I've been meaning to write something and here it is:
I'm reading this book named "Donyaie Sophie" which is a philosophical book written for youngsters. It talks about philosophy in a way that is not too complicated; however, I don't understand some parts. I've read about the most important philosophers in the history and their points of view. While reading it some questions occurred to me and I'd like to share them with you. Please help me out if you have any answers for them:
1. In some parts of the world nudity is not important; I mean they are not ashamed to wear whatever they please. Do you think this is because they were born in a society where these things aren't important or they too feel awkward when they wear such clothes? Is this shame acquired through the culture or is it innate?
2. Do you really think there is a God that has created this world and the human beings or was this world created accidentally?
3. Do you believe in fate? Is our destiny decided since we are born or does it change as we go on?
That's it for now.... I'd like to know what YOU think. We've all read about these questions and how some religions answer them but I'd like you to share YOUR point of view.
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I don't know if I can participate or no but anyway this time I will post a comment and I will await your answer for the next time.
ReplyDelete1- I think it is acquired by culture or sth like that and it is not innate at all.
2- May be accidentally is not a good word but I don't believe in god neither, if you mean one entity. I believe in some kind of wise energy or sth like that.
3- I believe in fate but not 100%, in my opinion we can change around 10% but 90% is out of our control.
Mehdi
Dear Ghazal,
ReplyDeleteI re-read Sophie's World last year, and I have to admit I immensely enjoyed it. Being an amateur when it comes to philosophy, the book gave me a sense of direction and helped me figure out which schools of philosophy I'm more interested in. I hope you enjoy reading that as well.
Now about the questions that you have asked, I am afraid I cannot give correct (and the meaning of correct is quite relative) and comprehensible answers at the moment, because as dear Sherlock Holmes has beautifully stated it, it is a capital mistake to form answers before you have enough data, so what I'm about to say is just a guess and is liable to change (!) in the near future.
1- I do believe that shame of nudity is cultural based. I mean I don't see kids that ashamed of it. It's just their mothers' constant reminder that makes them want to cover themselves. So, yeah, I think this is not innate.
2- Now that is a tricky question! Philosophers have been debating about this question for hundreds of years and there has never been a conclusive answer. I understand why you are asking this. I know how it feels, having these questions in mind and desperately looking for answers, but I'm afraid there's no easy way out of this one! Hence, I consider myself an Agnostic at the moment. I really don't know; doesn't mean that I'm gonna stop looking for it. I just have to add that this world is too systematic to be created 'accidentally'. There is another debate about whether there is an uncaused cause or the world has always 'been', which is another matter worth thinking about.
3- Being a big fan of existentialism, I have to say I do not believe in faith. Now I do not know whether I am right or not, but this is the path I have chosen so far. I admit there are things out of my control. I mean the universe is enormous, but I can control my own thoughts, actions and emotions and being responsible for them ain't as easy as it sounds. Existentialism makes you think about one thing: To be or not to be; truth or self-deception. That is the only question that really matters.
-Mahgol
P.S: Is it just me, or is my comment longer than your post?!?
Well, first of all, thanks Mehdi for the comment...and yeah why not! It's my pleasure to have your comments here :)
ReplyDeleteAnd Mahgol thank YOU too :* I deeply enjoyed reading what you had to say and it gave me food for thought. I just read it for now and I'll try to write more about it in a new post. Thanks... I really appreciate your concern. ( I miss you by the way :* )
I guess the three of us agree on the cultural basis of nudity shame.
ReplyDeleteAbout the accidental creation of the world, I quite agree with Mehdi but I can't draw the line as Mahgol said, and I think no one can, since this is not an issue humans can decide on and be positive about. (I learned the word "agnostic" thanks to you Mahgol)
For the most part I agree with Mahgol on the issue of "fate," but what about the place and time of out birth and the family we are born into; did we have anything to do with it? Who decides where and when?
One more thing,
Mahgol, I love your style of writing and the reason why your comment is longer than the original post is that you're talented in writing (God knows how many other talents you have ;))
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ReplyDelete1.Shame of nudity in not innate at all. According to a study (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7915369.stm)people can even unlearn their naked shame. I think I’ve always heard something else all the time from the mollahs… but so what? Of course it’s not the first time that what religion says is not in line with scientific findings.
ReplyDelete2. I was a previously religious person,(when I say religious I really mean it!) But now I’m sure I’m not a muslim at all. And almost I cannot say I think God exists either. History, ancient or recent, shows us how people created different kind of deities depending on their way of life, their needs and fears, and the omnipotent God has survived through all of them cause it met their needs the best. I think God should be the product of human weakness… but I cannot be quite sure about this one. There are also evidence of lots of supernatural phenomena and lots of other things… So, although my prevailing ideas deny the existence of God, (or at least the God who is introduced in religions) I‘ve been an agnostic for about two years.( and happy to see another agnostic here :D)
3. There are things which we cannot change or avoid, like our parents, country, aptitudes, etc. But the idea that everything is pre-decide and we have no control over it has always been absurd to me. Just my opinion.
P.S. It is usually very difficult for me to start writing about something, so thanks for giving me the incentive for it(esp. the second question); it’s very good to have written form of your beliefs to check in the future.
رفقا ببخشید فارسی مینویسم، اعصاب مصاب ندارم این روزا!!ا
ReplyDeleteیکم. اینکه خدا هست یا نه جالبه ولی از اون با مزه تر وقتیه که قبول کنیم خدا هست، بعد تازه دعوا شروع میشه که این خدا چه جوریه، چه خصوصیاتی داره، آیا این خدا "واسطه ی فیض" داره یا نه، این خدا گیر داده که موقع وضو و غسل اول راست بعد چپ یا نه خدای بی خیال تری و هزاران سوال این مدلی!! کاش خدا یه جوری طراحی میکرد اینقدر پیچیده نشه دوم. من یه چیزی رو در مورد لختی پتی بودن نگرفتم، بحث ارزش گذاریه یا فقط ریشه یابی؟
Masud is it you? (Masude khodemun?):
ReplyDelete1. I totally agree with you about the unlearning thing. I remember myself when I went to Dubai and went to this Wild Wadi they had and there were many people in swimsuits (men and women) and just because there was no one to remind me the shame, I didn't feel uncomfortable at all and it was actually the other way around!
2. What you mentioned about the needs of different nations and how the characteristics of God differs from nation to nation according to their weakness was really interesting to me; however, I believe in paranormal and supernatural because some of those things keep happening to me lately and they're not accidental. I haven't figured out why they keep happening and as soon as I do I'll post another blog (I don't think that is going to happen in near future!). What I know is that they're unbelievable and at the same time undeniable especially when you see them with your very eyes.
3. I couldn't have said it better than you.
I'm glad to have been able to motivate you by my questions and I'm looking forward to reading your own blog post. In addition, it is helpful to have a record of your beliefs and how they change in the course of time. I personally have changed a lot during the recent years.
به به ، آقا رامین گل:
ReplyDeleteعاشق فارسی نوشتنتم یعنی! از شما بعیده والا :D
به نکته ی بسیار جالب توجهی اشاره کردی. دقیقا مشکل از همون جایی که گفتی شروع می شه...من هنوز برام قابل قبول نیست که خدا این همه وکیل وصی داشته باشه یعنی خیلی شک دارم هرچند برای احتیاط واجب انکار نمی کنم اما مشکوکه قضیه!
اعتقاد شخصی من اینه که انقدر چیزای مهم تری تو زندگی آدم هست که اینکه اول کدوم دستتو تو وضو آب بکشی گمه توش. بعد اگه دقت کنی، اگه بخوای به تمام جزئیاتی که تو رساله ها گفته شده عمل کنی و دقت کنی که درست انجامشون بدی کلا وقتی دیگه واسه زندگی کردن نمی مونه و فکر نکنم خدا همچین چیزی خواسته باشه! یعنی عقل سلیم نمی تونه اینو قبول کنه از طرفی هم وقتی انجام نمی دی یه جور عذاب وجدان داری، نمی دونم این عذاب وجدانه از نوع همون خجالت کشیدن از عریان بودن به خاطر اینه که ما تو همچین جامعه ای هستیم یا اینکه تو هر جایی که باشیم همین حس رو خواهیم داشت!
الان تقریبا در مورد عریان بودن هم گفتم دیگه : منظور به اینه که چون بهمون گفتن شرم داریم یا اینکه درونیه یعنی مثلا آدم و حوا هم شرم داشتن !
Hi,
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, you made me angry by saying you did not know the word "agnostic". You could have guessed the negator "a(not)" and the root "gnos(know)" in "atom" and "diagnose".
Anyway, I think any god is better than no god. Take it that you believe in nothing, the phase which I have gone through a couple of years, then nothing happens.There is no one to comfort you in the ills. why not make a picture of something, a reflection of beauty, to soothe us. Everyone can make his own god and likes it. In my own experience,years of being an atheist led to states of depression, suicidal thoughts and reclusiveness. But a believer in god, in any sense, is full of hope. Now I believe in my own god, regardless of any strict religous acts. Still, I do what I think is right now. I may change my mind some time later.
اولاً سلام
ReplyDeleteدوماً مرتضی دلم واسه اون خاطره ها که می گفتی تنگ شده
Any god is better than no god....I couldn't agree more.
I've got to apologize for my lack of knowledge :D I have started 1100. This summer I didn't accomplish anything and I feel bad about it.
Dear Ghazal,
ReplyDeleteI don't know if I deserve such nice compliments, but they had me smiling all day long, so thank you for that!
I wasn't planning on posting anything here anymore, but something caught my interest; namely, supernatural, which I'm not a big fan of
I don't know if I am a Naturalist or a Positivist. I don't like to find a box and crawl into it, but there is one thing I believe in and that is the power of causality; the chain of cause and effect. Now don't get me wrong. I'm not trying to say you are lying. I'm sure a lot of things have happened to you that seem supernatural, but keep in mind that the universe is so big. We're just one little entity swimming in this vast ocean. We don't know much about the past and we cannot predict the future; therefore something might happen that may SEEM unexplainable to us. The truth is, we're just unable to follow the chain to find the real cause.
Do you believe in the Butterfly effect? The butterfly effect is a term used in Chaos Theory to describe how tiny variations can affect giant systems, and complex systems. In simpler words they say a butterfly might flap its wings in china and set off a tornado in Canada. So somehow, somewhere in time you or even somebody else might have done something to set of a series of effects which to you and others might look supernatural.
Also keep in mind that science is rapidly increasing. Our science today was probably considered as dark magic in middle ages. Who knows, five hundred years later, they might finally be able to prove everything.
-Mahgol
And dear Morteza, your comment reminds me of a quote by Sartre:
ReplyDelete"That God does not exist, I cannot deny, That my whole being cries out for God I cannot forget."
I think there is difference between hoping for God's existence and his existence for real. One is born out of hopelessness, the other out of proof.