THE WRONG THING
HOW NOT TO HAVE PEACE IN THE WORLD
What is wrong in Littleton, Yugoslavia, Iraq, Palestine, Ireland, China, Russia, India, Congo, Pakistan, Indonesia, Philippines, Columbia, Somalia, USA, Israel, Iran, - (add your own here).
With our world in disarray and at war with itself, we must ask ourselves the big question, WHY?
If you want peace in the world and in your own life, you must eliminate those things which bring confusion, hostility, turmoil and trouble to the earth. You must learn to listen to reason. You must learn to accept evidence which is provable and reject those things which are untrue and which are against our own humanity. You must learn to use the mind and brain with which nature has so graciously endowed you. You must learn to compromise.
The major portion of ALL our troubles rest in our stupid herding instincts (following the leader) and in our quest to obtain SOMETHING FOR NOTHING!
We wish to be knowledgeable and intelligent without studying. We wish to be wise and educated without learning how to think honestly. We wish to be rich without working and planning for it. We wish to be healthy without practicing the healthy things. We wish to be happy without doing those things which produce happiness in our own life, our neighbor's and in the life of our nation and world. We wish to live forever without endowing our science with the tools it needs to increase our own life span. We wish for a world with plenty of room for everyone, but we over populate like a bunch of rabbits and rats. We wish to enjoy nature, but we pollute it, cut it down, bulldoze it away and pave it over. I hope you see the point without more examples.
Now, look at the one THING which teaches us all these negative and destructive attitudes listed above. Look at the only THING which is destroying our world and our civilization. Let us analyze this THING which is destroying both our personal lives and the peace and tranquility which our world so desperately wants and needs.
This THING teaches us we can be intelligent and knowledgeable without studying the facts. It teaches us we can be rich without working for it. It teaches us how to be healthy without doing the healthy things. This THING teaches us that happiness is not dependent on our doing those things which will bring happiness to us and others. This cursed THING tells us we can live forever without any science involved what-so-ever. It tells us we need to populate the earth, as rapidly as rats and rabbits. This destroyer of happiness and good teaches us that we are to use nature as we see fit and if we mess up, something will come along and make everything ok again. This terribly destructive THING teaches us that we are better than everybody else. This terrible THING teaches us we can have SOMETHING FOR NOTHING! And there you have it!
Have you guessed what this terrible THING is yet? Here are some more hints. It makes a person believe he is always right in his conclusions. It makes a person think he is better than anyone who doesn't agree with him and his position. This terrible THING divides the world up into hundreds and even thousands of parts. Each part believes only its part is the right part of the world and all the rest of the parts are badly in error and at the least should be isolated into some small corner of the world. At the most, this THING teaches us that the other parts should be eliminated from the face of the earth.
Are you still trying to identify this THING? Here are some more clues. This THING tells you it is more important for you to believe correctly than it is for you to do correctly. This destructive THING tells you IT is the most important THING in the world. In fact, this THING tells you the whole world and universe is made and run for ITS OWN pleasure. This THING tells you that you are only here for ITS OWN fun and joy. Have you gotten it yet?
Of all the things in the world which gives us trouble and disrupts our tranquility and peace, this THING is the worst. This THING is invisible. IT is untouchable. IT can not be proven. IT can not be studied. This terrible THING can not be justified. This THING does not have one single fact or truth to verify it. This THING breaks up into thousands of parts with each part hostile and at war with all the other parts. This THING manufactures and makes up its own morality, concepts, histories and stories.
Those people who point out how terrible this THING is are looked down on, and in many instants are put in prison for having spoken out against this THING. Those people who cry out for relief from this THING are judged to be bad and are not worthy of civil justice. These victims are looked upon as second class citizens. This THING classifies all the bad things it teach us, as GOOD, and this THING calls the good things of society, BAD.
This THING has wormed itself into your government, into your business, into your homes and worst of all, into your minds. This THING is a slave master which enslaves your mind and makes you think you are the only one with a sense of justice, harmony and peace. This THING teaches you that you are always right and all others are always wrong. This SLAVE MASTER insists that you go out into the world and intimidate, threaten, brow beat and persuade others that you are right and they are wrong.
And guess what? These people fall for your false teachings because you have manufactured and developed books, schools and a philosophy which teaches people that knowledge doesn't come from finding and studying the facts. Rather, people have been taught by this THING that you can know the truth by simply accepting what this THING says is true. This THING teaches you that you can get SOMETHING FOR NOTHING by begging for it. So this terrible THING has scrambled your mind to the point where you CAN NOT THINK!
This THING is beginning to sound like the worst idea ever fostered upon the human race. What must we do to send this THING back to the ancient, dark, barbarian past from which it sprang? How may we free ourselves from this mental dungeon which is destroying individuals and putting the peoples of the world at war with each other? How can we help humanity survive this THING? The solution is very simple. It is also very difficult. Because of your concern over the plight of this world, I will tell you how to be personally free from this destructive THING which hangs over all of our heads.
LEARN TO THINK!
Honest Doubting and Honest Thinking are the answers and solutions to escape from this THING. There is only ONE method by which you can arrive at the truth of any matter. That method is to find out the facts, study those facts and form a conclusion which remains true to all the know facts. This is called the scientific method of thinking. That is called using logic in your thinking. But wait! This correct method of arriving at the facts of a matter has been bitterly disputed by the followers of the THING. They have insisted on calling the followers of this correct and logical method of correctly arriving at a fair and just conclusion - Atheists, Heretics and Trouble Makers. That is, to follow the facts, and to honestly think about those facts, and to honestly arrive at a conclusion which remains true to those facts, is to be classified as an Atheist and Trouble Maker by the followers of this THING.
Instead of honestly following the facts, the followers of this THING, tell us there is a second and better method of arriving at the truth of a matter. They tell us the truth of a matter should be determined by the authority who said that something is true. That is, if a high authority says that slavery is a good thing, then beyond doubt, slavery is a good thing. Anyone who disputes this truth is an enemy of the truth and must be dealt with in a most severe manner. Thus, we fought our civil war. And guess what? The authority who claimed in his book that slavery was a good thing, lost the conflict. Hummmm!
This claimed highest of all authority tells us, if one of us is sick, we should not seek the wisdom of science (our doctors). Rather we should beg this highest authority (who gave us our sickness in the first place) to take our sickness away. But this same authority also tells us if our enemies (those who have a different version of this THING) distress us, we should stamp out the evils of these wrong people. These soldiers of righteousness roam the world seeking to stamp out the errors of those who do not recognize the authority and truth of their THING.
So, the Muslims, the Christians, the Hindus, the Orthodox, the Jews and a multitude of other small THINGS, are all roaming the world with arms, bombs, propaganda, tracts, speeches, sermons and the printed word. And why are they doing this? They are all trying to wipe out, or change the minds of those who disagree with their THING. Because if everyone agreed with their version of the THING the world would be at peace. Would it, If that version were Hindu? Baptist, Catholic, Islam, (put yours here).
Now the highest authority for this THING demands that the followers of the THING must disregard their humanity. They must throw aside their ability to honestly and logically think with their brains, which hopefully they still have. These followers must NOT think logically and honestly. Rather, they must BELIEVE what the authority says is true. If there is a conflict between the facts of the matter and their belief, they must throw away the facts, their honesty thoughts and conclusions and accept as true what the authority of their THING says is true.
You have a choice! You can continue to believe in your THING, and if you do, your personal life and the life of our world will continue on to self destruction. Or, you can follow the facts of the matter, learn to be honest in your thoughts, honest in your conclusions and follow what you KNOW to be right in dealing with your fellow men. Do that and you will know personal peace in your life. If enough of us do that, then we can expect some solutions to the destructive events which are happening in our world today.
This THING should be outlawed all over the world. Let the non thinkers, the wishful thinkers, the dumb and the demented follow the THING if they wish to express their ignorance this way. But, they should be halted from sending these life and world destroying beliefs around the world by TV, radio, newsprint and other means of mass dissemination. Let them say the truth and the facts any time and any place. But, they should be halted from teaching the lie and claiming it is the truth straight from the highest authority of this THING.
The problem of the world is, we have so many opinions and versions of the THING fostered upon us by those who can not, or who do not think. The world does not listen to those who honestly and logically gather the facts and who draw honest conclusions from those facts. The world does not listen to those who have learned to think. The world says, "Do not listen to those Atheists. They do not accept our THING. Therefore, they can not possibly be correct."
And there, you have both the problem and the solution to our problem in a nut shell.
BELIEF IS OUR THING.
Belief (our THING) is the most destructive concept in our world today. The ONLY solution is to stop believing and learn to doubt the incredible and untrue claims fostered upon us by the followers of this THING.
HONEST DOUBT IS THE BEGINNING OF WISDOM (and peace).
Doubt is the beginning of wisdom! Honest doubt is the first step on the road to logical and honest thinking. The worst sin claimed by the followers of the THING is to doubt . According to the THING, It is honest doubt which will keep you from receiving all the good rewards in the present and the future which the followers of the THING claim. In other words, honest doubt is the WORST sin which you can commit against the THING. To honestly doubt and think is to sin . To not think is a divine command.
On the other hand, followers of honest, logical thought say that belief is the very worst sin you can commit against yourself, your family, your community and against humanity. Do you want peace in your own life and in the world. Then do the best thing for everyone concerned. Learn to honestly doubt and think. That is the first law of Atheism. The second law to which all thinking Atheists subscribe is:
"Do not do to others that which you would not wish done to you."
And do not forget:
HONEST DOUBT SAVES!
Thomas E. Blaylock jr.
<dubious@ntn.net>
23 April 1999
updated: 03/08/04