Month: April 2017

A risky endeavor 

God Seeker GuyLeave a comment

The perfect allegory for religion is to lay under a huge barren tree in winter, look up and observe the thousands of bare branches. A risky endeavor since most birds are not toilet trained, however with some degree of caution you can get a little insight into how religions have grown and branched out over the centuries.

Each tree has the potential to blossom and bear fruit, it can then provide shelter and food. However those same blossoms can block your view and the fruit can become bitter. If each tree were a single religion with its various sects and cults, then we must accept that it’s easy to get lost in the forest.

“The process of discovery involves traveling down many paths that lead to dead ends…”

Alright, enough with the silly metaphors. The point is that religion has become so diversified over the centuries that it’s difficult to find a place to belong. Those of us who prefer to choose a region rather than acceding to the one we are born to, have so many options, so many possibilities, that this writer has, so far, been unable to embrace any one faith.

That is not necessarily a bad thing, the search is fascinating and at times very rewarding. God Seeker Guy has been able to answer countless questions that have lingered for years simply by keeping an open mind and listening to what others have to say. True, he is unimpressed with what he has seen so far, but it’s the institutions he questions not the need for faith that most of us crave.

A search through his blog will unearth numerous contradiction of course, for that GSG does not apologize. The process of discovery involves traveling down many paths that lead to dead ends, that is the price we pay for discovering the truth, whatever that may be.

So pick a tree, any tree and see where it leads you.

GSG (God Seeker Guy)

The wisdom bot

God Seeker GuyLeave a comment

Wisdom is fast becoming obsolete. Through the ages wisdom of the older generation was valued by the community. History was passed along, language was preserved and numerous skills were conserved. After a long working life it was assumed the older members of the family new a thing or two about life and were respected by the community and family. While God Seeker Guy is perhaps a bit of a Luddite, he is not blind to the changes technology is bringing to our communities and families.

“The western world has become alarmingly accustomed to discarding anything that elicits boredom.”

Technology is eroding the contribution of the older generation. We won’t need to ask for advice or information from them, it will be stored in computer chips implanted in our brains at birth or offered to us by wisdom bots plugged in next to the toaster. The traditional role of grandparents will evaporate as kids grow up preferring to spend time with their iPads and smart phones when grandparents visit.

The Wisdom Bots and our lives. However, instant gratification is the sure path to loneliness since it takes many years and much compromise, understanding and sacrifice to establish long lasting relationships.

Elon Musk has said that if we don’t embrace artificial intelligence, we as a race will become obsolete. That notion does not bode well for the traditions the older generation has to offer the young.

The new gods of AI will demand total acquiescence and we will look back on the holy books as faulty, irrelevant curiosities. The omnipotent  will retreat, our thinking will be done for us by appliances and we will no longer be available to the gods as playthings.

GSG (God Seeker Guy)

 

Sarcastic seeker?

God Seeker GuyLeave a comment

God Seeker Guy has often been attacked for his negative posture on faith. “Everything you write is either sarcastic or a put down to those of us who have found faith.” observes a reader. Her comments are well taken and duly noted, however she appears to have missed the point of GSG’s writing.

GSG writes for himself, not for others, thus the lack of political correctness and sugar coating in his words. He does not mean to criticize the beliefs of anyone, though it may look that way at times. He is looking at the subject only from his own point of view, however confused that may be.

“Everything you write is either sarcastic or a put down to those of us who have found faith.”

He has great respect and admiration for those who have discovered the tranquillity of faith along with the solace and contentment it presumably brings. In fact knowing when we’re content is probably the secret to life. Recognizing happiness, peace and the genuine love of a good person is very difficult in a world that demands constant change and endless striving.

GSG understands that he is the outcast, he is the one with the “problem”. He respects others for getting on with life rather than squandering heartbeats demanding accountability from the unaccountable and endeavoring to conclude an impossible Sisyphean task.

He doesn’t fear condemnation, attack him, criticize him, challenge him, “dis-like” him, force him to defend his position. Perhaps in this way you will be the one to “save” him, who knows?

Sarcastic Searcher!wishes to join them, but cannot find the key to unlock the riddle others have solved.

GSG (God Seeker Guy)

Rummaging for God

God Seeker GuyLeave a comment

Another heartless weekend had descended upon him and he had only himself for company. Everyone else was busy or at least they wanted it to look busy. He was not one who often found himself lonely but often found himself alone. Unlike the endless pack of laptop rabble that filled the coffee shops in his neighborhood he had no need to look active or engaged.

“He spends much of his time seeking a god that has eluded him or a god that is afraid to face him.”

He has family and friends of course but he is solitary by nature. He gets little energy from people, he finds them exhausting for the most part. He is not anti-social by any means, he can hold a conversation with almost anyone, but given a choice he prefers his own company. He has never looked to others for solace or advice, even as a child he walked for hours on the mashes with his dog for company. Those walks with a good listener shaped  his way of dealing with the world.

He spends much of his time seeking a god that has eluded him or a god that is afraid to face him. Finding God is not important to him, the search is where the real value is to be found. Rummaging around looking for something will often turn up the unexpected. While looking for one thing we may find another. While looking for God we may find truth, who knows?

Struggling to find his place on the planet, he has sought his own path without influence from others. This of course is virtually impossible since we are impacted by others even without knowing it. The struggle to maintain individuality is so difficult in a world dominated by social media, television and acquaintances who want you to be more like them in order to validate their own existence.

This is a man who is ridiculed for saving the life of a spider but who has little concern for the future of humanity. He will give money to the derelict on the street without judgement but offers no comfort to those who ask for his prayers, they must go elsewhere.

This man —one of many among us—has imagination and courage and so refuses to be lead to the trough of religious mediocrity.

GSG (God Seeker Guy)

Father, the Son and the Holy Bot

God Seeker GuyLeave a comment

Human beings are strange creatures indeed. We look at the stars, feel the wind in our hair, the rain on our face and invent gods to explain it all to ourselves. We place ourselves at the centre of the universe assuming that the human condition is the only one of any real importance. We have a shock coming our way.

Due to our so called superior intelligence and our supreme ability ignore those things that are working against us, we will soon be implanting computer chips in our brains supplied by the artificial intelligence scientists and their fellow ghouls.

“…if our programmers choose eliminate the religion virus, where does that leave the Almighty?”

Imagine the comical scenario when the day arrives that some of us attend confession  just to be attended by a Holy Bot set up in the booth to council us and forgive us our sins if it sees fit to do so. Priests will be out of work like many others and artificial intelligence will become less artificial and humans – as we know them –   will become a curiosity.

All of this change poses an interesting question. If we humans are no longer available to believe in the Gods, if our programmers choose to eliminate the religion virus, where does that leave the Almighty?

The stars don’t believe in God, wind, rain and the animals don’t believe in God. If we no longer need religion to explain the mysteries of the world to us, perhaps it is time to face the truth and accept that we will have a new programmer, a real programmer, one that will be equally mysterious in its ways but definitely more existent and unforgiving.

The new Gods will be be robots designing better robots, there will be no room for the foibles of humans beings. The wind in our hair and the rain on our face should be seen as a warning of the coming storm.

GSG (God Seeker Guy)