While I was busy investigating religion with my two Christian friends, the other friend I mentioned was busy with Judaism. I never went to religious events with him, but one weekend on a drive with his family a seemingly little thing happened that ended up leading me on a huge journey. His family and I listened to a cassette tape recording of a lecture.
The lecture, given by a Jew, was about the origin of the universe and was called “Scientific Data Supporting Creation.” Most of it washed over me but my curiosity was piqued by phrases like “black hole” and “quasar.” I borrowed the tape but, unfortunately, forgot about it until I found it a few years later during high school. This time my curiosity was piqued again by the space-talk. Through that, though, I was drawn into an amazing discussion of religion. The speaker presented an astounding idea - that ideally there shouldn’t be any contradiction between science and religion since both are about the same world. He then suggested that science’s current understanding of the origin of the universe and Judaism’s description of it are conflict-free and even agreeable. This went against what I had heard in Church. It sounded as if I wouldn’t have to suspend my rationality in order to accept this system of religion.
I listened to that tape over and over again for a month. When I realized that there were probably more like it out there I called my friend, who had since moved away, told him about the tape, and asked if he had more. He sent some, I continued listening, and we began talking.
The second round of tapes, equally as fascinating as the first, didn’t take long to blaze through. By the time I finished them I had developed a great interest in Judaism. At this point I was getting ready to graduate from high school. The only thing I had left to accomplish was a senior project on a topic of my choice. I chose the investigation of Judaism as my topic and proceeded to investigate in a much more formal and documented way.
Along the way I received help from an unlikely source - an acquaintance of my friend's who was not Jewish. My friend introduced me because this person had once walked along the path I was currently on. He was a Christian who began to question and eventually found answers with Judaism. He opened my eyes to the interesting fact Judaism isn’t just for Jews. Jews are involved with the religious system called the Torah. The Torah isn’t a club, however. Anyone can engage it as it is knowledge and knowledge is non-exclusive.
When I completed my senior project I began a new life project. The investigation I conducted lead me to a system of religion that my mind saw truth in. It only lead me to the gates, however. Ever since then I have been exploring the amazing world of Torah.
4/19/09
4/7/09
Rational religion, part 1
A few people who read this blog may unfamiliar with my involvement with religion. For what it may be worth to them I would like to share the story of how that involvement came about.
In the beginning my religious slate was clean. Religion wasn’t in my household. My mother and father both grew up in semi-religious Christian households but decided not to make religion a part of their household together. I feel thankful for this as I believe it made my mind more open than it could have been otherwise. Though I wasn’t involved with religion I was open to the possibility that there could be value in it and decided it would be worth investigating.
Yakima - the small city in central Washington I grew up in - is extremely religious. It is filled with Christianity. Most of the Christians in Yakima are Evangelical Christians and as I understand it, Evangelicals are characterized by their religious fervor. My household felt like a little island of open-mindedness in the city.
During middle school my three closest friends were religious. Two were Christian - one Evangelical and one Episcopal - and one was Jewish. These friendships were great resources for my investigation of religion. With my two Christian friends I attended a variety of church services, youth activities, and classes during middle school and the first half of high school. Things were nice. The people were nice and the activities were nice. The was a lot of emotion and a lot of praying. I didn't get it though. It always felt strange.
As I mentioned earlier I was never opposed to religion in general but one seemingly essential aspect of it bothered me - “Faith.” I found it peculiar that I should have to suspend my ability to reason in order to benefit from religion. Despite this problem I allowed myself to continue the investigation and made a mental note to keep an eye on the faith issue.
While I wasn’t yet buying into religion at church, I had a much easier time buying into science at school. I loved math, physics, biology, chemistry - all of it. Science made sense. I could wrap my mind around it. One thing I loved about science was that it is a constant quest for better understanding. When a theory is proven to be false it is rejected. Simple. Religion always seemed to be at odds with this love of mine, though. In biology I would hear a brilliant theory explaining the evolution that lead to man. In church I would hear that idea ripped apart. It seemed as if I had to make a big choice - the rationality of science or the faith of religion. Everything changed, however, and I will describe how in the next post.
In the beginning my religious slate was clean. Religion wasn’t in my household. My mother and father both grew up in semi-religious Christian households but decided not to make religion a part of their household together. I feel thankful for this as I believe it made my mind more open than it could have been otherwise. Though I wasn’t involved with religion I was open to the possibility that there could be value in it and decided it would be worth investigating.
Yakima - the small city in central Washington I grew up in - is extremely religious. It is filled with Christianity. Most of the Christians in Yakima are Evangelical Christians and as I understand it, Evangelicals are characterized by their religious fervor. My household felt like a little island of open-mindedness in the city.
During middle school my three closest friends were religious. Two were Christian - one Evangelical and one Episcopal - and one was Jewish. These friendships were great resources for my investigation of religion. With my two Christian friends I attended a variety of church services, youth activities, and classes during middle school and the first half of high school. Things were nice. The people were nice and the activities were nice. The was a lot of emotion and a lot of praying. I didn't get it though. It always felt strange.
As I mentioned earlier I was never opposed to religion in general but one seemingly essential aspect of it bothered me - “Faith.” I found it peculiar that I should have to suspend my ability to reason in order to benefit from religion. Despite this problem I allowed myself to continue the investigation and made a mental note to keep an eye on the faith issue.
While I wasn’t yet buying into religion at church, I had a much easier time buying into science at school. I loved math, physics, biology, chemistry - all of it. Science made sense. I could wrap my mind around it. One thing I loved about science was that it is a constant quest for better understanding. When a theory is proven to be false it is rejected. Simple. Religion always seemed to be at odds with this love of mine, though. In biology I would hear a brilliant theory explaining the evolution that lead to man. In church I would hear that idea ripped apart. It seemed as if I had to make a big choice - the rationality of science or the faith of religion. Everything changed, however, and I will describe how in the next post.
3/23/09
Growing up and accepting responsibility
In a recent conversation I became aware something that seems to be a defining part of growing up and becoming a mature person.
I schedule my week in such a way that I do all my chores and errands on Sunday so I will be completely set-up during the week. One of the errands is grocery shopping. Unfortunately, I never seem to want to do this when the time comes. Sometimes I just can't even bring myself to. The natural consequence of this is that there isn't enough food in my refridgerator that week. During those weeks I will often go to my refridgerator and open it as if I expect to find food. This is, of course, a ridiculous expectation. I will explain why I think I have it.
During childhood a person has no responsibility. He has needs but the responsibility of taking care of those needs falls on his parents. As life goes on his parents gradually give that responsibility over to him. By the time he is an adult the full spectrum of life responsibility rests on him. Another shift that must take place, though. The growing child must change the way he relates to that responsibility. Ideally, the child recognizes that his needs are his own and not his parents' to take care of. Not-so-ideally, the child can also fail to recognize that his needs are his own to take care of and continues to feel as if the responsibility rsts on other people. It is this shift that seems to be a defining part maturing. I will refer to the person who successfully makes the shift as the mature person and the person who fails as the immature person.
Both the mature person and the immature person are subject to the same obstacles - large and small - throughout life. Both also get over those obstacles. They relate to the obstacles in completely different ways, however. The mature person sees them as they are - just a normal part of life. This is because he understands that his needs are his own to take care of. The immature person sees these obstacles as things he must get over in order to get to normal, happy life. This is the feeling I know I refer to when I complain to people that I feel like I am just trying to get through with things all the time. It seems to me as if this stems at least in part from a false, unconcious expectation that someone else should be taking care of these things.
When I open my refridgerator expecting to find food when there is none the immature part of me is expressing itself. I am feeling as if someone should have taken care of grocery shopping like my Mom was so kind to do when I was younger. It is also this mindset that causes me to accept obstacles in life in only a begrudging way and feel as if my normal life has been interrupted.
I schedule my week in such a way that I do all my chores and errands on Sunday so I will be completely set-up during the week. One of the errands is grocery shopping. Unfortunately, I never seem to want to do this when the time comes. Sometimes I just can't even bring myself to. The natural consequence of this is that there isn't enough food in my refridgerator that week. During those weeks I will often go to my refridgerator and open it as if I expect to find food. This is, of course, a ridiculous expectation. I will explain why I think I have it.
During childhood a person has no responsibility. He has needs but the responsibility of taking care of those needs falls on his parents. As life goes on his parents gradually give that responsibility over to him. By the time he is an adult the full spectrum of life responsibility rests on him. Another shift that must take place, though. The growing child must change the way he relates to that responsibility. Ideally, the child recognizes that his needs are his own and not his parents' to take care of. Not-so-ideally, the child can also fail to recognize that his needs are his own to take care of and continues to feel as if the responsibility rsts on other people. It is this shift that seems to be a defining part maturing. I will refer to the person who successfully makes the shift as the mature person and the person who fails as the immature person.
Both the mature person and the immature person are subject to the same obstacles - large and small - throughout life. Both also get over those obstacles. They relate to the obstacles in completely different ways, however. The mature person sees them as they are - just a normal part of life. This is because he understands that his needs are his own to take care of. The immature person sees these obstacles as things he must get over in order to get to normal, happy life. This is the feeling I know I refer to when I complain to people that I feel like I am just trying to get through with things all the time. It seems to me as if this stems at least in part from a false, unconcious expectation that someone else should be taking care of these things.
When I open my refridgerator expecting to find food when there is none the immature part of me is expressing itself. I am feeling as if someone should have taken care of grocery shopping like my Mom was so kind to do when I was younger. It is also this mindset that causes me to accept obstacles in life in only a begrudging way and feel as if my normal life has been interrupted.