Last week our scrappy volleyball team lost in the A group final. It was a great achievement for a team that had not ever even made it to B group final. I thought that my spike could be even a more effective killer if the net was a little lower. Mentally I started to dismantle the rules to suit me, ending up taking out all the challenges. Where I finally end up, even the ball is not there. The games not only become meaningless but non existence.
I believe that activities become meaningful when fenced with rules, just as life with the fencing of ethics. This again exemplify the suggestions (answers) to the philosophical questions is bounded by the need to be coherence to the other questions. This is an important test to any suggestions of answers.
In another as found in the suggestion below,
The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one.
- George Bernard Shaw
- George Bernard Shaw
Meaning is lost by the drunkard, when ethics is trodden, and destiny is a hangover and damaged kidney.
Somehow I suspect that everyone (even the drunkard) with a sober mind will disagree with GB Shaw. We don’t play games with life without having to pay.
I shall elaborate on, provide a broad context for, the quote by George Bernard Shaw, which I posted as a comment in response to one of the posters.
ReplyDeleteThe purpose of the quote is intended to disarm the argument that, because religion is good for the believer, it is therefore true (a non sequitur, really). It is untethered to the matter of ethics, or destiny, or any ill health habits.
It has, however, more to do with the evidence for god(s). It is a logical fallacy to say that the existence of god(s) is demonstrable by, and rests solely on, the "feel good" factor.
It was alluded to in your article above the origin of morality. Somewhat presumptuously, I am opining that you seem to believe that morality is derived from a celestial dictator (Christopher Hitchen's words). I beg to differ and have nothing more to add than to say that people are capable of being good, and they most often are, without belief in a deity.
As always, I look forward to your next post.
As Andrew implied, happiness doesn't necessarily/always mean meaning. My first impression of the quote was that just because you're having a happy experience, doesn't make it meaningful. And so it comes down to if you're happy to just be happy, or if you want a deeper meaning..
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