The Inconsistencies of Belief

My mother, a few years ago, decided that both she and I are autistic. We are both keen on logic and order in our lives and anyone that knows us will be frustrated with our persistence with certain, irrelevant and unimportant elements of life. Herein lies an issue, though; her autistic tendencies bolt at the concept of religion, whereas my unrelenting opinions plough on through everything spiritual and spooky (that’s right, I’m cracking out the alliteration).

Anyway, the nature of today’s long-awaited blog is the inconsistencies that the general public are willing to leave in their beliefs. It really rubs me up the wrong way as I have grown up expecting people to think logically and to draw similar conclusions to mine.

I have had the ghost and soul debate with many people (if you’ve still not read it, get on this one) and what consistently baffles me is the arrogance that people have regarding souls. The most commonly held beliefs I’ve had the displeasure of hearing are that, firstly, souls equal ghosts and, secondly, souls are held by the majority of mammals but most other life forms are, for some strange reason, devoid of this special accolade.

Others push this ridiculous claim further and hail the human species as the only creature on this Eden-like oversized asteroid to be blessed with the gifts of a soul. Both of these mindsets are, well wrong, and in need of addressing.

The question I usually pose is ‘where did souls come from?’ Strangely, this question rarely receives such a confident response and, if it does, it is irrevocably linked to God which, as we all know, is plainly farce and lies. The first scenario almost suggests the soul as a natural thing, as it is present in many mammals (notably, the cuddly ones kept as pets and the larger ones are seemingly more likely to have been gifted this ghostly inner-being than the less attractive aye-ayes and more enigmatic platypuses), and is recurring throughout the world.

Yet severe inconsistencies are suddenly made hideously obvious as large chunks of the animal kingdom are doomed to rot in the ground, whereas others have the good fortune to be able to reside in heaven or to simply hang around on this barely notable and very average rock for all eternity at a ghost. Or something.

The reason for leaving out other beings seems not to be one that can be discussed logically at great length as one might suggest a certain level of evolution (if you dare believe in such an atrocity that is so plainly faulted and constantly disproved by ignorant church-goers) might ‘earn’ a soul, yet everything on Earth is as evolved as necessary to survive at this very moment. When pointing out this fact, the inconsistent might widen their net to include all animals under their bracket of ‘souled’, yet an example of a coral polyp as an animal usually puts a stop to this bold claim.

The second claim of humans being special is a more widely held one, and is far more traditional. It has two major flaws. On the one hand it tells us that humans were put here by another being after being imparted with souls, we have since thrived and kept these souls. This option does, somehow, overlook the blindly obvious link we have to apes, the countless sources that tell us that humans have evolved from apes and ‘lower’ life forms over millions of years. The facts are ignored by the fearful as they cling onto their belief that we are special and that salvation will, one day, come.

The other option is that we did (which we certainly did) evolve from said beings and this was followed by a mystical entity pootling on over to planet Earth, shoving a sprits down every human’s throat, then lying in wait for any new humans to be made, then springing on all of those and continuing this peculiar act to this day. This would not only be a ridiculous thing for any ‘higher being’ to do, but also would beg the question; why us? We have evolved intelligence, yes, but we are by no means the masters of this planet, we are a mere spec in the history of the universe, life has existed before us and will supersede us far into the future.

The biggest issue I take with it all is the assumption that my life must be scary because I don’t believe in ‘anything else’. Why would my life be sullied by the knowledge that life on Earth is a miracle in itself, the chances of life evolving to the stage where it can shape the atmosphere of the planet, thus allowing higher life forms to develop and take hold, slowly and systematically (not randomly, like the gods decide to do things) colonising a planet that I now live on are unbelievably tiny. This wonderful rock is home to some of the most amazing things that I have ever seen. The sheer diversity of life that has cropped up on this mediocre planet in a mediocre position in a mediocre galaxy baffles me. Evolution is the most beautiful systems in nature and it is irrefutably perfect. The faults that belong to the farcical tales of creation lead only to failure in practise.

I am utterly in besotted with this planet, and the arrogance that it, and its contents and spoils, belong to us is a terrifyingly large hurdle in the face of convincing the ignorant that this is all we have, and our continual irresponsible behaviour will, inevitably, lead us to doom and could, potentially, wipe out life as we know it, as the effects of our brief spell on Earth will, no doubt, be felt long after we have all gone. Leaving the astounding haven we dwell in scarred indefinitely by man’s keenness to accept that life was created around and for man.

 

Well that quickly got out of hand.