In the process of growing up, we have heard the phrase “我吃盐比你吃米多”, “experience comes with age” and whatever other permutations of these supposedly wise words. In fact the reverse is true - experience and age has taught me to treat such statements with contempt, skepticism and that more often than not experience tells us little.
As much as people who utter such words need to be cautious, I too, need to adopt such an attitude. When I say that experience tells us little, I am not referring to actions that require specific skill sets. For example, a chef and surgeon’s proficiency is largely derived from years of hands-on experience. People usually quote these phrases when they are trying to convince someone younger (or less experienced) to believe in something intangible. These include but are not restricted to Religion, Life, Education, Politics and Relationships.
I am most piqued however, by how the people I meet ride on the “experience comes with age” bandwagon when they try to convince Freethinkers to turn religious. I wouldn’t say that such people have any ill intention. The issue however, is that they are unaware of the fallacy that they are committing.
If we were to chronologically scrutinize the events that occurs in a Man that was born into a religious family, it can be summed up as such:
This Man who has been a Christian since young will go to church and sermons with the idea that God is good and that it is imperative to keep his/her Sundays free. In the process of growing up, the young Christian desires to be successful and realizes that success is to some extent divinely ordained and hence his/her faith in God might be augmented. However in the many cases that I have observed, Christians in their teenage years struggle with finding time for God and their various commitments. As the Christian grows old, he/she realizes that success and happiness is no longer defined by pecuniary (among others) yardsticks, but by factors such as Family, Grandchildren and God. With the realization that money is not the key to happiness, the Christian decides that God is the most important factor, that only by praying and leading a religious life can we discover true happiness.
So…what is my point exactly?
Simply put, many arguments appear convincing because people tweak the context of their arguments in their favor. Aged individuals say that God is good because they are at an age where they have attained everything (except immortality, absolute fame and power), something or absolutely nothing - in all cases they feel that they lack something and therefore deem it imperative to seek solace in God. Parents educate and convince their children that they must be right because they have experienced much more - without realizing that more often than not they expound on paltry experiences and examples. This is a terrifying vicious cycle because we are the victims of such intellectual dishonesty, growing up to ‘reason’ like our forefathers…and this continues.
I see no point in teaching Logic, Philosophy, Science and Mathematics when we consistently fail to apply the principles learnt to everyday life. Ever since I have learnt to think indepedently and logically, such arguments no longer have any impact on me. What about you?
I am unable to come up with a statement to explain the need for intellectual honesty. I can however, confidently say this: If Men were able to comprehend Logic and apply it consistently, we will realize that many things are futile, harmful and disastrous. Personally, I will not allow fallacies to cloud my vision and judgement because as a child of God, I have been given a brain to think with, and not use it to delude others and myself.
I challenge you to do the same.
