Unbelievable
“I just think it is interesting to see how people act on their beliefs, you know what I mean. Because your beliefs are just that, they are just how you were taught and raised. That doesn’t make them real.”
– Bill Hicks
How you were taught and raised
How you were taught and raised…….
One believes not because
Something is believable
But rather that one
Chooses to believe it
Evidence be dammed
Overwhelming or nonexistent
Ironically, that which is…..
Believable……has…..proof
When considering a belief of “yours”
Stated from a position that
You wholeheartedly believe it
If you put it, using other words
Such as plausible perception
It begs to question its validity
I believe any belief could be
Verified or disregarded
Using that recontextualized
Presentation for questioning
Let’s say one says they believe
In heaven and hell
Usually, more heaven than hell
But if, instead, said
I have a plausible perception
Of heaven and hell
It might inspire questioning
Where that belief came from
Causing one to inquire of themselves
What are those vague concepts based on
You guessed it…. nothing / no thing
Save for it being in a book
(If a book was published about me
Stating that I am charming, smart,
Witty, good-looking, wealthy, and funny
Would be nice but would not make it so)
No matter how many times
Everybody read it
Reality would beg to differ
Especially if I wrote it
Save, contributing to my
Own narcissistic agenda
“It is far better to grasp the universe as it really is than to persist in delusion however satisfying and reassuring”
– Carl Sagan
Oopsie
“Imagine there’s no heaven
It’s easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today…. Aha-ah…
“Imagine”
– John Lennon
Because certainly there is zero proof
Save for a collective mind construct
That makes them non things that are “so”
After all, neither can have a fixed place
No thing, nothing has a fixed place
If it did, it wouldn’t be a thing
But rather, the singularity of an anomaly
Even more irrational than the Big Bang
Every thing, everything is moving
Either by the molecules themselves
Or their collective movement
Through the cosmos and beyond
In a highly technical, extremely loving
Virtual reality that is very real
Made up by what seems unreal
Since it is mostly empty space
Through waves and particles
Appearing solid when observed (particles)
Yet nonexistent when not (waves)
“What is wanted is not the will to believe but the wish to find out, which is the exact opposite.”
– Bertrand Russell
Wishful thinking is not a good reason to believe something
“You’ve gotta respect everyone’s beliefs.”
No, you don’t.
That’s what gets us in trouble. Look, you have to acknowledge everyone’s beliefs, and then you have to reserve the right to go:
“That is fucking stupid. Are you kidding me?”
I have have an uncle who believes he saw Sasquatch. We do not believe him nor do we respect him!
– Patton Oswalt
Looking at the world through a windshield. 
A lump of clay takes on the shape that is given to it. Might there be ‘better’ shapes than others? If the purpose is to drink milk, it is helpful if the clay is in the shape of a cup and not an arrow or left as a lump.
Is the shaping of human clay done by beliefs? Believing that kindness is better than cruelty seems helpful. Maybe we can prove that it is.
Could heaven be defined as a sense of peace and purpose and living in harmony with our family and community? Is it what happens when we choose for the good? And isn’t hell the torment we live created by the consequences of our own choices? Does that count as proof?
Or is that just my belief?
Very provocative post as always, Angelo!
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I agree with your definitions of heaven and hell. However, my best perception (I could be wrong, it is only a perception) is that, in general, regardless of religious or agnostic “beliefs,” the muddled masses think of either place as being physically tangible.
As for clay (though I would make a goblet to drink some wine), it has tangibility and mass to mold for whatever purpose.
Some human’s beliefs are that killing and eradicating certain “other” humans is perfectly acceptable for those who think that. Which will inevitably bring them peace and purpose to live in their state of harmony.
All from the sense in their egotistical belief that they are morally superior or exist in a country whose flag is “better” because it’s “their” flag.
When, from a distance, we are all on the same spaceship. With no heaven above us and no hell below us.
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