our possibilities
Posted: Wed Nov 23, 2022 3:37 pm
in thinking about existence, I often wonder about this
question of "what should we hope for" one of the Kantian
questions... and many hope for the theological solutions..
which is going to heaven or living a "Christian life" or
spending eternity with 72 virgins who grant your every wish....
and yet, I think this is a mistake..... for in "hoping" for this
possibility, we forget that we have lives, very human lives..
in which we live and love and hate and finally die....
or in other words, we become so involved in seeking a
"spiritual" solution, we forget that we have human possibilities
we can seek out....
the best way to describe this is in the second "Star wars" movie,
"The Empire strikes back" in which Yoda complains that Luke is always
thinking about where he wants to be instead of thinking about where he is...
and that almost perfectly describes us in which we are so focused on
reaching heaven that we forget we have lives to lead... the real focus of
human existence ought to be the "here and now" and not some future heavenly
possibilities that may or may not exist....
and that "here and now" is what we need to focus on...
I am a human being, how can I become a better human being?
and not just to reach heaven or some sort of thinking about after life,
but in thinking about our current life.. what is possible for us
in our current life? to focus on what might be after death, is to make
death our focus, not on our current life... religion is death focused,
and we must become life focused... what is possible for us in our current life,
not on what is possible for us after death....
and none of this is new... this has been a complaint about religion for centuries..
that is takes us away from thinking about our current life, about what is possible
for us as human beings... not as sitting as the right hand of god...
we currently hold, at least many Americans hold that America is on
the wrong track and polls tell us that.. but what if, what if we are on
the wrong track because we don't engage in our lives in terms of,
how can I become a better human being? How can I become my possibilities?
An example of that, I was once, a decent athlete, not great, but a slightly
above average.. and I pursued that possibility in my running, (I ran cross-country
and track) I was seeking to improve my times.. for example, trying to improve my
mile time.. I wasn't trying to set a world record, given my ability, that wasn't a
possibility, but I could become the best runner that was possible for...
today, that possibility is gone, mostly due to physical problems like a bad back...
so, I am unable to achieve any goals of sports or achieving any possibilities..
but I can achieve other possibilities.. like becoming the best philosopher, I
can become... by studying and thinking and writing... that possibility still
exist for me....and in our lifetime, our possibilities change as we grow older..
for example, women can have babies up to a certain age.. but once menopause
happens, that is no longer possible... that possibility of having babies no longer
exists....but other possibilities do exist for women...and they must engage in
those possibilities... to become a better mother to the children she already has
or to become a better wife if that is true or to become a better whatever
she thinks is her possibility to achieve.... that is where we need to focus
on.. what possibilities do actually exist for us, in this lifetime.....
that is why I am so focused on the Kantian questions, "what am I to do?"
"what should I hope for?" "what can I know?" for these questions
explore what is possible for us today, right now, in this lifetime....
in our focus on the next lifetime, we forget ourselves...
or to rephrase this: "what does it profit a man to gain the whole world,
if he forfeits his soul" into
"what does it profit a man to gain his soul, if he forfeits his future possibilities"
Kropotkin
question of "what should we hope for" one of the Kantian
questions... and many hope for the theological solutions..
which is going to heaven or living a "Christian life" or
spending eternity with 72 virgins who grant your every wish....
and yet, I think this is a mistake..... for in "hoping" for this
possibility, we forget that we have lives, very human lives..
in which we live and love and hate and finally die....
or in other words, we become so involved in seeking a
"spiritual" solution, we forget that we have human possibilities
we can seek out....
the best way to describe this is in the second "Star wars" movie,
"The Empire strikes back" in which Yoda complains that Luke is always
thinking about where he wants to be instead of thinking about where he is...
and that almost perfectly describes us in which we are so focused on
reaching heaven that we forget we have lives to lead... the real focus of
human existence ought to be the "here and now" and not some future heavenly
possibilities that may or may not exist....
and that "here and now" is what we need to focus on...
I am a human being, how can I become a better human being?
and not just to reach heaven or some sort of thinking about after life,
but in thinking about our current life.. what is possible for us
in our current life? to focus on what might be after death, is to make
death our focus, not on our current life... religion is death focused,
and we must become life focused... what is possible for us in our current life,
not on what is possible for us after death....
and none of this is new... this has been a complaint about religion for centuries..
that is takes us away from thinking about our current life, about what is possible
for us as human beings... not as sitting as the right hand of god...
we currently hold, at least many Americans hold that America is on
the wrong track and polls tell us that.. but what if, what if we are on
the wrong track because we don't engage in our lives in terms of,
how can I become a better human being? How can I become my possibilities?
An example of that, I was once, a decent athlete, not great, but a slightly
above average.. and I pursued that possibility in my running, (I ran cross-country
and track) I was seeking to improve my times.. for example, trying to improve my
mile time.. I wasn't trying to set a world record, given my ability, that wasn't a
possibility, but I could become the best runner that was possible for...
today, that possibility is gone, mostly due to physical problems like a bad back...
so, I am unable to achieve any goals of sports or achieving any possibilities..
but I can achieve other possibilities.. like becoming the best philosopher, I
can become... by studying and thinking and writing... that possibility still
exist for me....and in our lifetime, our possibilities change as we grow older..
for example, women can have babies up to a certain age.. but once menopause
happens, that is no longer possible... that possibility of having babies no longer
exists....but other possibilities do exist for women...and they must engage in
those possibilities... to become a better mother to the children she already has
or to become a better wife if that is true or to become a better whatever
she thinks is her possibility to achieve.... that is where we need to focus
on.. what possibilities do actually exist for us, in this lifetime.....
that is why I am so focused on the Kantian questions, "what am I to do?"
"what should I hope for?" "what can I know?" for these questions
explore what is possible for us today, right now, in this lifetime....
in our focus on the next lifetime, we forget ourselves...
or to rephrase this: "what does it profit a man to gain the whole world,
if he forfeits his soul" into
"what does it profit a man to gain his soul, if he forfeits his future possibilities"
Kropotkin