my full attention is a good way to communicate for me, and if I really listen, then I don't have to consciously try to form a reply or question.
I'd really like to see more of your writing, I'll be checking around here now, I don't want to miss any more, and I'm truly sorry that I haven't been by here sooner.
I know I post too sporadically for it to be worthwhile checking here much, so I'm happy you stopped by when you did!
I think my babel fish is a mostly unconscious process too. I don't set out to talk to people in their language, it just seems to happen. It's been interesting watching that become conscious as I'm trying to write. After reading your comment and some others here, I think the solution is to let it go -- just write what's true for me in the moment and see what happens.
Fascinating, as expected from you. That's a diplomatic approach that I find admirable in its own right. There's a perspective I have written about in the past which, for me, unifies many of the seemingly irreconcilable 'languages' you listed, like a Rosetta stone. See what you think of it:
https://steemit.com/spirituality/@alexbeyman/what-the-message-was-for-me
Alternate explanation:
https://steemit.com/spirituality/@alexbeyman/omega-point-the-meaning-of-life
I'm off to bed now and have to go into the office on Tuesdays until late, so I'll check those out and get back to you on Wednesday. I really like what I've read of the first one so far.
You sound like my boyfriend. I read your article word per word and I feel like my partner was talking to me. Just like you, my partner and I live in an unconventional way of living that other "normal" human being and they would never understand.
Most people rely on the what the media said or what the Status Quo is preferred. My bf and I beg to differ. Just like you, I can speak some languages like Christian and scientific materialist. I enjoy having a conversation with people who have different opinion/belief than mine but I don't put a label on their forehead and I would silently whisper to myself, "okay just say whatever is acceptable to this person".
If you know me, I have no filter. Why? Because I like being me. I don't like to kiss someone's ass just to please them. And it gets me in danger almost every time. So usually, I just don't speak at all. I don't like arguing because it's tiring and waste of energy. Well, anyhow, that's just my reaction to your post. I really love your style of writing. Looking forward to learn more about you. :-)
Thank you for such a great comment! I can tell it's going to be fun getting to know you. :-)
I already like you coz of this article and the fact that you love animals. :-)
Yah, me, too.
What I figured out as a child though, was that you could choose what to believe. So, I chose to believe that there was a god named Orang-a-do, and that, since I was the only one who believed in it, it would likewise be devoted to me. I imagined, seeing as he only had one believer, he wouldn't be particularly powerful in the pantheon, but that all of the supernatural prowess of a single god was still better than the diluted prowess of one like Yahweh or Zeus.
Maybe I still do. I suppose I believe more that I can make things up and if I don't like what's happening in reality, I can lift mountains with my mind for a bit.
I think this is the way to go -- one moderately powerful guy with a great name who has nothing else to do but look out for you. You could start a religion, but I suppose that would ruin the whole thing.
It's all about the name.
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