Joe Beaty

September 21, 2006

Jr. Faith

            Every human has the human condition, that each person, no matter who we are we feel compelled to worship some sort of higher power to let us wonder, ponder, and give us something to believe in. We are not alone in our thoughts or our actions. We make decisions and sometimes choose to lie to protect ourselves from trouble and others from pain. Though lying does not gain trust or respect from Christian-like people. We can make ourselves alone which Frond says is the most unhappy place to be. If we do not examine our lives we are wasting them, because we do not get the full experience of our choices. And we do not always make the best choices. With this we strive to get away from insolent behaviors such as ignorance, neediness, loneliness, anxiety, pain, boredom, but as humans we cannot escape the inevitability of death. We are all born with original sin. Different religions have different beliefs of the afterlife, but many of the teaching of good will and kindness to others is prevalent throughout.

            My favorite part of this part of the course was the lying. I love George Carlin and the way he tells the truth about people using euphemisms to make themselves sound smarter or just lie to themselves and others. We best demonstrated this with our recreation of Buddha’s self-examination test. I was indifferent about the test, but it was still interesting. We learn to lie at an early age and take that prejudice with us, sometimes, into our adolescent and adult lives without realizing our choices are not the best.

            I thought the PBS documentary The Truth about Lies was probably the most surprising thing I learned. I did not know that the Challenger disaster could have been avoidable. I was also tricked into thinking that a person could not be judged as good or bad on one action. Are we really allowed to judge anyone at any time? No, we do not have the right, but we are critical in our everyday thoughts. Other scandals, like Watergate, also show us that adults lie to try, and save their own asses just like little kids do.

            After seeing how much I lied and how much others lied I do not believe I can trust someone until I get to know them for real, or if I do some sort of background check through other reliable sources. Acquaintances are a dime a dozen, but trust worthy friends are rare. I probably do not trust some of my friends, but I can trust that I cannot trust them, so I have adapted to certain unavoidable outcomes. I also feel more comfortable knowing that I am able to choose whom I like and dislike. I do not want to be the most friends, but I do like to believe in the little things that entertain me, even though they may be false. I have accepted most of what I hear on TV and on the internet to be false, except some news sources.

            I know we should only have three, but I also like the idea that everyone should be naturally good if god is good and he should not let things become evil. It is a very narrow idea, but is countered mainly but the excuse that humans are humans and their natural states are to lie, cheat, steal, and deceit one another, and do anything to have their own personal gain. Sure, not everyone is like this, but I would have to say it is the most popular way of life. A self-defense plea is the most popular form of destroying another before you are defeated yourself.

Except for the reason of momentary happiness, why do we try to change our views of the world and on life to try and 'better' ourselves, when what we have now could be the best that it will ever be?
I guess more people are more optimistic than I am.