h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Some of you may be aware that I was, not long ago, undergoing something of a 'crisis of conscience'. As is often the case with such things, that was not the end, but merely the catalyst for a strange and eventful journey that has recently seen me placed in a curious situation, which not only suggests the way to go on from here in the vaguest terms, but also that I was already going in the right direction.

Even stranger, although I came to this conclusion independently, it is nothing that was not described and followed millenia before my birth, and (somewhat irritatingly) isn't actually a way to absolute truth so much as a roadmap to everywhere.

It all started when a little detective work uncovered some unpleasant truths about my church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I won't bother discribing them, since anyone interested can simply direct themselves to my previous journal entries. They were, after all, no more than a catalyst for the simple logical deduction that followed.

My problem was, simply, that my faith was based around an intensely 'spiritual' experience of a few years ago, which convinced me that I was following a path to absolute truth that required no further qualification.

The practices I discovered led me to question my faith rather seriously, and suddenly I found myself lying in the path of a charging dilemma: either my own subjective experience had misled me, or I had to completely ignore irrefutable proof in the face of my personal beliefs.

If I take route A, then I am forced to ignore my own experience as irrelevant, devaluing both me and my spirituality. If I take route B, I must travel the path of a solipsist, ignoring all facts which don't fit into my world-view. The first destroys my sense of self-worth; the second is pure arrogance on my part.

Of course, there is a middle line. However, simply saying 'take the middle path' doesn't actually solve the problem - it simply delays its solution.

The revelation came when, through a discussion with another young man, I considered my problem in the context of absolute truth (absolute truth is simply the incontrovertible truth or truths on which all reality is predicated). First we ask, is or is there not such a thing as absolute truth? If not, then by definition reality cannot be said to exist in any definite way, since there is a fundamental indeterminacy in its existence - thus, contradiction. We must presume that there /is/ an absolute truth since the alternative is not even possible.

What is the relationship of morality to absolute truth? This looks like a painful question, but the answer is obvious: if there is a definite absolute truth, then since all reality is predicated upon it, any valid moral system can be derived from it.

This might initially look like a pointless deriviation. It says nothing that we do not instinctively or logically realise to be true. Surely there is no one in the world who does /not/ follow a moral system consonant with what they believe to be absolute truth?

However, it is directly and supremely important in consideration of my own situation. My concept of absolute truth has been pulled from under my feet, and I no longer have anything on which to build a moral system. I am trapped in indeterminacy, unable to rely fully on my own judgement or on the judgement of others. I am in moral stasis.

But wait! If all morality depends on absolute truth, then surely to act morally I must find this absolute truth? And further, the only moral way for me to act is to search for absolute truth!

A simple yet profound statement. By now, the logicians amoung you will be asking how this is pertinent to my dilemma. It doesn't actually answer it at all, but it does something far more important: it puts my mind at rest. So long as I am searching for truth as dilegently as possible, considering and analysing my own morality and ACTING AS MORALLY AS I FEEL I CAN, I am acting in the most moral capacity that I can.

Another way to state it would be that the path is at least as important as the goal.

I haven't answered any real, important questions, nor have I solved my dilemma. However, I may have found a way to ignore it as trivial -what is important is to continue searching. I have decided, in complete good conscience, to continue investigating my system of free-will ethics. Finally, I have found peace of mind. I am Zen.

Really, I should just have listened to the Buddhists in the first instance.

- Jordan

Well done for solving (or trivializing) your dilema, Jordan. I'm glad you found peace of mind.

Hi Jordan ,

And welcome to druidry .

Blessings,
Matholwch /|\.

I am glad you have found inner peace.


I believe every one at some point or other has to question there faith and see if what they believe is the truth for you or not.
I have questioned my faith many times yet I always come back to the realisation that I am on the right path.

If you never question your faith then you are following blindly and that is stupid, it is when people do this that bad things happen.

Adib

Hi, Jordan. Although I would never have said so, I had heard some doubtful things about the LDS experience...
That doesn't mean that your experience was invalid... it may have been pointing you in another direction! ? ???
I am glad you have found a path, *wherever* it leads you. You know what they say (I have no idea who) - it is better to travel hopefully than to arrive.
(As someone who has suffered horribly from car sickness all my life, that always seemed a grimly unpleasant saying, but I'm applying it metaphorically here...)

i think this is the one Jordans not subscribed to... there should be another one with the same name that he is...

Thanks Anthea, I replied to him on that one as well, I hope he gets it!