Philosophy is what you believe, not what you are told

You ever heard the old maxim, “You are what you eat?”

Well personal philosophy is about the same thing I think. Every person, even if they don’t know it, carries within them a personal set of beliefs that guide them and mold their reactions to what happens around them in everyday life. It is an inescapable truth that what we truly believe influences what we do and makes us who we are and cannot be the other way around. I oversimplify for explanation purposes only.

Seems pretty basic huh?

It does to me as well, yet as I talk with people and see this occur, it seems as if some believe that they are unique. They think that because they have certain thoughts, that somehow their thoughts make them better, quicker, faster , etc (insert a verb, all of them apply) than the other people around them.

I think they have confused arrogance with confidence.

You see examples of this in Sports (for example) all the time. Team “A” wins and then somebody is interviewed and spends the next 2 minutes thanking God for being on their side. I can’t wrap my brain around that concept except to say “Wow, what arrogance”. It stuns me that this is looked upon with anything except pity or humor. Take your pick.

Imagine God sitting in front of the TV. Team “A” wins, God pops open a beer and says “Oh Yeah baby, I knew they would win, woo-hoo!!”. This scenario doesn’t seem very likely to me. It seems more likely that they just played better than the other team and that is all. I can’t imagine God taking time from his busy day etc, to root for a sports team. “Sorry Moses, got to go, the Packers are playing and they are counting on me tonight!!”.

Once that thought creeps into your head, it makes you wonder why would this athlete think this in the first place, or rather why would they say it publicly? I understand it doesn’t take a trained scientist to play a sport and not much in terms of supreme analytical ability to say something ludicrous. Without delving into a sacrilegious argument it makes as much sense as saying that God has a vested interest in one group of people over another group. I don’t mean to offend anyone with this, but I really think God cares very little for our personal success. He created us all and yet he doesn’t like our enemies? Not one of them? What happens when two Christian schools play against each other then? Does God love one of them less or have a better connection with only the catholic school?

On a global perspective it stacks up like quantum physics versus practical physics. It seems as if what happens individually to each of us , over time, is somehow different than the Global perspective. Hate, racism, fundamentalism, and even typical business all follow the same trends in this regard. All of the groups involved make individual efforts towards advancing their philosophy which support a common larger goal. The track of the individual goals most times does not line up with the track of the larger goals yet one seems to support the other.

In the sports analogy I used, it seems to make perfect sense at the time that a player or a coach would believe that because they had the help of God, they won.

Individually, the MVP of the game involved (pick your sport) says things that lead you to believe that God is responsible for his efforts and his success. On a group level, it makes less sense though.

Ask yourself, this question ? , “Is God honest?

Look at this story from the 2007, Colorado Rockies baseball team.

¨ You might recall this play: Left fielder Matt Holliday slid safely at home plate to score the winning run in the 13th inning of the crucial, one-game playoff with the San Diego Padres that sent his Rockies into the postseason. The problem, as replays made clear, was that he never touched home.

¨ When asked about the call after the game, Holliday apparently felt no duty to confess. That's in keeping with the values and norms of professional sports, where competitors never give an inch, even to the truth. But Holliday went on to implicate God in the umpire's error by publicly thanking the Lord for the victory and the season's many blessings.

Either the umpire was a heathen or Mr. Holliday enjoys a very special protected status.

In business a male CEO makes a hundred million dollars a year, gets a huge bonus, has perks out the kazoo, and then when interviewed he says he has only God to thank for his good fortune. It has nothing to do with his education, his political connections, his ability to be glib and talk a good game, or the alliances he formed with the board of directors of his company. It is just Gods will? I’m confused, God cares whether he gets a Pool and a Hummer? He cares whether or not his company has a jet to travel on?

I don’t think so. To accept that you have to also agree that he does not care if you or I have any of this. This is where the individual dynamic makes little sense on the group outcome. I don’t think God makes bets on football games. I can’t see him gambling in heaven Vegas on the Rockies baseball team either.

It seems to me that this is all a matter of personal belief. Things we believe influence what we do and how we do it. Luck, religion and right have very little to do with it in my opinion.

Having said all of that , here is why my postulations make sense to me.

Next : You are responsible for you

Thankx for reading my rant !

bigmike

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