Recently I’ve become quite obsessed with the ideology of one particular speaker and thought leader by the name of Sam Harris. As an individual he’s a trained scientist working in the space of neuroscience and philosophy, particularly in the area of human society, morality and, promoting atheism. I was first introduced to Sam Harris through a friend of mine who sent me a Google buzz link to his brilliant TED speech he made just recently. The title of his presentation was called, Science can answer moral questions. Before you read the rest of this post, I would _strongly_ suggest you watch this presentation in full. It’s only 23 minutes long and could quite possibly change your whole way of thinking.

[[I'm going to assume at this point that you did watch the presentation, and have an understanding of what I'm talking about in the next paragraphs]]

What really struck a chord with me in Harris’s presentation was his statement that most people are willing to suspend the reason that they use in their every day life for purposes of believing in a religious framework. Let me give you an example if this isn’t clear. If I was to start a new website called ‘The Truth of the New Lord’, and in the first post explain that a voice from the ether called to me and bade me stand on top of some hilltop where upon a burning bush spoke to me and gave me instructions on how to live a moral life, how many people would believe it? Well I’d say none. There is a well known truism that states extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, yet this is just not the case when it comes to religion, particularly Christianity, which was the religion assigned to me by my parents at birth.

I feel a particular anger towards Christianity because I feel it is one of the faiths that lies almost completely to it’s followers, who in turn really must lower their mentality to that of a fucking moron to accept the doctrine that it lays down. It’s a vicious and dogmatic faith that rules by fear, and presents nothing in the way of universal truth that will make sense to a individual possessed of intelligence and critical thinking.

Yet Christianity is really just a derivative of Catholicism, both of whom believe literally what is written in The Bible. If these “stories” were in any other place besides The Bible we would simply discard them as rubbish if it wasn’t purported to be fictional literature. But because it is The Bible people forgo reason for madness; they accept the writings as gospel and use it as the foundation for a moral life!

Back to Sam Harris.

His paradigm faces a new direction, he is one of a handful of thought leaders that are using science in a new way, a way that provides answers to the questions of morality and human well being. He states clearly the reasons why science can answer these questions, and explains that in order for society to flourish organised religion must be put out of practice for society to move forward. In a conversation on this with my friend, I believe that there can’t be more than a small percentile of any societies population that could truly accept this paradigm and move forward with it.

It’s not an easy thing for an individual to radically change their viewpoint on something so core to our own psychology as religious or spiritual views. However this doesn’t mean that just because it’s a sensitive topic that we should shy away from heavy discussion on the basis of respect. If we fail to engage in debate with others simply because it’s considered polite to let them have their views, then we simply encourage ignorance. Reasoning individuals shouldn’t stand next to a person proclaiming the world is flat, and respectfully agree with them out of a sense of tolerance. Clearly there is right and wrong in moral standpoints, as measured by the well being of any and all citizens of a society. Which means we should not have to accept that all religions have something to offer a society just because they say so.

I face now towards a new direction, and no longer consider myself religious, but instead a reasonist. Atheist is a term that doesn’t fit with me in its current vernacular. I believe that there is still value in my beliefs as a Buddhist, but this is because Buddhism is in itself critical of its doctrine. The Dalai Lama has said that where the Buddhist Dharma is in conflict with science, the Dharma shall be resolved. This is a sweeping statement; the doctrine of faith that all Buddhists follow will be updated as science broadens our knowledge and disproves fundamental doctrine text. As far as I’m aware, no other religion has taken the equivalent position. Dare I be so bold as to state, only Buddhism stands as a truly enlightened religious framework, and perhaps the only one worth considering in the new frontier of the paradigm of scientific morality.

While it’s difficult to understand at first the far reaching consequences of accepting a new paradigm of belief and letting go of an old one, it creates its own sense of comfort knowing that the path ahead leads away from useless archaic traditions and in the direction of a truly utopian society.

The more people who make the same journey bring that dream ever closer to reality.

Andy.

In the years that have passed living here in Europe there was an inexorable motion that I’ve only recently become aware of, you start off as a foreigner and then end up something else, something in between. It’s something every foreigner is aware of, no matter how long they live in an adopted country, you will never be from that country or that culture, you are part of a class that always sits on the fringes of integration. For some expats the separation is more pronounced, the colour of your skin for instance, for many it’s the heavily accented way they will always speak the language. Some are lucky and can overcome these physical traits and move closer to the heart of a culture, but in most cases the best you can achieve is three steps on the inside ring.

There is a time of change though for those expats that stay somewhere beyond the first couple of years, and really start to grows roots into the place they’ve chosen as home. You start to blend in, and feel yourself becoming part of the place, a blanket of comfort covers your day to day existence, and you feel easy. But, you never are allowed to forget that you don’t come from this place. It is not your culture and it never will be.

I read a book many years written by a man called John Fowles called, The Magus. It’s about the dramatic life experience of a young English man who takes a teaching position on one of the Greek islands. The story is quite involved so I won’t relate it here, suffice to say that for anyone that has spent any time of their life as an expatriate, they should read it for empathy that is inside. Fowles said through his protagonist that once a person takes themselves out of their own environment and moves away, they will recreate that environment where ever they are. And so home becomes a space between a set of walls that imitates their cultural identity, independent of the country they are in.

It’s an interesting concept when you really start to think about it.

Andy.

I’ve been away home now around 13 years. It almost seems like another life time when I try to remember what it was like. Home for me was Brisbane, that nice big country town about two thirds of the way down the east coast of Australia. Lovely place really, but at the time it seemed very small, and I couldn’t wait to get out.

The first move I made was London, where I spent just under two years living and using as a base before moving to Amsterdam, where I’ve been ever since. I remember those first two years as a very big time of discovery, both personally and geographically. I roamed England and other parts of the world out of an obsession and love for travelling.

My move to Amsterdam though became something more than just a travel trip, it was a move to a place that I would settle and call home. I grew to love the city and it’s people and the lifestyle that I had here. Each year I would say to myself I would only stay here a year, and then at the end of the year I wouldn’t want to go anywhere else. And now after a decade I feel more Amsterdams than I do Australian.

It’s funny though, I haven’t lost the accent from Australia at all. None of us really do I think, once you have it, it stays with you for life, like a criminal record that never goes away, not even after 200 years of colonial rule. But after that there isn’t much inside of me that’s still dinky-di true blue Oz. Most of my core attitudes have changed, and the association I had with the community of people from there is feeling very thin.

After a time you start to ask yourself, who am I?

Ten years ago if someone had of asked me, would there ever come a time when I wouldn’t feel like an Australian, I would have said they were fucking crazy. After all, I was an Australian’s Australian; I loved my Friday night (Rugby League) footy on TV, and honest Aussie rock. I loved driving down the South Coast road to Brunswick Heads to the Stone Ground Pie Factory and chowing down on a meat pie with peas or three. But now, ever so slowly, everything seems to have changed, and after so long away, I no longer feel like the Australian I was before.

Andy.