I've just had an epiphany.
I finished reading Atlas Shrugged last night and I'm completely enraptured with the philosophy of Objectivism. So since then I've been researching it and listening to lectures and the like. It's absolutely fascinating and I love it.
The ideas are simple and concise and I agree with all of them except one. And that is where my discovery began.
Objectivism states that A is A. There are no contradictions in life. Existence exists and that we as humans cannot escape it. Objectivists reject all form of mystisism and the idea that the supernatural can interject and change reality, because A is A and cannot exist as non-A at the same time. You can't have your cake and eat it too. Reality is not something that anyone or anything can change because they will it or wish it to be another way. Because of this Objectivism requires Atheism.
Well, being a deeply religious person myself I began to ponder this idea. Objectivism makes total sense, it just seems so right. But I know there is a God, and there can be no contradictions in life.
That was when I realized that there isn't a contradiction here! The God I know can fit quite nicely into everything that Objectivism declares.
You see, this is what I believe.
I believe that there was a life before this one: a pre-mortal existence in which we knew God the Father and he knew us. But that existence was not to be the final step in the scheme of the eternities. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ created the Universe and the Heavens as well as a type of Hell or Outer Darkness. Because he knew us so implicitly I believe that he knew exactly which realm our souls would be qualified to reside in for eternity but he couldn't just go around saying, "Congratulations you are going to make it to Heaven." And, "Sorry, you won't make the cut." to us without proving it to us himself because God is a God of Reason.
In order to prove to us during the Final Judgment that he is a Just God, we were sent to earth with no memory of our life before; this that we may see for ourselves at the end of our lives the true condition of our souls.
Here is where the connection to Objectivism is made. According to its axiom that Existence exists, that reality cannot be changed or altered even by a God, I agree. But I submit that there is in fact a God and a reality that co-exist without contradiction!
The Bible tells us that God exist beyond time, that time is a mortal concept, not an eternal one. And when one looks deep into the concept of time itself with all it's complexity and seemingly irrationality, that is not hard for me to accept. It is man that travels in a straight line all his life, while nature constantly cycles. This is another belief of Objectivism. That mans course is a line, not a circle. Therefore his experience and reality on earth is that of a straight line, a continuous stream of time.
I believe that God operates on a different level. Einstein said that it was possibly that the past and the present exist simultaneously, so why not the future as well? I believe that God see's everything as it was, is, and will be. But he does not need to interfere! God knows us implicitly. He knows us better than we know ourselves. He knows us so well that he can know without any doubt every decision that we will ever make in our lives, and to give us our agency and to carry out the fulfillment of Justice, he does not interfere. Knowing the heart of a dictator or murderer, he could simply reach out his hand and stop terrible things from happening, but he does not! This so that we may face the full reality of our choices, the consequences of the path we choose.
Objectivism also states that there are no miracles because the definition of a miracle is something that could not have been possible before that is brought about by a supernatural force or intervention. I say that life's course is already known to God and he does not change it because it has already been set in motion in full detail by himself. Every "miracle" that happens, for there are things on this earth that I would define as miracles, has already been planned for and set in motion.
To pray is not a useless attempt as Objectivists suggest, neither because there is no God nor because he will not help you. To pray is to show recognition to him who you owe everything. To pray for strength or help is right. God will answer your prayers for the simple reason that he knew you would pray. Because he knows you better than you know yourself. Extending the blessings of your righteousness to you is not an intervention by God that changes reality. It is the carrying out of reality itself.
I am only a seventeen year old girl. I have only studied Objectvism for a short time, maybe a week or so, but this is what I know. I know that man's purpose on earth is not suffering and pain, but happiness. I know that there is a reality with consequences to the choices that we make. I know that reason and logic are the standards by which I judge everything in life, and I know that Objectivism embraces all these things. Yet I also know that there is a God. I know this in the ways the Objectivism requires all knowledge: through my five senses. I have heard his voice and felt his presence and seen his hand. I know he is there. I know that there are no contradictions in life. I found one, checked my premises and discovered that it was never there to begin with.
This is my epiphany. One day I hope to explain my new-found knowledge to an Objectivist and see how they take my idea's. I know that I'm right. I know it. Though I'm not yet articulate in the ways of philosophy I ask you to use your own judgment, with the soundness of your mind which is a tool that only you can use to judge the truth, and discover for yourself what you think about this life, whether you think as I do or not. The important thing is that you not only have an opinion, but believe it passionately and understand it thoroughly.
Because of these new ideas that have been introduced into my life, I'm a changed person for good and for the better.
Who knows? Maybe one day I'll be teaching my new Philosophy as a professor and spreading my ideas to the world? For now I have my blog. My Desiderata.
Very interesting.
ReplyDeleteI would cite a couple of points to consider.
1) The contention is that objectivism accepts existence as absolute and that this somehow proscribes religion. The only way this can possibly make sense is if we subscribe to the premise that only what we perceive exists, which is, of course, absurd. Take a look at the Periodic Table of Elements. Some of these elements were theorized long before they were observed, so did they not exist until observed? This demonstrates, at the very least, that observation is an inadequate litmus test for "existence" (though still a very useful one).
2) "Reality is not something that anyone or anything can change because they will it or wish it to be another way." Try it. As you read this, the "reality" is probably that your eyes are open. Close them. You just changed reality by force of will. Our entire existence is a huge mosh pit of wills changing reality; so why would we assume that God does not change it as well? Why would we assume that He does not intervene, even directly? Indeed, the very premise of Christianity is that Christ intervened in a most direct way, in our behalf, in order to save us from enduring the full consequences of our actions.
3) You will hear people say that God does not remove the consequences of your own actions; does this mean that the sinner cannot be healed? No. I submit that everything mankind is called to endure is kept on a very tight string by an all knowing and perfectly loving Father in Heaven, and that there will be some consequences from which you may be spared by the grace of our Savior, and some that He'll let stick. Why? Note that the depth of your joy is directly linked to how deeply the cup is carved out, and sorrow is the carving tool. Does this mean that you cannot receive a greater fullness of joy without enduring a greater depth of sorrow? Yes.
Thanks for some thought provoking prose, Rachel.
:) I love you Uncle John
ReplyDeleteYou are absolutly right that elements were only theory until observed which is the premise of Objectivism itself which allows for theory, but does not take it as a knowledge of fact until observed.
So the idea that what we observe with out senses is the extent of our knowledge, is not too far a cry. Closing our eyes does not change our reality, because we know and have observed that the change is only our eyelids blocking out light.
So observation becomes the basis for exsitance as we know it, all else is theory.
Christ absolutly intervened the reality that could have been without him. But because of The Plan which was, from the start, to have a Savior redeem us all, that is the course that reality took. It was not necesarily changed.
That's not to say that God cannot intervene or relieve our suffering. My thoughts are simply that he knows far before we do, even before this world was, exactly what we would do in this life simply because he knows us. So when we will sin and if he will take the burden of guilt from us. Right? So then reality remains intact.
But when you say, "Does this mean that you cannot receive a greater fullness of joy without enduring a greater depth of sorrow? Yes." I agree whole- heartedly.
Thanks for making me think Uncle John. <3