Agnosticism

Agnosticismul este concepția filozofică potrivit căreia adevărul anumitor afirmații, mai ales afirmații teologice privind existența unui Dumnezeu sau a unor zei, este fie necunoscut, fie imposibil de aflat.

http://ro.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnosticism

Mi-am dat seama, la un moment dat( în timpul acestei crize în desfăşurare), că expresii de genul: „poate ne ajută bunul Dumnezeu”, sau „numai El ne mai poate ajuta”, mi se par inutile, irelevante, şi mai presus de toate, nu-mi mai provoacă nici milă, nici indignare, nu-mi mai provoacă nimic. Îmi sunt indiferente, pentru că religia personală a unuia sau a altuia îmi sunt...indiferente. Aşa că, gândindu-mă la asta, mi-am dat seama că asta e exact ce e scris mai sus: agnosticism. Adică, fiind imposibil de aflat, de demonstrat, de arătat, de argumentat, că exista „bunul Dumnezeu”... sau că nu există, a încetat să-mi mai pese de asta. Şi deci, faptul că unul sau altul se exprimă în privinţa lui „Dumnezeu”, sau „Allah”, sau „Iisus”, sau „Zeus”, fie că crede sau nu în asta, este la fel de relevant pentru mine ca erupţia unui vulcan in America de Sud; îmi pare rău de băştinaşi, dar nu mă afectează altfel în nici un fel (mai ales că nu mă uit la TV să mă oripileze imaginile care se presupun a fi informative, sau distracţii de la viaţa cotidiană, sau...ceva).

Poate ar fi mai bine, totuşi, ca toată lumea să fie agnostică. Par să fie semnele unei religii noi adoptate, vrei ca toată lumea sa gândească la fel. Dar mă gândesc doar la controversele iscate pe teme teologice, de la războaie până la simple certuri la coadă la carne, în privinţa a ceea ce este sau nu de post, chiar dacă postitul îmi pare doar o tradiţie cu slabe legături religioase. Să fie oare aşa rău întipărit în natura umană dorinţa de a presupune, teama de necunoscut, în lipsa unui adevăr, fie acel adevăr fundamental important?

Pentru cei care cred ca agnosticii sunt atei, sau necredincioşi, o să specific de unde s-a format cuvântul(greacă veche) – „a”-fără „gnosis”-cunoaştere, deci NU ŞTIU, ceea ce nu înseamnă NU CRED. Este simpla afirmaţie că nu am nevoie să cred în ceva, şi pentru că am de ales, nici nu vreau să mă gândesc până acolo încât să imi bat mintea cu ceva ce oricum nu pot demonstra; sau dacă aş demonstra, acest fapt nu mi-ar schimba cu nimic acţiunile sau comportamentul, doar modul de a gândi, irelevant pentru cei din afara cercului de interacţiune socială a fiecăruia, iar pentru cei din cerc, relevant doar pentru a avea încă ceva care să menţină acel cerc o împrejmuire plină de gândiri comune, ca o mulţime de-a matematicii, în care mulţimea B e plină de fanatici adverşi şi de neînţeles.

Definiţia termenului agnosticism esteo axiomă banală, de genul apa e udă, sau burlacii sunt necăsătoriţi, cu toate astea acest adevăr absolut nu este suficient, este, de fapt, printre puţinele adevăruri absolute pe care rasa umană nu le ia în considerare, pentru că...

The rear-view mirror

A quiet road in the middle of nowhere will eventually lead somewhere. But for this man driving his car it seems the road is endless.

“I must’ve taken a wrong turn…But where? The road is straight and it was light outside…there was no sign to turn, nor any intersections…perhaps I should’ve listened to my mother…she’s always the one to listen…I hope my car won’t let me down again…but it seemed so right to leave today… I’ve been driving for so long… I hope the road leads to…where am I going again? I’m so lost…” Despair and anger have taken over his mind. He couldn’t remember where or why he went on the road that day. It’s dark now, but it’s not the darkness of the road troubling him, it’s his destination and … something else he just can’t put his finger on…

“I can’t turn around now, my car doesn’t have enough gas… there’s no one around and the music stopped a while ago… why did the music stop? Where could I be that no radio is on? I’ve got to snap out of this state of mind… but how?” His eyes closed for a second as if he was trying to extract those dark thoughts as you pull out bad teeth…but it didn’t work… as he opened his eyes the darkness seemed to grab his car with an imaginary black hand…soon that hand will reach the window… so he stepped on the break and the car stops leaving skid marks on the road...

“What’s happening to me? Where am I going? What is this road? Where am i?” He got out of the car and ran towards the headlights to try and see if there’s anything else other than that road. He was on a road through a forest, there were trees on both sides and the road was straight, both ends in darkness. He tried to see through the trees, but the darkness of the forest was stronger than the moonlight. He walked back into the car, thinking he’d just drive until something will point him in the right way. He looked in the rear-view mirror as reflex. He noticed something strange. He wasn’t in the reflection… his image was…but it seemed it wasn’t him. He was looking at someone in the mirror and knew it was him, but the image he was looking at seemed to be from another place… the place on the other side of that mirror. As he stared into the mirror to try and understand that feeling, he thought he saw something…way back into the forest there was a small light and above it smoke.

“Finally, some hope…”

He turned his head to see it with his eyes and not through the mirror. There was nothing there. He looked back into the mirror to see that light again. The feeling came back; he was still looking into the mirror as if he was on the wrong side of the mirror. The light he saw was a fire, and the smoke came from that light…

“Who would start a fire in the forest at night? And why am I seeing it only in the mirror? Why am I feeling danger? The fire is clearly far away… Maybe I started the fire? But how could i? I was in my car for a long time and that’s a small fire…it would’ve spread quickly through the forest. Wait…what time is it? Is this thing broken? It was 4:30 an hour ago… “

The police report also said 4:30…

The music box

The night crawled over the city and all was dark. The wind was reading a paper all over the street, and the moon was terrified behind a dark cloud that was about to burst into tears.

At the subway, three people were waiting for the final train of the day, obviously late. Mr. Jones was a salesman that had a rotten day, not because of his sales, but because his wife expected her anniversary present and he couldn’t leave the room for that half an hour needed to buy the fucking gift…the other two people were a married couple from a small countryside town that had just moved into the big city hoping that just being in a place like that would bring them fortune and fame, instead they found out about all human idiosyncrasies and about the socially unaccepted behavior that lead them to poverty and day to day living as door to door salespersons. So James and Mary started living the life as they were supposed to in the big city, and as their companion on the train station started lying their asses off in order to get what they always wanted…more money. The night train finally arrived looking as creepy as it could get, and squeaking those breaks so loud that one would think they were about to wreck the old train. All three got into the same cart, and even if the train was on his first stop, an odd man was already there. Surprised at first the three passengers got into the train thinking he was the maintenance man or something like that. The man wore all black clothes and a black hat, and his face was covered all but the eyes, and his eyes were also black. His eyes also had the strangest red lines as if the man was tired, but his big eyes seemed so exposed and following everyone around. As the train left in a hurry, the man opened his long black coat and reached into a side pocket for a white little music box. All the other three looked at him freaking out about the possibility that the man would actually open the lid of that creepy looking old thing. But the man didn’t open the music box; he just held it in his lap as he was waiting for something. Mary looked at James as this was the first good thing that happened to them all day. Mr. Jones swiftly opened his eyes widely, and his face brightened up as a child on Xmas morning that was about to receive a gift. He thought he could ask the man to sell him the music box, and Mrs. Jones wouldn’t sacrifice him as a lamb for Easter. James also smiled thinking that the music box would be a perfect gift for a neglected wife that just had a horrible day. The train rushed into the tunnel and squeaked at every curve, but suddenly it stopped. The lights were turned off and then in a few minutes on, but those few minutes were enough to frighten all three passengers. The man still held the music box quietly, and his eyes were the same as if nothing had happened. Mary stood up to adjust her dress, and as she rose from James’s arms, she thought to ask the man if he was alright. But the thought scared her, because the man’s face was covered and so was his mouth. She still asked, and the man bowed silently to answer the woman’s question. She sat down in the same place, and her inner self was happy-pleased that she had the courage to ask. The man’s eyes started to look frightful as both men, James and Mr. Jones, stood up at the same time, and walked towards the same place next to the man with the music box. They both asked at the same time: “How much for the music box?”. The eyes of the man seemed happy and both Mr. Jones and James thought the man would say his price and then they would both bid for the prized music box. Instead, the man opened the box; although no sound came from it, all three passengers of that train cart stood up and covered their ears. It wasn’t the squeaking sound of train’s wheels; it wasn’t any noise they had ever heard before; they couldn’t even define it as a noise because it was the sound of their own lies, all of their deceit, all they ever said that wasn’t true, all coming to their ears, all at once. They all started screaming, and the sound rose to cover the sound of the train’s wheels. The train was approaching another station. A young girl and her mother awaited the train as any other night. They were at the doors of the cart with the four people already in it, and then those doors opened. The little girl started screaming, but it wasn’t because she heard the indefinable sound, her lies weren’t so many, and she didn’t even hear much of that sound. But inside that cart Mr. Jones, Mary and James, they were all dead…the man with the music box disappeared so all the girl and her mother could see were the three bodies of those pathetic liars, whose lies finally caught up with them. They couldn’t lie any more. Their lies were useless in front of the music box that showed them how much pain their lying brought to others, and their only reason for what they’ve done was…money.

Everybody Lies

Ion Minulescu- Romanţe pentru mai târziu (1908)

Celei care minte

Eu ştiu c-ai să mă-nşeli chiar mâine...
Dar fiindcă azi mi te dai toată,
Am să te iert -
E vechi păcatul
Şi nu eşti prima vinovată!...

În cinstea ta,
Cea mai frumoasă din toate fetele ce mint,
Am ars miresme-otrăvitoare în trepieduri de argint,
În pat ţi-am presărat garoafe
Şi maci -
Tot flori însângerate -
Şi cu parfum de brad pătat-am dantela pernelor curate,
Iar în covorul din perete ca şi-ntr-o glastră am înfipt
Trei ramuri verzi de lămâiţă
Şi-un ram uscat de-Eucalipt.

Dar iată,
Bate miezul nopţii...
E ora când amanţii,-alt'dată,
Sorbeau cu-amantele-mpreună otrava binecuvântată...
Deci vino,
Vino şi desprinde-ţi din pieptenul de fildeş părul,
Înfinge-ţi în priviri Minciuna
Şi-n caldul buzei Adevărul
Şi spune-mi:
Dintre câţi avură norocul să te aibă-aşa
Câţi au murit
Şi câţi blesteamă de-a nu te fi putut uita?...

Eu ştiu c-ai să mă-nşeli chiar mâine...
Dar fiindcă azi mi te dai toată.
Am să te iert -
E vechi păcatul
Şi nu eşti prima vinovată!...

Deci nu-ţi cer vorbe-mperecheate de sărutări,
Nu-ţi cer să-mi spui
Nimic din tot ce-ai spus la alţii,
Ci tot ce n-ai spus nimănui.
Şi nu-ţi cer patima nebună şi fără de sfârşit,
Nu-ţi cer
Nimic din ce poetul palid
Cerşeşte-n veci de veci, stingher,
Voi doar să-mi schimbi de poţi o clipă
Din şirul clipelor la fel,
Să-mi torni în suflet înfinitul unui pahar de hidromel,
În păr să-mi împleteşti cununa de laur verde
Şi în priviri
Să-mi împietreşti pe veci minciuna neprihănitelor iubiri.
Şi-aşa tăcuţi -
Ca două umbre, trântiţi pe maldărul de flori -
Să-ncepem slujba-n miez de noapte
Şi mâine s-o sfârşim în zori!

Dear Dad (II)

I’ve never been one to pay attention, so this is what I found out lately about your test subjects “humans”-- although anything can be fixed:

- They believe you are almighty and all-knowing, yet they think that somehow I do all the bad things
- They believe that they can talk to you, yet they don’t know whether you really exist, and they have something called “psychology”, that tells them that talking to imaginary friends is insane
- They believe that some time ago you were born as one of them, or a part of you (something missing perhaps here), and then you were killed, and then you resurrected so that all their sins were redeemed—probably feeling guilty about all the killing they did so far, they thought to kill a man that imagined to be your son and a part of you (if that’s not a clue of insanity I don’t know what is). They would be redeemed when they die and come to be judged by you…as if souls exist after death with the same body, even though they know about decomposing bodies after death
- They believe that you were born by a virgin, even though they know were babies come from (with genetics and all)
- They believe I’m in the ground punishing people for sins they’ve done during their lifetime, by burning them, again even though they don’t really have a body after death.
- They still believe angels have wings, because that’s the way people knew stuff could fly when they had no Physics knowledge
- They believe that they are alone in their universe because they can’t see anyone else, and that they could destroy their planet (and apparently vanity is my favorite sin, even if it comes as a natural trait for most of them)

These are just a few of the things I’ve noticed lately and, honestly, they kinda’ bother me. Why am I the bad guy? Before that story of Adam and Eve, ridiculous and confirmed to be absurd by genetics, I was just an angel who rebelled; then Michael kicked my ass and then this story claims that I tempted Eve as a snake; why would I do that? I am the LIGHT BRINGER, I bring light, knowledge. They are constantly searching for knowledge, yet they don’t realize who is helping them achieve it.

Anyway, hope to see you soon.

Your beloved son

LUCIFER

Dear Dad

Please tell my brothers to stop messing up my toys. They blame it on me, but these are my toys, why would I break them? Hope to see you soon; you've been gone for quite some time.

Your beloved son,
LUCIFER

Eve

It seems that the hot afternoon won’t be over. It’s as if the sun is holding a grudge against someone and by all means in its possession that person must be dead.

A girl is standing in front of her painting. She heard that she should paint whatever she felt like, so she painted the city and above it a huge red sun. She always paints what she feels. Her city, in the painting, is dark-red as she is. And it was true. The city was hot, but depressed. The local TV stations reduced their schedule to four hours; their last announcement sounded apocalyptical. They all said the same phrase:
“We are shocked to inform you that our schedule will be reduced. It is as hard for us as it is for you. We are yet to be informed about what is going on. Please do not panic. We try not to.”

Since last week, the Sun kept coming closer to the Earth. NASA refused to comment. They said that both Earth and Sun trajectories are not as they expected and that they don’t know why this has happened...

The air conditioner is set to freezing but the room just keeps warming up. The colors of the painting dry as the brush hits the cloth. A knock on the door scares Eve- the girl, and her brush suddenly strikes the red hot sun with a black line, but only in her painting. It was the neighbors’ kid. Eve rushed to the refrigerator to get the boy a glass of water. Upstairs a door closed and the boy’s parents came down to get the boy. They were moving north to a cousin. Even though they had little gas and the roads going north were packed, they had to try to get to a colder zone.
They all watch in terror as their water supply is turned on for merely an hour a day, and their electricity is being greatly conserved. Food and water are growing to be extremely scarce.

Eve is standing by the window. She can’t shake a strange feeling that this is a dream, and the real world is cold, and windy, but she thinks that might just be wishful thinking. Everything seems to be chaos. The stores are wide open, but the food is limited because of the effects of heat over it. Networks run inertial but no one calls or has time for the internet. Only the few that had surrendered the doom.

As time progresses, and as the temperature grows higher and higher, Eve seems to give up hope and her mind seems to stray to those strange memories where her greatest worry was money.

On her last glass of water, her whole body covered in sweat, she got off the couch and saw the sun. It covered most of the sky. Everything around her had a melting texture. The side of the window was so hot that it burnt her skin when was touched. She screamed “Why don’t I just burn up?” and then fainted.

The rules of the Universe are still unknown to humans. The Sun and the Earth are just two pieces of an infinite side of things and we might as well be just dust in the whole scheme that evolved involuntarily through the ages because someone forgot to turn off the light. Or turn off the Suns.