I was just talking to someone yesterday about what you wrote; "Because, if nobody believes in the future, there won’t be any." Fighting the good fight when you cannot see what's ahead is a challenge, but isn't that called faith? How many of us can have faith without a religion? I digress, but an important topic, Jorgen.
Faith is where knowledge ends, I used to say. The universe is so much bigger than what our minds can hold, and, hence, we cannot "know" everything, we just have to believe something where the knowledge ends.
Faith can be in actual things working in actual ways. You can have faith in the staircase being able to support you, so that you will not crash through it when entering it. We use this kind of faith a lot in our lives. Actually, we rarely know very much, we just have to trust that things will work out.
Faith, in the sense that there will be a devine being assisting when we ourselves do not suffice, is a different matter. Some people feel that this is needed to trust the future – that nothing will happen without some external planning and control by the divine. But others rely on people to behave nicely on the basis of humanist principles, which are entirely built-into us as a set of thoughts, opinions and behavioral patterns.
When religion steps in, it often develops into more than just the faith in a divine being. It becomes a set of norms that may or may not fit the situation (often being of older date, having survived as traditions). These norms may be followed by prejudices, rules, duties, and restrictions that can tie the individual up in a pattern so solid that it prevents movement.
Religion can also be freeing, in that it allows for faith to fill the gaps in knowledge. Allows for trust to step in where we cannot predict the future.
But as most of our future is controlled by people, I don't think that this kind of faith can go alone – we need to trust people, most of all.
In a society where we cannot trust others, we can lose the sense of direction, the trust in the future. The point is, we shape the future ourselves, together. There are some additional elements that we are not in control of, but much of it we are, and at least, the parts that we plan for are usually the parts we have control over, or where we should be able to trust that others, with the control, will act according to the human principles and behavioral patterns, that we trust them to follow.
I am not saying that religion is without value, and I know that some people are capable of directing all faith and trust into the religion, basically using this to excuse the misbehavior of other people (and their own) and to accept that nothing can be planned, everything is the act of a god. It works for some. Not for all. Many will still need to be able to trust people.
There are, currently, so many direct influences from people who misbehave that it can be difficult for an individual to see how it should be possible to navigate through this and still preserve their own ideas and dreams. And, sooner or later, that kills the dream of life – none of us are strong enough to fight against everything; we need to be able to trust something and some, to reduce the scope of the challenge of life.
it absolutely is a communal effort, Jorgen and as you said, without trust it cannot happen. Creating more and more communities is probably our only hope. I do believe though that this culmination of tragedies will continue to show us where the best of humanity is. COVID was one example. Look at all the good that came out of that.
I can understand this young man in some way. It's different wanting to die than feeling that impending sense of doom. It floods me every time I think about climate change or notice its effects. And yes, it is society's fault. Not only because of climate change, but because our contention mechanisms (purpose, community) are often lost in today's society.
It was a sad story with him then, and I don't know how his story continued, how he is today. I have met other people along the way who were anxious, and I believe that we have somehow managed to cut the logical ties between past, present, and future.
Nobody can really count on anything anymore, as everything can be changed tomorrow – or in a minute. For the individual, who sees, for instance, how a job can disappear, even if the company just days before spoke about long commitments and a trustful atmosphere. And politicians can decide to vote against everything they normally stand for, changing the direction of the society in important ways. And war can break out.
We are really not good at maintaining a continued story for people to feel connected to. So, this young man was perhaps more realistic than most others: he felt what was probably more correct than the fake safety that the rest of us felt.
People need to know that they can trust their surroundings, and they need themselves to feel trusted. Only then, they can be calm and look ahead.
I was just talking to someone yesterday about what you wrote; "Because, if nobody believes in the future, there won’t be any." Fighting the good fight when you cannot see what's ahead is a challenge, but isn't that called faith? How many of us can have faith without a religion? I digress, but an important topic, Jorgen.
Faith is where knowledge ends, I used to say. The universe is so much bigger than what our minds can hold, and, hence, we cannot "know" everything, we just have to believe something where the knowledge ends.
Faith can be in actual things working in actual ways. You can have faith in the staircase being able to support you, so that you will not crash through it when entering it. We use this kind of faith a lot in our lives. Actually, we rarely know very much, we just have to trust that things will work out.
Faith, in the sense that there will be a devine being assisting when we ourselves do not suffice, is a different matter. Some people feel that this is needed to trust the future – that nothing will happen without some external planning and control by the divine. But others rely on people to behave nicely on the basis of humanist principles, which are entirely built-into us as a set of thoughts, opinions and behavioral patterns.
When religion steps in, it often develops into more than just the faith in a divine being. It becomes a set of norms that may or may not fit the situation (often being of older date, having survived as traditions). These norms may be followed by prejudices, rules, duties, and restrictions that can tie the individual up in a pattern so solid that it prevents movement.
Religion can also be freeing, in that it allows for faith to fill the gaps in knowledge. Allows for trust to step in where we cannot predict the future.
But as most of our future is controlled by people, I don't think that this kind of faith can go alone – we need to trust people, most of all.
In a society where we cannot trust others, we can lose the sense of direction, the trust in the future. The point is, we shape the future ourselves, together. There are some additional elements that we are not in control of, but much of it we are, and at least, the parts that we plan for are usually the parts we have control over, or where we should be able to trust that others, with the control, will act according to the human principles and behavioral patterns, that we trust them to follow.
I am not saying that religion is without value, and I know that some people are capable of directing all faith and trust into the religion, basically using this to excuse the misbehavior of other people (and their own) and to accept that nothing can be planned, everything is the act of a god. It works for some. Not for all. Many will still need to be able to trust people.
There are, currently, so many direct influences from people who misbehave that it can be difficult for an individual to see how it should be possible to navigate through this and still preserve their own ideas and dreams. And, sooner or later, that kills the dream of life – none of us are strong enough to fight against everything; we need to be able to trust something and some, to reduce the scope of the challenge of life.
it absolutely is a communal effort, Jorgen and as you said, without trust it cannot happen. Creating more and more communities is probably our only hope. I do believe though that this culmination of tragedies will continue to show us where the best of humanity is. COVID was one example. Look at all the good that came out of that.
I can understand this young man in some way. It's different wanting to die than feeling that impending sense of doom. It floods me every time I think about climate change or notice its effects. And yes, it is society's fault. Not only because of climate change, but because our contention mechanisms (purpose, community) are often lost in today's society.
It was a sad story with him then, and I don't know how his story continued, how he is today. I have met other people along the way who were anxious, and I believe that we have somehow managed to cut the logical ties between past, present, and future.
Nobody can really count on anything anymore, as everything can be changed tomorrow – or in a minute. For the individual, who sees, for instance, how a job can disappear, even if the company just days before spoke about long commitments and a trustful atmosphere. And politicians can decide to vote against everything they normally stand for, changing the direction of the society in important ways. And war can break out.
We are really not good at maintaining a continued story for people to feel connected to. So, this young man was perhaps more realistic than most others: he felt what was probably more correct than the fake safety that the rest of us felt.
People need to know that they can trust their surroundings, and they need themselves to feel trusted. Only then, they can be calm and look ahead.