Hello @RandleMcMurphy , @Appleblossom , @StuF , @MDT
and other members visiting this thread.
@Appleblossom, thank you for the tag and thus, the invitation to this thread. You and I, I believe, have similar thoughts, ideas, concepts and aspirations.
@StuF, I really like the allegory of the two babies in the womb, reflections on what life is and on the possibilities of future life and whatever may follow. There seems to me to be, at once, a profound depth in what I perceive to be the meaning in the interchange, combined with a certain delightful humour in the connections as well. I know that I smiled as I read the story. And I also felt connection between my own thoughts and beliefs and those presented in the story. I will use it in future reflections.
@MDT, approaches the subject in, what I perceive to be a rather pragmatic, "see it to believe it" approach. To some extent I agree that the choices we make can be, in @MDT's words, "ultimately a gamble." But then isn't life a gamble, of the hand we are dealt, with some elements of decision thrown in to cause us to think that we have some control?
While I may not necessarily agree with the way that @MDT has distributed the elements in brackets, I agree in general with his observation:
"I think we are a perceptive species governed by forces that we can articulate (politics, creeds, religions, ethics, values) and things we can't (faith, transcendent, spirituality)."
And, I think that it boils down to perceptions in what might, with some negative connotation, be described as "this fluid miasma of life".
@RandleMcMurphy, I believe they are real and, for me possibly as much as for you, valid questions, needing to be addressed by each of us in our own ways and to the degree that we feel is necessary for our own edification as well as satisfaction. I believe that we all face these questions in different ways and from different perspectives, as demonstrated already in the three responses so far and mine to add to those. Discussion of these issues often raises other issues as much as it might assist in resolving some. But that is also a worthwhile goal; searching for more questions.
The questions are more strongly asked by some people than others, I think. Some people want firmer foundations, in terms of moral, ideological and spiritual concepts.
A book, of which I had, some time ago, assured @StuF that I would offer a synopsis, is called
"The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion"
by Jonathan Haidt
for which an introduction follows. The book may be of interest and may address some of your questions:
"As America descends deeper into polarization and paralysis, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt has done the seemingly impossible—challenged conventional thinking about morality, politics, and religion in a way that speaks to everyone on the political spectrum. Drawing on his twenty five years of groundbreaking research on moral psychology, he shows how moral judgments arise not from reason but from gut feelings. He shows why liberals, conservatives, and libertarians have such different intuitions about right and wrong, and he shows why each side is actually right about many of its central concerns. In this subtle yet accessible book, Haidt gives you the key to understanding the miracle of human cooperation, as well as the curse of our eternal divisions and conflicts. If you’re ready to trade in anger for understanding, read The Righteous Mind."
A copy can be downloaded from
https://www.pdfdrive.com/the-righteous-mind-why-good-people-are-divided-by-politics-and-e6970074.html
Unfortunately, I have been spending more time than I had initially planned on this forum, among other activities, so am unable yet to offer @StuF the summary that I would still like to offer before "we emerge from this womb of life".
I believe that we sift from the information available to us what we think that we need in our lives. I have travelled the path between being a person who wanted concrete foundations and constructs on which to build my beliefs and aspirations, to a person who now has more open beliefs and recognises the fluidity of life and my own perceptions of what I observe in that fluid space. It has taken me 70+ yrs, from womb to now to arrive at my present perceptions and beliefs. I am now a person who believes more in quality of life and the way that we live it, than in concrete ideas. Here a reflection might be appropriate, on the wind breaking the limbs of the mighty oak tree and the reed gently bending and swaying in the gusts. Then there is the story of the "Three little Pigs" and their houses, so everything according to its purpose.
With My Best Wishes
@HenryX
