Philosophy

Hello everyone,
I have been thinking about what to write this week and I decided that I would post one of the papers I have written for class. This one is a personal reflection paper for my Anthropology class. In it we were asked to write about our ideas on a variety of topics about humanity. For example these might be: what is a human?, what is human happiness?, what is it all for in the end?, what is the role of religion in humanity? and such like that.
I assume that my thoughts on these topics will grow over my time in seminary and my whole life, but this is what I wrote for now.
I hope you enjoy.
Peace,
Adam
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In thinking about this writing assignment I am fairly excited about it. I am going to write a bit about my personal philosophy of life. I do anticipate that my philosophy of life will change over my time here at seminary. I think that it will be very interesting to look back on this paper at the time of my Ordination, to see how my ideas have changed and how they haven’t over the time that I am in seminary.
My personal philosophy doesn’t get into all the tiny details of a definition; it is more a conceptual way of looking at things. When I say that I don’t worry about the definitions as much as some others do I mean that the definitions that I use may be a bit broader, and could be used to capture other items than just what I am defining. This look at definitions may be a challenge for some, but I tend to rely on a common understanding of the topics I am talking about.
One example of this outlook on more open definitions is the idea of what it means to be human. I don’t tend to worry about that issue since to me it is an almost intrinsic quality that makes a human. I think that someone either will recognize what makes a human on their own, or the wording of a definition won’t have much effect on them. My definition of a human is a sensing mammal created in the image of God with an eternal soul. There isn’t much there for people to go on who don’t have an idea of what that means already. I could get into the details of most humans being mobile biped creatures, but there are some other creatures that would fit this, and some humans that wouldn’t. I could describe our senses a bit more, but some people are lacking some of the senses while some other creatures have the same ones. The idea of a soul could be used as a distinguishing characteristic, however, there is much debate of what a soul is, and there is no way to say who/what has a soul other than saying that just humans do… a circular argument. Therefore, I think that the intrinsic knowledge of what is a human should be something that we can accept as known by others… if not, then we would be at a loss to go any deeper anyways.
The idea of human happiness may be even harder to define than that of what it means to be human. Assuming that we can accept a general idea of what a human is would of course be the first step. I think that happiness can come in so many forms. There can be happiness for some which others would find to be merely satisfaction. There can also be happiness which could seem to be joy. Happiness can appear to some as love.
I think that happiness is a bit more of a “catch-all” phrase for all of these. I think that at some times what others would term satisfaction can be true happiness, when it comes after a period of complete discontent. Happiness can also mean joy for some, a time when we experience pleasure in one or many areas of our life. I believe that these two forms, while being true forms of happiness are also quite temporary. I think that the greatest definition of happiness would be equated by some as love. This can be a romantic love, the love of friends, and the love of material or self. Even greater than that is a true sense of love for all that is around you, and all that comes from God, and thus a love for God himself. This is what true happiness is for humans. I think that the other definitions which I mentioned are mere reflections of this kind of happiness.
The role of humans in the whole of God’s creation is a question that we won’t find the answer to until the coming of God’s kingdom, if it is even revealed to us at that point. Our first and most important role is to love God and to help others to love God. In doing so we are to care for all of His creation and works. I think that this is the main niche that we fill here on Earth.
I don’t know how to begin writing about what roll we play in the creation outside of Earth. Maybe God did make other creatures similar to us in other parts of the cosmos, if so we wouldn’t be the only ones who are supposed to love Him. I think that we can’t rule that idea out, but need to simply accept the things we do know and understand that God will work with us in our own way.
I don’t think that anyone can answer the question of what our place is in the cosmos other than God Himself. We aren’t all knowing as He is so we just have to accept what we do know, and as we know more we have to grow to understand that this is how He works in the world.
On the question regarding what is this all leading to I can only go on what the Church teaches and I believe. I believe in the eternal life of the soul, in Heaven or in Hell. I believe that all who have faith will be raised up with Christ into the Kingdom of eternal glory. I really don’t know what that means or what it will look like, but I trust that it will be great. I believe as has been said, “Eye has not seen, ear has not heard what God has ready for those who love Him.”
I am truly not trained in the theology of salvation. I don’t have that great of a grasp on what is understood through millennium of teachings as to who can be saved and who can’t. I do know first of all that those who put their trust in Christ and his forgiveness will be saved. I think that the greatest way to show this trust and faith is through participation in the Sacraments of the Church that He founded. I also believe that while it may take more time in Purgatory all Christians, whether or not they participate in Christ’s Church will be saved.
My area of being unclear on what this all leads to is the thought of salvation for those who don’t have a strong faith in Christ. I believe truly what Christ said about Himself being the way, but I struggle with the idea of what that means for those whom haven’t yet made the choice to believe, as long as they don’t outright reject Him. I do believe that those who reject Him are choosing their eternity to be separated from God. Even the Church, in its enormous wisdom teaches that we rely on the mercy of God for those who haven’t been taught about Him. I question and struggle with what level of knowledge is enough that a person is seen as rejecting Christ. The God that I know and love will take into account those to whom he wasn’t presented in a sufficient way for them to accept His saving grace.
For me the idea of religious belief does play a huge role in humanity. Probably not in any individual as we all know people who have rejected all religious belief, but for humanity on the whole it is an essential. I think that God put the need for faith and religion in us as an essential part when He created us. This can be seen from the evidence that no society has ever grown up without having a religion, whether it be a monotheistic faith as in Christianity, Judaism, or Islam, or it be a polytheistic as in Hinduism or many of the ancient religions. I think that the need for organized religion even shows in traditions that base on the spiritual rather than a deity, most of those (of which Buddhism is a great example) eventually morph into a religious ideal with practices and/or some level of higher beings.
I think that religion is a strong part of humanity purely from societal reasons as well. I believe that the moral codes found in religion assisted humanity in survival during challenging points in evolutionary history. Although most religions have had times where violence was allowed to a certain extent, there is also a strong sense of peace and doing good for others in most religions. I think that this has helped humans evolve into the beings that we are. In society, those with religious beliefs may be more likely to help others survive, and thus someday that person might help them, assisting the species and society in growing into what it is today.
I think that God put the desire for religion in us when we were made so that humans would go through the full process to discover who He is. I think that he revealed the truth of His nature when He felt that we would be ready and able to accept and at least somewhat understand. When God started to reveal Himself through the Jewish prophets is when He thought that our societies had advanced enough to accept Him and move ourselves towards salvation. Obviously, there have been setbacks in this process, but God’s infinite mercy allows us to keep moving forward in advancing the Kingdom.