Thursday 31 May 2012

Mountain of Ignorance

I kick off my climb of the mountain  of ignorance with this quote from an astronomer, Robert Jastrow:  "For scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason, the story ends like a bad dream. He has scaled the mountain of ignorance; he is about to conquer the highest peak; as he pulls himself over the final rock, he is greeted by a band of theologians who have been sitting there for centuries."

I can imagine, quite cheekily, the trademark Dawkins firebrand's defiance and insisting the opposite: "...and waiting for the theologian while he pulls himself over the final rock is a band of scientists smiling and saying, "See I told you so."

Or a Buddhist, sweating himself up the mountain of ignorance, and finding "absolute nothingness."

For a militant jihadist, he'd be hollering up the same mountain. As he reaches for the grappling hook, he accidentally pulls the wrong one and goes off before he reaches the top.

Then, my mind goes to the plight of a nihilist, who having reached the top, breathed in the fresh mountain air, and then, with a jolly smile, plunges down.

How about an agnostic? Well he would stop mid-mountain and cry out, "I am not going further without any supporting evidence!"

You would find an old testament Jew at the bottom of the mountain, looking forlornly up and muttering, "I am still waiting."

Finally, I imagine a race up the mountain between a fundamentalist creationist and an atheist evolution scientist. When they reach the top, God greets them and says, "Didn't I told you guys so?"

Well, the above is just my weekend food for thought. Pardon me if I have stepped on anyone's dogmatic feet. Just jiving...

For me, at this moment, this quote is most apt: "The world is kinda like a spiritual kindergarten where all the bewildered infants are trying to spell God with an incomplete set of blocks."  Because, in the larger scheme of things, and in our infinite ignorance, aren't we all equal?

Cheers out! (just killing time...or wasting it...?)

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