One of the things I admire about Stefan Molyneux is his ability to face things he doesn’t like. One of these areas has been his recent set of videos discussing religion in a positive light (something he incidentally shares with Scott Adams). In this one, he discusses what evidence exists to point toward the existence of the divine.
To refer back at first to Scott Adams, I’m not one for the meat-robot theory. I fully acknowledge we are not rational, often are run by our subconscious, and at a very low level are affected hour to hour by our hormones, our hunger, and our moods. That rationality is something we fight for between bouts of rationalization.
And yet, and yet, it is something we fight for. It is something that we can develop systems to affect, distance ourselves, develop new habits.
One quote jumped out at me: That there were times he’d rather be taking orders than be the one making decisions. He clarifies this – that there are times it would be nice to say “it is as god wills it” and leave it at that, to have the humility to say he wasn’t worthy or capable, and needed help.
One, I find it interesting in light of recently reading Marc Miller’s Agent of the Imperium -Jonathan Bland’s entire purpose is to be the decider, to not only have the authority, but to assume the guilt for the hard decisions.
I don’t think it’s being fair. He makes a good point, but he also forgets that not all is within our grasp and control. We can control how we react to things, but so much is beyond the ability of our decisions to affect in any meaningful way. Whether you say “God wills it” or “It’s Fate” – it is a path to accepting that which cannot be changed, so we can face the rest. Of course, it’s possible to go too far, into fatalism, and forget the ha-ha only serious Christian saying that god helps those who help themselves.
Also, it’s worth remembering as Vox Day has pointed out (in the Irrational Atheist), and as many others have, that science rose out of the Christian faith in part as a way to explore that which God has left us, to better understand it, and through it, his works. It’s been pointed out elsewhere in the alt-right that those who get into it to discover truth, no matter whether they start out as hedonists, or for whatever reason, end up on or headed towards a religious path as part of their travels.
As the lady Stefan is talking to mentioned, written on a science building, a stark reminder of what she never consiously learned in the religious upbringing of her childhood, but was there all the time in the religion she’d left behind – and the truth shall set you free.
