ut of my head was to write it down). Immediatley I discounted matters of faith and politics since there's no way we're going to agree on those. I moved on to broader topics. I thought I had a keeper in "We exist." before I realized there are those philosophers and others who theorize our existence is only a hallucination or a Matrix-like simulation. Okay then, maybe "The sky is blue." This fell through when I considered that scientists would insist that the sky only appears to be blue due to the refraction of light in the sky (or whatever the actual scientific explanation is). Try as I might, I couldn't come up with anything that we as people could agree on. Not one thing. I felt a duality of emotions after realizing this. While it's awesome we have the "free will" to believe different things, it's also kind of sad we have nothing that can unite us all. No common thread we can all agree upon. Each of us views the world through our own "rose coloured lenses" and even looking at the exact same object we will all come to different conclusions about it's existence and function. We're all individuals, and none of us has the right to say that we are right and everyone else is wrong. Surely we're all wrong about at least one thing.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
The One Thing
Sitting at church this morning, my mind wandering as usual, I began thinking of how unique each individual is. How each of us has experiences and beliefs that shape us into who we are, constantly changing and evolving. And as I wondered, this question popped into my mind: "Is there any one thing that everyone on earth could agree upon." I must admit I pondered this for the rest of the service (and continued to until I realized the only way to get it o
ut of my head was to write it down). Immediatley I discounted matters of faith and politics since there's no way we're going to agree on those. I moved on to broader topics. I thought I had a keeper in "We exist." before I realized there are those philosophers and others who theorize our existence is only a hallucination or a Matrix-like simulation. Okay then, maybe "The sky is blue." This fell through when I considered that scientists would insist that the sky only appears to be blue due to the refraction of light in the sky (or whatever the actual scientific explanation is). Try as I might, I couldn't come up with anything that we as people could agree on. Not one thing. I felt a duality of emotions after realizing this. While it's awesome we have the "free will" to believe different things, it's also kind of sad we have nothing that can unite us all. No common thread we can all agree upon. Each of us views the world through our own "rose coloured lenses" and even looking at the exact same object we will all come to different conclusions about it's existence and function. We're all individuals, and none of us has the right to say that we are right and everyone else is wrong. Surely we're all wrong about at least one thing.
ut of my head was to write it down). Immediatley I discounted matters of faith and politics since there's no way we're going to agree on those. I moved on to broader topics. I thought I had a keeper in "We exist." before I realized there are those philosophers and others who theorize our existence is only a hallucination or a Matrix-like simulation. Okay then, maybe "The sky is blue." This fell through when I considered that scientists would insist that the sky only appears to be blue due to the refraction of light in the sky (or whatever the actual scientific explanation is). Try as I might, I couldn't come up with anything that we as people could agree on. Not one thing. I felt a duality of emotions after realizing this. While it's awesome we have the "free will" to believe different things, it's also kind of sad we have nothing that can unite us all. No common thread we can all agree upon. Each of us views the world through our own "rose coloured lenses" and even looking at the exact same object we will all come to different conclusions about it's existence and function. We're all individuals, and none of us has the right to say that we are right and everyone else is wrong. Surely we're all wrong about at least one thing.
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That's a pretty profound revelation. I often wonder about how much one seemingly insignificant experience can alter the course of a person's life. I always scoff at the phrase "life-changing experience," because every experience changes your life.
ReplyDeleteBut ultimately, the disagreements make life more interesting. They're what makes it so much cooler when you find someone who agrees with you.
What can we all agree on? Water is wet. Done. :P
Lol. Probably more random than profound...
ReplyDeleteI'm with you on the "life-changing experiences" front. Everything affects us whether we realize it or not. Many times it's how we view the what's happening rather than the circumstance itself that has the more profound effect.
Disagreements do make things more interesting. Where would we be if everyone agreed that vanilla ice cream was the best?!?
Does water actually exist? It can fall under the hallucination theory too! :D
But... vanilla ice cream is the best (lol j/k).
ReplyDeleteCurses, I thought I had one. D<
haha! foiled again! Strawberry is definitely the best, but if we could only have one flavor vanilla would be my choice cause you can add stuff to it the easiest!
ReplyDeleteI just posted something to the effect of this post as my facebook status. It's amusing to sit back and watch my friends debate the issue. I think it's the most/fastest response I've had to a status since I got on fb. Nobody's come up with a keeper yet...
Hmm...this has given me an idea for a book or a documentary. Get groups of people together from different places/backgrounds and see if they can find one thing to agree upon...
ReplyDelete