interesting thoughts on the bus

a few days ago, while on the bus going back to seremban, i began to ponder about The Meaning Of Life. as it happens once in a while, i contemplated the possibility that i might be mistaken about Everything... about God, Creation, Redemption and etc.

maybe there is no God. maybe men are just monkeys who grew too clever for their own good. maybe human beings aren't significant at all on the cosmic scale - just part of the happy (or sometimes not-so-happy) accident we call 'life'. maybe there is no purpose or meaning to life, and our existence is utterly futile and absurd. how can we know? how can we be sure?

how can we be sure of anything? well, to start off, i reject the postmodern notion that we can't be sure of anything. because, in fact, if you're sure that you can't be sure of anything, you are already sure of something, thus making your original premiss invalid. and if you're not sure that you can't be sure of anything, then you're admitting that there is a possibility that we can be sure of something. either way, the statement commits suicide.

it's like this statement: "i always tell lies". if it's true, it's a lie, but if it's a lie, then it's true. the statement commits suicide.

so, believing that we can be sure of something, what is it that we can be sure of? i decided to begin with Descartes' famous words: i think, therefore i am. i think that this is a pretty good starting point, because it's obvious that some thinking is going on here and someone has to be doing the thinking. i call this thinking entity, 'myself'. if i don't exist, then who is claiming non-existence? looks like "i don't exist" is another of those suicide statements.

from that starting point, i drew a chart in which i tried to explore the possible origins of my existence. interestingly enough, i came to two possible conclusions. the first is a theistic one: we were created, directly or indirectly, by a First Cause (whom i'll call God). note that this is still very, very far away from the Christian God; this First Cause could be a polytheistic community, a monotheistic being, evil, good, personal, impersonal, and etc.

the second one is very close to the claims of philosophical hinduism/buddhism. namely, the world was never created but has always been, and has a cyclical existence. humans too have always been, and also have a cyclical existence - the cycle of death and rebirth.

i'd like to post up the chart i drew for you all to take a look at, and see if you can follow and maybe critique my train(s) of thought. but i don't know how. maybe later.

for now, work calls; i have a meeting to attend at 11.00 am, tomorrow i'll be in STM studying Introduction to Religions, and i'm busy preparing for the SU youth team's visit to seremban next weekend. tata! =)