Aristotle said in the very first sentence of his book Metaphysics that "All men desire to know". I take exception to that statement of his. Not all men desire to know. Only real men do. Most men prefer to dwell in purposeful ignorance, to live in darkness, hence the saying--- invented and popularized by such men, undoubtedly--- "Ignorance is bliss." Such men have neither intelligence nor strength of character. The following is a brainstorm of mine about facts and truths and the desire to know/the quest for knowledge. The notes are being written in a hurry while thoughts are flooding my mind. My fingers are flying all over the keyboard. I am racing.
1. God:
When I was of eleven years of age, a thought came to me that there was indeed no God ("Trời" in Vietnamese, a very interesting word which can be used to refer to sky) as I had been taught. To test the veracity of my thought, I confidently raised my head to the sky and challenged the so-called God to strike me dead if "He" was indeed all powerful and all-knowing, as I had been taught. Nothing happened to me then. And nothing has happened to me since. All I have been having is a silence, a nothingness, and a creeping and growing awareness that God is a man-made entity, a figment, albeit important, of the human imagination. Man has the desire to lie, not only to others, but also to himself, I thus concluded at the tender age of eleven. Thus an immense pride of my precocity of matters concerning metaphysics was born. Such pride has never wavered. I have no fear of God because He is not real. Neither do I fear ghosts/demons for they are not real. I fear men instead because they are real, vicious, proud, deluded, and ignorant.
2. Politics:
Politics is the quest for power. Drive for power is very strong among all sentient beings, manifest clearly among social mammals. Man is the apex of all mammals. To attain power, machinations, deceptions, and ruthlessness are employed. Facts are distorted and twisted to serve the political goals. Truths are sacrificed along the way. The end justifies the means, that's their cherished motto.
All politicians are liars. That is the statement you can take to the bank. Granted, there are very, very few politicians driven to help others and society than to enrich themselves. I have not seen any Vietnamese politician of that caliber to emerge yet, although I must state that so far I have been very impressed by Điếu Cầy on account of his demeanor, bearing, and ability to handle himself under hostile questioning. The guy was doing well for himself in Vietnam, so why did he risk all that and got himself imprisoned (for over 5, 6 years) for speaking for human rights and against the invasion of Vietnam by China? Also, the intelligence apparatus of the U.S. must have done a thorough job to investigate/vet him before he was allowed to be admitted to Vietnam and apparently anointed as one of the future leaders of the "Post-VC era". I could be wrong. Time will tell. But to me, he has a commanding way of speaking, full of poise and articulateness, that endeared himself to me. He is far better than most, if not all, Vietnamese politicians I have seen on TV. Nowadays when I am called upon to speak in front of an audience, I tell myself that I must speak like Obama and Điếu Cầy do.
3. Discussions/Debates:
Most participants in the debates on the Net are not concerned with facts and truths. They are not in the debates to search for facts and truths. They are there to impose their views on the situation at hand. Let's look at the debates involving politics and religion on the Vietnamese websites and ask yourself if the following points are facts or mere opinions:
Political Points:
a) Is Vietnam in danger of being slowly, but inexorably, step-by-step, taken over by China?
b) If point (a) is correct, what are the steps that have been taken to counter that, in Vietnam, and in Vietnamese communities overseas, besides ineffectual and tension-releasing demonstrations?
c) Is there a sense of urgency and extreme concern about the situation mentioned in point (a).
Religious Points:
a) If taking away God as the cornerstone of the edifice of Christian Faith, can Christianity, a strong political force, survive? In other words, once it is proved that Jesus was only human and indeed mortal and that Christianity's doctrines were built on lies, can Christianity survive?
b) Religion is nothing but an ideology, a view to answer existential questions and meanings of existence. As ideologies, all religions compete among themselves and with other religions for the hearts and souls of men in the marketplace, increasingly dominated by the Internet. Nowadays, people google to search for information to aid them in making up their minds. Islam and Christianity have been perennially at each other's throat. It looks like they are at it again, now, after the "Charlie Hebdo" incident. Regardless of whether it was real or staged, the incident marked the watershed of the fight between the two religions in the 21st century.
c) Since religions are invented by men and since men are not equal, religions are not equal in terms of soundness of doctrines and relevancy. Religions evolve as men evolve in understanding the world he lives in. Men no longer sacrificed virgins to appease their "Gods" as they did hundreds or thousands of years ago. Outright slavery is now frowned upon while abortion and homosexuality are being accepted though grudgingly. What once were regarded as timeless truths are now looked at matters of opinion and choice.
d) The Catholic Church is a political and religious empire. All the Catholics are supposedly to swear allegiance to the Pope, the de facto emperor of all Catholics, the representative of Christ on earth, the unerring source of authority. Can any man/woman of reason and learning accept such an outlandish doctrine, such a ridiculous assertion which flies in the face of facts and reasoning?
e) It's time the Vietnamese Catholics must ask themselves that whether they care more about the well-being of the Catholic Church than the well-being of Vietnam and their fellow compatriots. Have they ever wondered that they have been brainwashed into believing in falsehoods, instead of facts and truths which can stand up under scrutiny and questioning? Beliefs don't have to be blind and stupid, against logic, against scientific knowledge, and against common sense.
f) it's time the Vietnamese Catholics must forsake their dream of dominating the majority of the inhabitants of Vietnam, as they tried to do throughout the colonial period and up to 1975. The current and ridiculous shaking of hands between the Pope and the VC Premier signaled the fervent desire of the Catholic Church to reassert itself in Vietnam. What happened to the loud, clamorous slogan that the Catholics are fierce anti-Communists? So you see, religion and politics sleep together and are in fact twins sharing the same spine. All politicians lie, remember that.
It's time for me to repose. See you later.
February 4, 2015
No comments:
Post a Comment