ON PHILOSOPHY

"The point of philosophy is to start with something so simple as not to seem worth stating, and to end with something so paradoxical that no one will believe it."   — Bertrand Russell (1872 - 1970), The Philosophy of Logical Atomism

What then is a good place to begin? "I think, therefore I am." That seems simple enough, but what if I only think that I think? Then at least for that second, the time it took to think that thought, I existed. Perhaps this is why some of us seem to fade in and out. We need to think more in order to be more.

Then there are the times I can't remember what I was going to say or do. Does that mean I do not exist for the senior moments when I cannot think of something? What about when we sleep, or those who are in a coma?

It is said that Socrates liked to tease his interlocutors by saying that the only thing he knew was that he knew nothing. If he truly knew nothing then he could not know that he knew nothing. (But surely that was his standard joke.) Applying "I think, therefore I am" would erase Socrates from history.

Perhaps it would be truer to say, "I am because others think I am". At least there are more to say so than if I am the only one who thinks so. The rule of the majority in the free world is considered better than the rule of one. In Israel in Bible days, the testimony of only one man was null. It required two or three witnesses to establish a fact. I would hope, in such a case, that I would not depend on the will of the majority, however. I would not like to be thought out of existence just because most people would like to see me go! (The paradox grows).

"To be, or not to be: That is the question....", wrote William Shakespeare. As I see it (and much of philosophy is opinion) one's existence is best placed in the hands of a holy God. To be is to be foreordained by God. Not to be is out of the question for me. Sorry Hamlet, I think you were wrong. At any rate Hamlet does not exist.

Jeremiah existed as an example. In chapter one (v.1-3) he sets the stage for the main event in his life, God's call:

:4 Now the word of the LORD came to me saying, 5) "Before I formed your inward parts and before you left the womb, I have established your leadership and set you up as a prophet to the nations."

Besides establishing the value of life in the womb, God also shows that He has a plan for each individual He brings into existence. Sometimes the call goes beyond the natural ability of he individual. He allows rebuttal:

:6 So I said, "O LORD Most High, I do not know how to speak out because I am just a youth".

Then He overrules our excuses:

:7 But the LORD told me, "Do not say, 'I am a youth', because to whomever I send you, to them you will go, and whatever I command you, that is what you will say. 8) I am the one selecting you. Have no fear of their faces because I am with you."

Jeremiah was a perfect example. He responded that same day. Jonah had three days and three nights in the belly of a sea creature. Moses was allowed 40 years on the backside of the desert. God works differently with different people. The one thing they and we have in common is that we exist for a purpose. The question in my mind then is no longer, "Do I exist?" but, "Have I fulfilled the purpose for which I was brought into existence."

Hopefully we have not arrived at something so paradoxical that no one will believe it. Can you say you agree?