Questions?

I often question things. Sometimes I voice these questions, but more often then not I keep them to myself. The thought will arise and I will tell myself how absurd the question is and I will decide that it's not worth my time. But I have a bit of time on my hands and I am not yet tired of the night, so while I have consciousness I shall entertain these thoughts.

How can I be sure that a time or place that I have not perceived exists?

You see, I have never been to Africa. So how do I know this place exists? Everyone who has been to Africa, or anyone who does not have these thoughts arise, will think that I am strange, absurd or perhaps offensive for even asking this question. But the point remains that the only reason I believe in this place called Africa is because people have told me that this place exists. I have seen many souvenirs brought back from Africa, but those could all be fake. I have seen pictures of Africa, but I have also seen pictures of distant planets through the venue of movies and science fiction. So why should I be compelled to believe that Africa exists?

And you could also look at this from a chronological perspective rather then physical setting. Why is it that I believe that two people met before my very existence and conceived me? Really? It seems bread from a novel that I could be brought into existence or created. It seems ridiculous the very notion of a world that existed before I was present to perceive it, for what is there other then what I can perceive? What about the idea of my consciousness leaving my body? People standing around a sac of meat crying or rejoicing that there is no longer a soul or spirit, or whatever you may call it, inside the body. What an inconceivable idea! For what exists outside of my senses? What could possibly be that I cannot perceive? And if I cannot perceive after leaving my body, then what could possibly exist?

So then, if I believe all of this, I could say that nothing exists outside of my perception. And if nothing exists outside of my perception, then the only thing that truly exists at all times is me. I currently believe that there are people on the floor above me and people on the floor below me, but I have no current perception of them so they must not exist.

This thesis, or theory or question or whatever one feels like calling it, has been defeated by philosophers for years now. Most philosophers believe that the senses are what misleads us. But that still leaves the original question of wondering how I know that something exists. I would propose that to believe in anything in this world, to even believe in your own existence, you must be open to the idea that things exist that we do not, have not, or may never perceive.

Things exist that we do not, have not, or may never perceive.

Sometimes I honestly struggle with the idea that Africa exists. I have never been on the other side of any ocean, how can I believe that there is another side to the ocean? Sometimes the world seems to have been born at the same time as me. The idea of the world existing before me seems absurd. Nobody could ever actually prove to me that the world existed before I did.

Imagine this: there are some six billion people living some six billion individual lives somewhere on this planet. Six billion! Each one may have these thoughts. I know some thousand people, so some six billion people do not know me. To six billion people I do not exist. I know that I exist, they all know that they exist. I know that the place I am currently exists, they all know that the place they are currently exists. Many more people lived before me, many likely asking this same question. Where does the question end? How is the question answered?

Only one entity contains an answer. Referred to as Truth, Beauty, Love, Peace and many more names. This entity assures me that I exist, this entity can assure us all that we exist, that we matter. This entity turns me from the idea that the existence of things revolves around me to believe that the existence of things revolves around God. Without a God that brought everything into existence I cannot believe that anything exists.

I still do not know whether or not Africa exists, but I can be sure that a time before me exists and that a time after my time on earth will exist. I know that my perception of things does not define their existence but rather God's truth is what defines them as existent.

There is a center to existence, and it is God.

When Did Life Become So Complicated?

Food, water and shelter. That's it. That is all that is necessary to sustain the human race. Food, water and shelter.

Food comes to us by a plants growing or an animals slaughter. Plants continue to grow and there are plenty of animals to be had, so there is no problem there.

Water comes from the sky and from under the ground. There is plenty of it. We use an estimated average of 39,090 gallons (177,859.5 liters) of water to make car. It takes 1.85 gallons (8.4175 liters) of water to manufacture the plastic for one individual water bottle, many of which are used to bring less than a liter of water to a single person then are thrown away. American's consume an estimated 29.8 billion water bottles each year. Yes, 29,800,000,000 water bottles which to manufacture all of those uses 55.13 billion gallons of water, 55,130,000,000 gallons, that's 250,841,500,00 liters of water each year just to make the plastic for these bottles.

If we can use that much water on cars and plastic, that tells me there is more then enough water in the world.

Shelter is something that we find or create. We are capable of living in caves or under tents. Perhaps some peoples need better shelter because of the region they inhabit, but shelter certainly should not be a problem. Everyone can adapt to their region and build shelters that are suitable.

Now with this thinking brought to an extreme it is likely that issues such as disease and natural disaster would take more lives and shorten the average life span. But my point is that we have complicated everything so far and brought so much unnecessary cleanliness and status to our world that there are some who are forced to go without. We live in a world where suffering is ignored as long as it pays for our comfort. We live in a world where we shower every day so that rather then smelling like ourselves we smell like a product we created.

We originated as hunters and gatherers, in a time when the world was simple and God was trusted to provide. Now we have seized the illusion of power and think we no longer rely on any "god" but that we are our own god. We live in such comfort that controls us. The men and women in our culture have become obsessed with themselves and their self image.

God created us so that all we needed to survive was food, water and shelter, and we created the lie that we need whatever the media tells us.

When did life become so complicated?

-Ben