Liquered up Logic!

So I decided to finally change my blog title and link. It used to be dadcanihavesomecrackerjacks.blogspot.com and called The Caffeinated Philosophy Experiment. Now it is Liquered up Logic! I chose this title because not only do I love alcohol and logic/philosophy but I think it is pretty funny as well, since most of the time drunk people are not very logical.

I just want to give a quick update on my summer, basically I have had one month down and three more to go until back to school. I am so pumped for next year because I am taking more philosophy courses than usual, it is about half philosophy and half psychology, since I am doing a double-major. I considered dropping my psychology major because I enjoy philosophy a lot more than psych, but my school is pretty much rundown so it may not even be possible to complete a philosophy major... actually I know it would be possible, literally JUST possible to complete it, but I don't want to risk more courses being cut next year.

My school is not the smartest around, but I love my professors. It is just the admit/finances that are thrown off. It still offers a major in philosophy and for first year students entering this year: there are not even enough courses available for this major unless they add more philosophy courses in later years for them.

Anyways. One month down, and three to go. I am not in a hurry at all, but I am looking forward to August. I get my inheritance then (oh my I sound so fancy and rich but I am really not). I need the money so badly. I am only getting 12-20 hours at my job currently. I got a second job recently but I haven't started yet. I am waiting for my police background check to go through. Which I think is ridiculous that I had to do one, but I understand why. That job is only 12 hours a week, but at least thats more than what I was getting before. Either way, I need the hours badly right now. Nick and I both need more money, and he is working full time and earning more than minimum wage right now.

My favourite thing with people my age is being excited when "earning more than minimum wage". Full-time work and earning minimum wage is $22,880 a year, which is nothing. In Ontario minimum wage right now is $11.00 an hour, which is way more than when I started work. The thing with minimum wage is that people are trying to raise it... and it does raise in October up to $11.25 an hour. That brings yearly earnings up to $23,400. Sure, every little bit helps but come on. I pay $4500 in rent (and I have low rent) and I do not even have full-time hours... you are LUCKY to find full-time, especially living in a student city. I applied for 3 jobs that I am 100% qualified for, sales which I have over a year of experience in, barista work which I have experience in and library work which I have 4 years of experience in. I got the job at the library but I didn't even get the best highest paying job out of the three jobs offered. It's rough out there.

Anyways. I am looking forward to August. I am also looking forward to September 3rd... which is when I might be getting married... (but you didn't hear that from me). So Nick and I have been engaged for maybe 10 months now, and I have been trying to plan the wedding the whole time. The problem is that we don't want to spend more than $5000, and are even trying to keep it under $2500 and we were booking too early at first for a wedding next year and then we decided we wanted to get married this year and it was too late to book. I finally found a place I like and is priced reasonably and I am working on booking it for September 3rd, a thursday. Just before back to school. But for those who know me, don't be surprised if that date changes. It has changed about 10 times already. We are either going to have 20 guests or 40 guests, depending on how cheap we can find food. The 20 guests we are having are basically our 5 closest family members and 5 closest friends each. The extra 20 include coworkers, people's partners and distant family, if we choose to invite them.

Everything depends on cost all of the time in our lives and it is driving Nick and I crazy. We are going to be in so much debt forever. If things pan out in our lives education and job wise, we will be fine, but the likelihood of that happening is slim. If Nick gets into law school and gets the perfect jobs and whatnot along the way, we will be fine. If I get into a masters and Phd program in philosophy and get into a university teaching and get tenure, things will be fine. But these two things happening are not super likely to happen. I will probably end up with some kind of office job in a school earning a good $50,000 a year while he will probably end up becoming a computer tech of some kind because that seems to be where he is heading, despite his law-school career that he aims for.

Life, eh?

If you told me 4 years ago that this would be my life right now I would've laughed you away. In the best terms possible without putting myself down too much... I was basically assuming I was going to be a single slut all through university. I didn't want to settle down... ever, and now look what I am doing? I met a guy a few days before school started and now we are getting married.

Anyways, I am rambling on. Thanks for reading this if you did. This is an atypical post for me, usually I talk about other things, I just figured that I would give a life-update type post with my blog-update post.

Money is bogus, am I right?

Please don't call where I grew up "Home"

Just a prelude, I did not do the blog challenge that I was so committed to doing. End of comment.

Anyways...

People like to call where I am from "home". I am not sure why, I have never referred to my mom's house as home since I moved into my apartment with my fiancé. Sure, it is the last house I lived in, technically but it is not home. I hate those cheesy statements like "home is where the heart is" but it is kind of true. Home is with my fiancé in our one-bedroom apartment. It is not in the house I grew up in, it is not in my mom's house now.

The reason I am bringing this up is because people from work and school refer to where I was from before I went to school "my home". Not every student goes to school and goes back home for the summer. Where I stay in the summer is my home. The city I was in before I went to university is not my home, I am not there, am I? No. I am here. Even though I would not call the city I am in now my home either.

Where I am living is my home, I suppose.

But that feeling of comfort associated with "being home" really is in the shared space I have with my fiancé. I am sure wherever we move that it will be home to us. We actually hate the city we live in now, we despise it, so calling it home is not even a pleasure that we partake in.

So that was my small rant for today.

What do you consider to be your home?

Can one be psychic?

I have been pondering on the idea of being psychic lately.

Is it possible to know the future? Can one predict the future?

I honestly didn't think so for the longest time, and I generally still do not.

See, my mom raised me around the age of 10 that psychic ability is real. She encouraged me to read tea leaves, cards and look into crystal balls. One time I thought I saw the world ending in the crystal ball and I cried for like 20 minutes and refused to look into it. I still don't know if I was pretending or if it was real to this day.

I predicted I would have three children and marry a man named Mark. I want no kids and I am marrying a man named Nick... so....

I don't know. It's all weird. I don't think you can predict the future. I think you can estimate the future based on a person's personality and past actions. But even that estimate is not fact.

Why am I thinking about psychicness? My one philosophy prof is somewhat convinced it might be true and talks about it sometimes. Also, I had a psychic prediction that I would meet someone with a super abstract last name a few years ago, and it is coming true. I am scared of other predictions I had of this person, back when I used to think psychicness was real.

I am such a skeptic that it is impossible for me to determine whether or not it is. Right off the bat I want to say "no" it is not real. But certain experiences I have had make me want to say it is.

I don't want to be biased. I don't know. I am starting to think there might be some small truths, but I will not start rely on psychic predictions at all. I don't even have them anymore. My whole family on my mom's side claims to have them and they almost treat me like a relic because I wrote psychicness off for the longest time. I essentially still do, I am just using my skepticism to re-analyze my assumptions.

It's weird, I haven't had any philosophical thoughts like this in a while. School has taken me away from skepticism. I just assume truths now. It's terrible. I need more ambiguity in my thoughts to be able to think about.

That's why I love running. I am able to just think. I realize what has become important to me when I run. Whatever I think about is the top thing that concerns me.

Thanks for following along my confusing considerations. I should totally re-name my blog "Confusing Considerations" hahaha. That's pretty awesome. But I won't.

I'll try to blog soon,

Sarah

Can I call myself a non-conformist?

I used to call myself a non-conformist in high school, yet one of the largest things I claimed to not conform to was high school. I called high school out on all of its bullshit but I stayed and completed my diploma. I did not even want to go to university just because of credentialism and conforming to society's requirements of me. But I am at university.

So now I ask myself, am I even a non-conformist? I kind of dropped this description for myself a while ago.

I don't think it is necessary to declare oneself as practicing a certain philosophy like non-conformity, but I like to be sure of myself. I like to be able to find myself to be easily defined. I don't know. I am precise and weird like that.

So am I a non-conformist?

I am following all of society's conformities but I recognize that I am doing so. The difference between a university student attending university passively because they were told to go and myself is that I made the choice to attend an institution recognized in society as a credible way to get an education.

I do think that most people that are able to recognize the words conformity and non-conformity automatically drift towards non-conformity just because it seems like the more creative... that's not the word I'm looking for... it seems like the more liberal way to go. Not even liberal. It just seems like the choice one should make, I suppose.

Conformity does have its place. Chaos can occur in a non-conformist society but, I don't necessarily fear chaos, although, my character and background do suggest that I do like order. It is nice, but that is because I am in a structured society so I think it is expected.

I don't know. It's a hard call to diagnose myself as a non-conformist. I know that it is weird diction to call this a "diagnosis" but it feels like that is all I am really doing anymore. Trying to find what is wrong with me and what is right. I am just trying to figure out myself, still. I always am.

Whether or not I am a non-conformist is actually pretty irrelevant considering the fact that I consider myself a skeptic. I think. Maybe I am not a skeptic? Any philosopher/skeptic will get that joke. I hope. Please? Come on! That was solid.

Okay now I am just being dorky.

In general I would lean towards saying I am a non-conformist over being a conformist, although I feel like I obviously do not exude the qualities of a non-conformist. I don't refuse to do everything in society but I am aware of conformities in society and have a tendency to avoid them. I think that being a non-conformist is horrible for myself since I am still choosing to live in society. I hate doing assignments and studying in university because I don't think I am learning what I personally want to learn from it. Sure, I am studying subjects I like but I am not studying exactly what I want and not learning what I want either because university is structured learning. What I learn is dictated to me, which I hate. Therefore, my grades have a tendency to suffer since I am not enjoying myself as much and it takes me longer to get around to doing things I don't want to do.

It is not overly crucial for me to analyze whether or not I am a non-conformist, I just thought it was an interesting thought I had and went with it in this blog post. As I said, I just really like figuring myself out. I feel super dorky writing this post because I feel like it was what I blogged about close to a year ago. Not that I was dorkier then (well I was), I just feel like I have moved past a few things in my life and so it feels weird writing this post. I don't know. Here's me, just analyzing and over-analyzing every little detail of what I am writing and my life.

I don't know anything

"I know that I know nothing" - Socrates

In my english and philosophy lectures the concept of knowing nothing and accepting your ignorance. I was perfectly okay with this concept and let it sort of sit in my brain for a while until it hit me.

We actually really know nothing. Well, at least I do not know anything. Mark Edmunson's essay Why Read? which we read in english, essentially stated that one must abandon their past to fully examine a text. We must admit we know nothing, that we are ignorant. It also has a concept of "knowingness" which is essentially what is expressed by academics, they seem to know everything but they really know nothing. This concept is also explored in Plato's "The Apology".

After this sat in my brain for a while I finally absorbed it fully. I absorbed the concept that nobody really knows anything over a year ago. We can't be certain, we can only be almost certain, or likely. But what hit me was that I admire academics way too much.

I see people, maybe not necessarily famous academic geniuses, but teachers, professors and authors as these super geniuses. They get paid to tell me things and they earn money off of the text I am reading, so they must be right, right? Wrong. I was aware of this concept previously too, I just never made the entire connection until this week. Thanks brain.

But academics can't be trusted. Well, they CAN be. But they shouldn't be.

Also, you are not an academic who knows everything if you just know one thing. People frequently feel they are educated in all things when they are experts in one thing. I am really pushing "The Apology" on you, now. I love Socrates. So many people get annoyed with him. I just love dialectics.

Anyways. Don't trust academics. Listen to them without bias and then question the shit out of everything they say. That is my advice.

Don't even listen to me. I realized with my blog I try to be one of these "knowing people" when really, I also know nothing. I just hope that I am somewhat interesting enough to spark people's interests in some academic topic or even a tidbit of my life that can conjure a discussion or just a thought in your mind that keeps you going.

Also, I am still gathering traffic to my blog. So thank-you, traffic that somehow found me when I am never posting. I want to post at least weekly. I just find since I have started university it is so much harder to sit down and actually write out a full blog post. I will try my best. I promise. I also don't make promises, but I'll make an exception for my lovely corrupted readers. I mean, my lovely skeptics! XOXO;)

No, I did not just sign my blog with "XOXO;)". I take that back! Oh well.

Why every student should learn philosophy

I am enrolled in the Philosophy program at my school and I am planning to do a double-major with English and Philosophy. I love to think and to write, so this makes sense for me. Of course these two majors aren't very logical to go for since they don't provide a good job afterwards, unless you want to go to grad school and become a professor or you want to become a teacher.

Most people I know are either "science" or "arts" people. Either they are better at math and science or they are better at arts subjects. The "in betweens" are the social sciences because they sort of combine science and arts, like Psychology and Sociology. I used to want to major in Psych (and I still might) but that is besides the point.

The point is that being an arts student is extremely rewarding. I am not saying "Quick! Everyone go get an arts degree!" I just mean that at some point in your life you should either enrol in a single credit of philosophy, english, history, whatever your arts preference or perhaps just read a lot of literature based on a few subjects. I think it is extremely healthy and although shouldn't be a requirement, should be strongly recommended by most universities to have to have at least 1 credit in an arts subject.

I was reading an article in Macleans (here) about french students who think Philosophy shouldn't have to be a requirement since it doesn't prepare you for the "real life".

The real life?
THE REAL LIFE?

The real life should involve questioning, studying and your mind playing an active role in the understanding of great metaphysical questions and the questioning of ethics. The mind should have to do this. Why? It's simple. Blind commitment. If our society just keeps progressing we are going to start forgetting why we do the things we do. For example, Why do we shop in grocery stores instead of farming? Why do we want to get jobs? These questions are things everyone should have to really think of and answer. It doesn't even have to be ancient philosophy, it should be modern philosophy.

Maybe this is an over exaggeration and a fallacy, but I am just trying to prove to you that it is important to question things and if you have to force a mandatory philosophy credit upon students to get them to start questioning things, then do so.

If I could have it my way, I would have Philosophy a mandatory credit in high school for grade 11 students, just when they are starting to try to figure out their futures. If I could, I would also make philosophy a mandatory credit in university for first year students, although there are no assignments and although the reading is "recommended", the attendance is necessary, you have to pass by having attended something like 95% or even 100% of all classes. This way it barely takes away from your actual subject of study since there is no outside work, just perhaps a 1-3 hour lecture per week, for one or two semesters. That is it. No laptops, as well, so you have to pay attention. If I could have it more my way, again, I would have a seminar once a week as well in small groups so they can discuss what they learned in the lecture earlier in the week.

I want to ponder on my "modern philosophy" point. I think that people should have a healthy skepticism. Maybe the university philosophy course can be chosen more specifically to be a historical philosophy from a certain time period, a general overview or a more "modern" philosophy. Basically, questioning things that are around us today, like I said earlier like "Why do we go to the grocery store instead of farm?". Being able to question these things just makes us understand the world around us, a little more.

But the learning of philosophy or any other arts subject definitely doesn't have to happen in classrooms or lecture halls, it can happen in libraries, on the internet, or even alone.

I do understand how people find the study of things like literature, philosophy and history to be completely useless, but it isn't. People think that since it doesn't lead to a career that it is worthless to society. These people are the ones who tend to forget that getting a career isn't the be-all and the end-all.


If you are interested in learning anything about philosophy in specifics I suggest:
- Starting off with some Plato which is fairly easy to understand or perhaps Nietzsche if you have an advanced reading level and want to be slightly entertained because Nietzsche has some crazy ideas (which I love)
AND/OR
- Just question things around you
AND/OR
- Enrolling in one college credit at the college or university near you, perhaps you can just enrol in a "non-degree" which usually means that you can walk into any class and just pay attention, not get a degree and not have to do any work
AND/OR
- Have fun reading the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy http://plato.stanford.edu/ This is the best resource for everything philosophy. It is highly reliable and you can certainly learn from it. I've used it for research projects in the past but I suppose you could just read it for fun if you wanted to

Having fun expanding your minds!

The unique reason I was told not to major in Philosophy

Hi, my name is Sarah and I am majoring in Philosophy.

Now that the introductions are over because I don't care who you are, I can get to my blog post. That was sarcasm and I feel the need to point it out because I have enough trouble trying to convince people I am not rude.

I have been told by many different people not to major in philosophy. Most people when I tell them my major is philosophy say nothing but there is the odd person that comes out with some weird comment.

Before I get to the unique reason, here is a list of things people have said to me after I told them I was majoring in philosophy:

"So, do you like sciences or maths at all?"

"Haha, so you can find the meaning of life?"

"What's philosophy? Is that like psychology?"

"Why?"

"Who is your favourite philosopher?"

"What are you going to do with that?"

"You know what philosophers do, right?"

"Hahahhahaha"

"You can't do anything with a degree in philosophy"

Usually after I tell people that I am majoring in philosophy they tend to avoid eye contact like I'm some kind of gadfly that's going to fly into their eyes or something.

Anyways, on Tuesday I was talking to 2 psychiatrists (I will explain why I was talking to two psychiatrists in a separate blog post, soon) and I told them I was majoring in philosophy and then they said something along the lines of
"Maybe philosophy isn't the best major for you because your brain is more in the air and you need to stay grounded".

The whole time they were explaining this to me I was thinking about society and stuff I should've probably been telling them but they were pissing me off with that comment.

I was thinking "Yes, my ideas are different, they aren't normal, they aren't 'grounded' but they are realistic."

If I said that I thought my ideas were realistic to them, I think they would've died of laughter.

Why are my ideas realistic? Societally, they are not realistic. I don't think god exists and for some reason that seems preposterous to people. Yet realistically, god doesn't exist.

I don't think life has meaning, I am a nihilist and to society that seems weird. Yet realistically, life has no natural purpose. It has a societal purpose.

My ideas are raw, my beliefs aren't beliefs except when facts don't exist and my ideas are depressing. My ideas are depressing. It feels nice to say that.

But the thing is that since my ideas are depressing, suddenly that makes me not 'grounded' because having depressive thoughts isn't normal. That should be a question not a statement. Are depressive thoughts not normal?

Depressing thoughts are normal. I heard a statistic on the radio that said 1 in 5 people of people are diagnosed with depression or have depression at some point in their life. If 1/5 of people have depression it is not even that far fetched of a thing to have then, is it?

Anyways, I wasn't diagnosed with depression by these psychiatrists, but that's besides the point.

The point is that I am the most grounded person I know. I am more realistic than most people I know. Maybe my ideas aren't the "norm" but they are certainly more realistic than whatever the hell most people are thinking these days. So if being a non-conformist isn't being grounded than I can't wait to start floating the fuck around in my no-gravity zone. There's not much traffic up there, so I don't have to wait or worry about being late to work. I can just float the fuck out of that shit.

Oh goodness, I just realized I said "My ideas are raw" earlier. I am keeping it there for hilarity's sake, but don't you ever let me say that again.


If I told you I was majoring in philosophy, what would you say?
Do you have a weird major or major in philosophy like me, how do you respond to people's comments?

Last week before University ramble

Hi. How are you? That's good, I really don't care.

I am pretty unemotional but I am sure this week is going to be filled with many screams of joy and exhaust.

Let's see, here is my unofficial list:

1. Pack shit the fuck up because I am moving 5 hours the fuck away to go to University.
2. FIGURE OUT WHY MY BACK HURTS. Actually this isn't on my list, but my back fucking hurts. I think I've wrecked it from MY LAST DAY OF WORK (yesterday). Jeezzz.
3. Watch all of the comedy shows. Classes don't start until September 9th but I am trying to get through a bunch of TV shows, lectures and podcasts to listen to. I am trying to finish off Nurse Jackie and get through as much of the Drew Carey Show as I possibly can. I also have a collection of Proopcasts and some tedtalks I want to listen to and watch.
4. Cry
5. Hug my dog
6. Cry while hugging my dog
7. Throw a fucking party and I'm the only one invited
8. Leave my room clean and sort through the papers I definitely should not leave behind for her to read.
9. Go to the gym
10. Go for lots of runs because I want to
11. Drop off my law textbook at my high school because for some reason I still have it
12. Cry while dropping off the textbook and make my past teachers think I am even more crazy than when I left
13. See some friends
14. Not see some friends
15. Not get to see my cousin because her mom is not only has an asshole, but her entire personality is of one.

Jeez-Louise.

People keep asking me if I am nervous or excited for university and I can honestly say that I am both and neither. I am nervous for my roommates because I am scared they'll be major druggies or nymphos or want to talk to me everyday and have conversations... like what are people? Partially kidding. Partially. I am also nervous that I am going to have too much of a workload. I have Geology, Philosophy, Poli Sci, English and Psychology my first semester. I am also starting up the Comedy Troupe at my school. I also have an avid gym and running schedule that I like to not skip. I don't plan on having a social life. My social life will hopefully be my Comedy Troupe, if things go as planned.

I am excited for the Comedy Troupe, for English and Philosophy and to meet some of the new people I am going to meet. I am usually not big on meeting new people and doing new things because I am a lame introvert, but I am excited to meet some new people. I like change and new things, it's just a stretch for me.

In general I think that I am ready for university. I am actually spoiled rotten by the amount of things my mom bought me.

Let's talk about this whole University thing for a second.

Last summer I decided I didn't want to go to University because my whole non-conformist person kicked in and was like "It's all stupid! You don't need a piece of paper to say 'Dis person iz smarttt' Credentialism is nonsense!" but then I realized that to fix society you have to live at least partially within it. You can't play baseball unless you're in the field. It's like trying to bat balls from the seats. It just doesn't work.

Then I decided to go to university because of my fascination with learning. I love to learn things and schools are generally where you learn things. I want to say that 80% of the reason I am going to university is because I want to learn, and that is true, although now there is this little 5% that says "Go because society is telling you to!". FYI the other 15% is because I don't know what I'd do if I didn't go to university.

My major has changed wayyyyyy too much. Let's just for once and for all give a final layout of what I wanted to be when I "grew up" since I was a kid

1999- Cake Baker (like my mom)
2000- Doctor
2003-2006- Veteranarian
2006- Astronaut
2006-2012- Psychologist
2012-2013 Teacher

And what I wanted my major/minors to be from grade 9, onward:
- Psychology
- Psychology + Minor in Sociology
- Psychology + Minor in Gerontology
- Psychology and Philosophy
- Psychology and Sociology
- Psychology and Political Science
- Political Science and Philosophy
- Philosophy
- Philosophy and Psychology
- Philosophy and English

Confusion.

I also plan to get my Bachelor of Education. I want to do graduate studies but I am not really sure yet.

I don't have to declare my major until the end of 1st year, so at least I have a little more time. I can't tell you how much I have thought and over thought this.

Lately all I want to do is become a comedian even though I am not that funny. I just want to do whatever I am watching on TV and I am watching Standup and Improv lately. I wanted to be a City councilman when I was watching Parks and Recreation. Thank goodness I didn't want to sell paper when I was watching the Office.

I'll figure it out. Maybe.

How to Convince People to Agree with your Philosophies

You can't. I apologize for the misleading blog title, but you can't.

Here's why:

People are really stubborn. People hate being wrong and people would rather lie than be wrong.

Theists, you can't really convert atheists to theists and same to atheists, you can't really convert theists to atheists.

Every single atheist I have talked to has discovered through independent research and questioning that god doesn't exist. I know many atheists that openly try to get people to learn their perspective and learn that god really doesn't exist, but it doesn't work because people are not just going to up and change.

Getting into arguments about this stuff online is really pointless too, because you aren't going to change the other person's mind.

When was the last time a Jehovah's Witness actually convinced you at your door?

People change their religions when left alone. When I was a Christian I probably wouldn't have become an atheist if a group of atheists approached me and maybe if they had, I wouldn't have ever become an atheist because I would've had this prejudice against them. Maybe I would've.

Just stop telling me about your religion or beliefs because it's not going to change mine. If I am interested in them, I will ask you. Do not get proactive about this kind of stuff.

This doesn't even have to be about religion or theism/atheism. This can be about anything.

Even a kid trying to convince another kid the colour blue is better than the colour green wouldn't be very successful.

Of course there is the odd time when trying to convince another person of something does work but that is not the likely case.

Even though I realize I can't convince all my theistic friends and family to become atheist, it won't stop me from talking about atheism whenever I want to. I am just not going to try to proactively hand them brochures or lecture them.

People aren't just going to switch sides. It takes time to make these decisions. My change from Christian to Atheist was gradual. I was an Anglican Christian, Christian, Spiritual Christian, Spiritual, Agnostic, Agnostic Atheist and now I am Atheist. This all happened in maybe a 3 month time span.

People don't just wake up and think "I'll try mormonism!" or answer the door and think "Sure! I'd love to attend the Church of Latter Day Saints!".

Open-minded people might. But even they aren't going to let go of their stability of their beliefs until they are ready to leap.

It's not impossible to convince other people, but it is highly unlikely.

If you actually came here to find out how to convince people of your philosophies, here is one tip:

Get close to them, but not close enough in which you will argue with them because then they won't talk back and they aren't overly comfortable with you so they won't question you too much. I find this works well with door-to-door people because they get friendly with you but you don't know them well enough to punch them in the face when they say something you think is stupid.

AND FOR GOODNESS SAKES don't be hostile towards another person if you are trying to get them onto your side of a belief system. This happens all of the time on the internet and it doesn't fucking work out so stop wasting your time.

This was a very professional blog post. It was just in my mind for a few days and I just spewed it all out right now. Sorry, I am not editing it.

Do you have any techniques to convince people? Do you think I am wrong in thinking it is hard to convince people to agree with your philosophies?

Annoyed Atheist

I was extremely annoyed yesterday, although it is mostly my fault.

I have inevitably been doing a lot of thinking about atheism, since I am writing a comedy book about atheism, but also because I decided to take Religious Studies in my first year at university.

Let me give you some background before I tell today's story. I am an (agnostic) atheist and I am pretty strong on my views. I was talking to somebody close to me about theism and atheism and how I am taking the Religious Studies course. 

I was explaining my reason for taking Religious Studies to this person and for your curiosity, it is for a few reasons:

1. I genuinely find religions fascinating

2. I feel like I will have more credibility than the average theist if I have taken a religion course, I feel like I might get something out of it

3. There is a 3rd year atheist course I want to take (which can be counted towards my Philosophy degree) but I have to have the 1st year credit to take it.

So I was explaining this (well the first and third reasons) to this person and then I jokingly said "Hey! At the end of first year I could change my major to Religion!" and they responded "Why would you do that?"

I actually took a little bit of offence to this, but I let it slip. I started talking about my majors again as well as what that might mean for me if I decide to go into teaching (which I likely will).

At one point in time, deep into the conversation this person said something along the lines of "You can't be a teacher if you think that".

This is making me furious just sitting here typing it. They were referring to me being an atheist. 

Excuse me? I can't be a teacher if I am atheist? And people wonder why theists frustrate me so much.

I tried to explain that as a teacher you have to be open minded and obviously if I were to ever teach a course (we were specifically talking about teaching a religion course) in high school that I would have to share all aspects and points of view of a subject, and as a teacher I can barely even share my opinion (which is part of the reason why I am not leaning towards NOT wanting to be a teacher). To be a teacher you must be open-minded, which I am fully aware of. This person seems to think I am going to start forcing atheism down people's throats in a classroom.

Anyways, I was attempting to explain this, but this person wouldn't shut up. They kept talking over me. This is when our conversation that led to debate which led to disagreement, then became an argument. I started shouting out to "shut up and let me talk" and this person wouldn't let me.

That is basically the end of this. I didn't get a chance to explain anything because they wouldn't SHUT UP. 

I am furious. I am annoyed. These little interactions with theists or even just people close to me, make me want to stomp out a puppy. 

This led me to cry a little. Not because we argued, I was literally crying because some people are so (for lack of a better word) STUPID and can't be open-minded. 

Sometimes when I talk atheism vs. theism I am offensive. I honestly don't care. I feel the need to push my limits because I look at theism almost like a societal crisis. A mass group of people believe in something that doesn't exist! Can you really blame me for wanting to stop it? 

I cry because I am so frustrated that people won't be open-minded to really realize god doesn't exist.

Although saying this to a theist means nothing, because they just try to rationalize me being atheist by saying I am the devil, by saying that I had a bad childhood or I am just mad at god. 

NO. I am just the only sober person in a world filled with idiots drunken and poisoned by theism.

I feel like to a theist right now that I am actually pretty funny because I seem like the idiot. Trust me, I'm not.

I think that my point in saying all of this is that I have realized (once again) that I can't control everyone. I feel like my ideas, opinions, etc., should be the world. I fully believe I am correct. But I am also 100% sure that everyone thinks the same about their own ideas. Back in my Grade 12 philosophy course I would always answer questions by first stating that there is no correct answer because everyone's views are different, and would go on to tell my views and explain why.

I just have to accept that not everybody is going to agree with me. I just hope that there are some groups of people that will listen to me.

I have 2 last little tidbits about atheism to dissolve away from my rant...

1. I was considering getting an atheist themed tattoo, mostly just because people's cross tattoos annoy me, but also because I am an atheist and I wanted to display it. I soon talked myself out of it because I rationalized that it is weird to display that I have a belief in something that is a belief that something doesn't exist. It's like getting a tattoo saying "Frog-birds don't exist" to me. So I am not getting it, because I think it's weird.

2. My book. I shall reveal a little more. Not too much, though. I don't want my blog to become my process and ideas of my book. I already said that:

1. I am writing a book about atheism

2. It is comical

Now I shall reveal sort of the premiss. It is directed for the atheist reader, although some aspects may apply to theists. It's sort of a how-to book for atheists, but it is all completely bogus stuff, making it funny. Sort of. I may change some parts, I have barely started it. It is still in the brainstorming process. It will forever be in the brainstorming process, until it is published (which I hope someday, it will be). 

Does anybody else get really annoyed when someone has the complete opposite idea about something that you believe in? 

#27 30 Day Writing Challenge- A Quote I try to Live By

I am obsessed with quotes.

Even though quotes are just excerpts of a bigger idea, list, speech, book, etc., reading a bunch of smaller quotes somewhat helps to understand the bigger picture of things.

My blog even has a Quotes Page! It has 3 sections, 1 is things I have written, another is general quotes and the last are quotes by Ralph Waldo Emerson.

One of my favourite authors/writers is Ralph Waldo Emerson. He is absolutely amazing. If I believed in reincarnation, I would say I was probably him in a past life. A lot of our ideas and philosophies are really close. Not the same, but close.

Anyways, my favourite quote that I "try to live by" is:

 "Speak what you think now in hard words and tomorrow speak what tomorrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict everything you said today"

 This is from Emerson's essay "Self-Reliance" which is the best essay, ever written.

I plan to get it tattooed on my right forearm, once I am of legal age to get tattoos.

This quote means a lot to me. When I first read it, I feel absolutely in love with it.

I think it is important to feel confident in what you say, and you should also be fine with changing your mind. That's basically what this quote means to me, is that you should say whatever you want, and if you change your mind completely the next day, voice your opinion. It's okay to change your mind. It's okay to say what you want.

I have changed my mind about philosophies, a lot. Recently I have had less interest in anarchy. There was a time when I described myself as an anarchist. Now, not so much. I still think anarchy is really fascinating, but I've sort of stopped.

I feel like you could pull up so many different things I have said from the past, even from blog posts not too long ago, and I have changed my mind about something I have said.

A second quote that I also value a lot, I had the same reaction to. I just felt so good and when I read it, I fell absolutely in love with it, as well. It is by Mark Twain, who I also love.

"Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to reform"

This quote can also be known as "Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect" which is a misquote, that was probably created to help define the word "reform". Essentially this quote means that if your idea is the same as everyone else, you should stop and think about why, and make sure you are not conforming to the majority, just because it is the majority.

I think it is fine to go along with the majority, as long as you know why and that is what you believe.

I considered getting this as a tattoo, but I am not 100% sure on it yet. I still love this quote, too. I represents my skeptical and non-conformist self. 

Anyways. I hope you found these quotes as inspiring as I do! 

Do you have any quotes you try to live by?

#18 30 Day Writing Challenge- A Problem I've had

A problem I've had... hmm. This is another hard topic. Most of the major problems I've had I've discussed on my blog before. I suppose I'll dig one up to the surface again.

A problem I've had: being confident.

It took me forever to realize in high school that there is a difference and a similarity between confidence and being social.

I am quiet, awkward, shy and don't like socializing. But I soon realized I can't go through high school like that, so I had to break that shield of anxiety, which I have for the most part. I remember when it was a success for me to raise my hand in class. Now I joke around with my teachers, embarrass myself in peer tutoring on purpose, and instead of being the person that's like "Go ask the person at the desk for paper for me, I don't want to" people ask me to do that. Things have changed.

I had this perspective that confidence and being social are two different things. Which is true. You can be social but not confident and confident but not social. This is sort of where I am at. When you are confident and not social, you come across as rude. The older and more mature I've gotten, the ruder I appear.

So now this is my problem. I don't like socializing. I don't like having to talk to people and have a "casual conversation" because honestly, I recognize these little conversations of pleasantries as pointless, unless I want to have a relationship with that person. Well this is how connections are made, you have relationships with more people, and you engage in these pointless conversations.

I'm going to need to network with professors and people I meet in politics, which means I have to have these conversations.

So this is another problem I am currently having.

If I want to go into politics, I am going to have to face this. I don't have to be the most social person I know, but it would help a lot to be more social. So in university I am planning on doing varsity track and field. I might join 2 clubs : the philosophy society and possibly the psychology society.

Now I think of another problem I'm having! I don't know what my second major is going to be! I think.

I want to take Philosophy and double major with something else. It constantly switches between Psychology, Sociology and Political Science. I don't think I will decide until first year is over, because then I will know more about all of these subjects. I am taking all 4 of those subjects in first year, along with 1 history course, academic writing and geology (I have to have science credit). I want to go into politics, which is why political science is a good idea, but psychology is more interesting to me. Sociology is more relevant to the type of ideas I think about. But I also want to be a teacher. Teachables don't matter as much as people think they do, but I can see me teaching law, I can also see me teaching sociology/psychology. I don't know. I won't consider this for a while.

At the moment I'm leaning towards psychology and political science. AHH STOP THINKING ABOUT IT, ME! It's literally driving me nuts.

Okay. Well so those are an array of problems. The only "solved" one is being more confident. I'm still not VERY confident, and that is definitely not an accurate adjective to describe me as, but I can succeed in society with the level of confidence I have achieved. I'm still chiseling away at it, trying to improve it. 

Why I am a Nihilist

I am a nihilist. This means I believe life has no actual purpose. I don't think there is a reason humans are on this earth. I think we have about as much purpose on this life as any other living organism does, even non-living things.

I don't think we were placed here by some god. I do not think that we have some moral purpose or afterlife to attend to. I think we just evolved. I guess I believe in evolution. I am not committing to that belief though. But it's the closest thing I believe.

I think we are just here.

There is no natural purpose for humans to be here.

I think that many people will argue that there is a purpose to life, not just religious or moral people, but even people with similar religious beliefs to me. It is a social purpose.

They will say things like:

• We have to get a job to contribute to society, economically and socially
• We work together within families
• We have friends, we live for people
• Life has a purpose, it is to live with other people alongside each other and help each other

Therefore even though life has no natural purpose, life has a social purpose.

We have a social duty to each other. Great! So I guess that means I'm not a nihilist, right? Wrong.

I am also an individualist. I serve myself before the society. I do not like things within this society. Therefore I don't want to live out societies' social purposes. 

So living out society's purpose, doesn't appeal to me, therefore even though I believe there is a social purpose to life, I don't want to commit to it.

So there brings up the argument "Well why don't you just kill yourself?". That is the first thing people say to nihilists. For example, this post which pissed me off earlier. Well why don't I? Honestly. Why don't I kill myself?

I honestly have no idea. If I don't live for other people, I don't live for this society, and I don't think we have a natural purpose, why don't I just kill myself?

I want to say things like "I want to change society to my ideal, so I live for that" or "I don't want to hurt my family", but they aren't even 100% true. 

If I wanted to fully support the argument I am trying to make, I should just kill myself.

But I haven't. Some parts of me do want to have kids and become a teacher, but other parts of me just see no purpose to anything, and I just either want to die or become a hermit. 

Honestly I can make the argument that I can't stomach the thought of killing myself, let alone another person. I can't even stomach dissections. If I were to kill myself, it couldn't be painful. It would be a poison, or injection of some kind. 

But I think I like myself too much to kill myself. I hate everyone, I hate everything, but I like myself. I am pretty fine with the way I am, so I don't really see a requirement to kill myself, even though I think life is purposeless.

I am not sure if there is an afterlife. I don't think if there is an afterlife, we serve some form of divine purpose to act a certain way on earth, to get there. I think you just go there no matter what. Like different dimensions, or something. But I think it is more logical to say that nothing happens when you die, and you just sort of rot. There are a lot of things in this world we don't know of. Maybe the soul travels on. Maybe the soul has a purpose to keep travelling on. Now, I don't believe if the soul exists, and if the soul has a purpose, that it is moral, but maybe it does live on, and take other forms. Who knows. I don't know. You don't know. We don't know.

These are the mysteries of the world.

But for now I am alive. I don't plan on killing myself. 

Plus I need to stay alive to teach other people their life has no purpose, right? 

I change so often because I have a fish brain- Why Philosophy?

I have the crappiest memory.

I do not want to talk about that, here, now. But just let the record show that I can't remember shit.

Recently I was like "Why am I studying philosophy?".

I honestly had no idea why. I didn't remember selecting to study philosophy at any point. I knew that I blogged a lot about my choices for university, so I was looking through. Nothing. I found stuff that talked about me possibly wanting to do phys ed, psychology, wanting to be a teacher, not wanting to do anything, etc., but nothing specifically about choosing philosophy.

But I was looking through my old blog posts from the summer, and I honestly don't remember most of that stuff. My memory of myself from that time was COMPLETELY different from what my blog lead off. I am not sure if I was just faking who I was there, or I am really bad at remembering things.

But here I am. Asking myself "Why am I studying philosophy?". I would be perfectly happy studying sociology, psychology or political science. Double majoring with two of those. I can better answer the questions "Why do I want to take sociology, psychology or political science?" more than philosophy. So now is time for some intensive thinking.

Reasons why I may possibly be taking philosophy:
- I liked philosophy in history
- I like philosophy over the summer, the course I took online
- I find philosophy interesting
- I got a good grade in my philosophy course
- I like to think a lot
- Philosophy relates to a lot of subjects I like, like education, history and politics
- I am trying to answer the questions of life, and thats what philosophy is
- I want to learn about others' ideas and thoughts

Okay I guess I have a pretty legitimate reason. But I still don't remember when I decided on philosophy. I think at some point I just decided on philosophy and political science and I just was tired of changing my mind, so I just rested there, and that's where I stayed when I applied to university.

I looked through my old philosophy notes recently, and reminded myself of why I like it. I like the debate of the topics. I like looking at things like ethics, epistemology, waves of thought. I don't know. I just get it. Philo/sophy, the love of ideas. That's what I love.