The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to Eden: Thinking Outside the Box

By Daniel Bryant

One of the most important foundations for a person's life, and many times, one of the most neglected, it their worldview. I invite you to join me in an examination of my perspective on worldview. This can also be referred to as your life paradigm, the filter through which you interpret reality. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookRix
• Release date: Aug 15, 2017
• ISBN: 9783743812116

Book preview

Preface

This is a compilation of some of my writings over the years, many of which I have produced as eBooks on Bookrix.com and made for free on various eBook sites, such as Google Books, Barnes and Noble, Amazon, and several others. The other writings come mostly from my Facebook Blog.

I offer my perspective on various issues, but more importantly, I challenge the reader to think, and not just accept blindly many of the packaged solutions and preconceived patterns of thought our society offers.

As the reader will notice very quickly, the foundation for many of my observations and conclusions have, as their framework, the opening chapters of the book of Genesis. I would like to challenge you to think through some of the things you have been taught and have taken for granted. It is my contention that there are many wrong ideologies that have influenced our interpretation of life in this day. Through time these have captured the minds of men and prevented many people from being able to think rightly on important matters.

You may not agree with some of what I say, but if I have challenged you to think outside the box, and think independently, I will feel that I have accomplished my objective.

You will also notice that the writings in the first part of the book are longer, more drawn out presentations of my worldview, based mostly on the Biblical account of Creation. This is really the foundation for a right understanding of reality, and it is important to get it right. I probably get a little too redundant on some themes, admittedly.

The second part of the book is shorter observations, life lessons from my observations in Scripture, and my own experiences.

I do not try to answer all of the questions that Scripture poses. That would take a whole world of books. But, it is my hope, that in reading this, some would be challenged, and learn to love the Word of God, and as a result, grow richly in their relationship with Him. Let His holy name be praised!

I hope you enjoy. Feel free to communicate any feedback to [e-mail]. Please note that when I am writing, and refer to the human race, or man, I mostly use the male gender. This is simply for the sake of making writing easier, and in no way reflects an idea that male is superior to female. I also frequently use man meaning mankind or the human race for the same reason. It just makes writing easier than constantly differentiating between male and female.

Introduction: Your truth, my truth

A common phrase that I often hear people use goes something like this: That may be true for you, but it is not true for me. Or, That is your truth, but it is not my truth. This seems to imply that we can all just believe whatever we want to, and because we believe it, it then becomes true for us. Truth becomes a personal matter. Rather than putting that phraseology in terms of truth, it would make more sense to put it into terms of belief. It would make more sense to say, That is what you believe, but it is not what I believe. People believe many things, but just believing something does not make it true. In order for anything to be true, it has to correspond to reality. In order for humans to be able to have reasonable communication, there has to be a consensus of how we interpret reality. Right now, I am typing this on a Dell Laptop. I do not know of any sane person who might witness me typing on this Dell Laptop and ever come to the conclusion that the device I am using is anything else. If a person walked up to me and said, That is a nice purple elephant you are using to type on I would not say, Well, saying it is a purple elephant is your truth, but it is not mine. My truth is that it is a Dell Laptop. Instead, I would probably think, This person is a nut case.

It seems very reasonable and straight forward using that exaggerated example. But, if you think about it, it seems like people who throw out those terms about truth being a personal matter don’t really take that line of reasoning to its logical conclusion. That is the fallacy of Relativism. It makes the interpretation of reality a very subjective matter. This breaks down all sane communication. It eventually leads to a form of communication in which words mean nothing. If our ideology does not conform to reality, it is meaningless. In all practicality, we do not live our lives this way, despite what might come out of our mouths.

Some of the definitions of relativism are as follows:

a view that ethical truths depend on the individuals or groups holding them, the theory that value judgements, as of truth, beauty, or morality, have no universal validity but are valid only for the persons or groups holding them, the belief that there is no absolute truth, only the truths that a particular individual or culture happen to believe.

If there is no such thing as ultimate truth, truth that exists in and of itself, apart from what individuals or groups of people do or do not think or believe, then there is no basis for individuals or groups of people to judge the actions of others as either right or wrong. Saying that we do not judge the actions or beliefs of others sounds very enlightened and tolerant in theory, but it is not what we put into practice in our behavior, so the theory or idea of relativism has no basis in reality. Let me give you a few examples of what I mean by this:

Any sane person who knows anything about world history understands what a horrible nightmare unfolded in Germany from 1933 to 1945 under the reign of Adolf Hitler. Millions of Jews and other minority groups deemed undesirable by the Nazi party were tortured and exterminated. Many other examples throughout world history could be used to illustrate this, I just chose to use this one to make a point.

The irony of this is that, even though we understand this as a horrible tragedy, to the people of Germany at the time of severe economic hardship, this seemed like the answer to their problems, and seemed reasonable to a large portion of the population at the time. Many people in Germany probably just bought into the propaganda initially because it offered the promise of a more secure life. In the end it turned out to be nothing but a hellish nightmare.

If relativism as a paradigm of reality has any validity, then the acts of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party cannot be judged by others as being wrong. To them, at the time, it seemed right. We know this is not reality. Everything inside a sane person screams out that this is wrong. Genocide, whatever the context is reprehensible.

If you are a parent, imagine that one of your children were brutally and senselessly murdered in a mass shooting, (which, as of late, has become far too commonplace.) Would you be willing to hold to the idea that there was nothing wrong with the actions of a deranged person who took your child’s life in an act of violence simply because to the murderer, his truth was that the act was justifiable and necessary, based on his interpretation of reality? I don’t think so! You would probably want to get your hands on that person and administer your own brand of justice!

So, getting back to what I said earlier, relativism sounds good in theory, but it has no basis in reality. This is not the way people, even those who hold to the dogma of relativism, live their lives in the real world. It is a self-contradicting interpretation of life.

So, the next time you hear someone mouth a phrase that goes something along these lines, That is your truth, but it is not my truth, ask yourself the question, Is it possible that truth does exist? I believe that it does, and it is not based at all on our private, subjective interpretations. This being case, the discovery of absolute truth should be the highest aspiration that any of us have. Reality, ultimate reality exists regardless of our culturally influenced opinions.

People use a common expression, You think too much. I think all the time. I am always thinking. I can't shut it off. Sometimes I wish I could. I sometimes wish my mind had an OFF switch I could flip when I get tired. It doesn't.

Some people don't think enough. They just blindly listen to all of the current chatter, and take popular, current trends for granted and blindly go with the ideologies of the crowd, whether they realize that is what they are doing or not.

There are lots of great thinkers in the world. The problem is that thinking, in and of itself, is not enough. Many people think and come to the wrong conclusions. Thinking, in and of itself, will always lead to the wrong conclusions in regards to ultimate matters, and ultimate reality. We live in a society that has been mentally and spiritually poisoned by the idea that there is no such thing as ultimate truth. With this as a guiding principle, people think, and come to the wrong conclusions.

Ultimately our understanding of truth has to start with faith. Everyone starts with a faith in something whether they realize and/or admit it. A lot of people in our society have a faith in Science's ability to answer all of our questions. This is foolish. Science is important, and I am not discrediting it. Science is the observation of the material world as we are able to perceive it with our physical senses, and then drawing conclusions and making predictions about the outcome of if/then scenarios. Experiments to prove anything have to repeatable, with the same outcome, so science helps us predict how our world behaves. It serves a good purpose. But it is not ultimate truth. That has to originate outside of ourselves.

Right thinking starts with a faith that ultimate truth does exist, it can found, and it is knowable. Wrong thinking starts with the notion that man's mental capacities are the ultimate measure, and that there is nothing outside of that. But if you think about it, that notion is also a form of faith, because the idea that the human mind is also the ultimate measure can't be proven, and if it is said that it can be proven, then you wind up with the paradox that you are starting with the very thing you are attempting to prove, and using that measure to prove it. That makes no sense. That is like me saying, I am going to prove that what I am writing is true by comparing it to what I am writing. The previous sentence proves the absurdity of this notion. You can't compare your idea to itself to prove anything.

Children always start out asking the WHY questions. Why is the sky blue? Why don't cats like water, etc. They do ask the WHAT questions, I don't deny that, but the WHY question seems to be more predominant.

We all start out asking the why questions, and we should continue to do so throughout all our lives. But something inside us hardens as we get older. We seem to stop asking the Why questions. Science, which I simply define as the observation and manipulation of matter, and the prediction of outcomes based on repetition, can answer a lot of the What questions, and it is useful. But it cannot answer the Why question. Right theology answers the Why questions. I love good theology. Yes, it is based on faith, but so is everything else, whether people admit it and/or recognize it or not. Any system of thought, no matter what it is, has to start out with some given, some unanswerable question, some starting point, and that is faith in that one thing, no matter what it is. Faith, rightly defined, is not a religious matter at all, it is simply a fact. You have faith, or belief in something you can take for granted. You have to, otherwise you would go insane. The problem is, too many people start out with the wrong given, the wrong first thing that can be taken for granted, and disregard the right ones. An atheist has just as great a faith, or belief, as a theologian, he is just starting out with the wrong first principle and then building everything else on that foundation.

Paradoxical Paradigm

 Paradoxical Paradigm is a book in concept that was born in my heart and mind a number of years ago. I have written and rewritten this work to make it as understandable as possible. It is a journey in thought, and examination of what makes us think and act the way we do. I will admit from the start that I do not claim that the thoughts and ideas expressed here are totally my own. There are numerous authors more qualified than me who have expressed similar thoughts and ideas using different terminology in other publications. My hope is that in my efforts, in my method of expression, I can capture the readers’ attention in such a way as to create a desire for each reader to examine his/her own journey of thought and self-revelation. The question I want to provoke is, Why do we think the way we do, and interpret life the way we do?

Let’s examine what I mean by the title, Paradoxical Paradigm.

Paradox: A statement or proposition that seems self-contradictory or absurd, but in reality, expresses a possible truth. Any person, thing, or situation exhibiting an apparently self-contradicting nature.

Paradigm: An example, serving as a pattern or model. A framework containing the basic assumptions, ways of thinking, and methodology that are commonly accepted by members of any field of study. A cognitive framework shared by members of any discipline or group.

Although I am not aware of these two terms being merged in the sense I am using, a plausible definition for paradoxical paradigm I would propose would go something like this: Any set of assumptions constituting a way of interpreting reality that may seem self-contradictory, but which could express a possible truth.

How do you interpret life? That is one of the most basic and fundamental questions that all of us need to ask ourselves. All of us have some basic idea or belief about what life means. All of us have beliefs about right and wrong. We may not agree about what is right and what is wrong, but we cannot deny having some perception about this. There is no such thing as value free anything. One trend that was popular in the public school system for a while was what is referred to as value free education. Just teach the facts. Don’t inject morality into anything. This concept is total nonsense as far as I am concerned. Everyone involved in the educational system has some set of beliefs about what is morally right and what is morally wrong whether these beliefs or ideas agree with their peers’ beliefs or not. To say that those values do not exist is not true. For example, many schools have implemented a no bullying policy. In essence, this is a statement of belief that bullying is wrong and should not be practiced or tolerated, thus implying a value, or an assumption of morality. In a truly value free educational environment it would be perfectly acceptable to cheat on a math test, because, to say that cheating is wrong implies a value. Academic honesty is valued. In a value free educational system, the bully has every right to take his classmates’ lunch money by force if, in his mind, it is okay. What right would the teacher have to impose his belief that the bully’s action is wrong? Value free is a theory that has no basis in reality. People do not live that way.

Another nonsense statement people make goes something like this: Your values are not my values. This implies that we are all free to choose what we think is right and wrong based on our own whims. If this were true, if there was no such thing as real right and real wrong, only what each individual’s perception of right and wrong is, then we have no basis for calling anyone out on their actions, because for them, it might not be wrong. This is nonsense. If someone stole your wallet, what aspect of that action would anger you? Perhaps, in their way of thinking, it was justifiable because they had a financial need that stealing your wallet would fix. Obviously, their values and not the same as yours. But you think your values are right, thus implying theirs to be wrong. So, you have passed judgement on another person’s values. Would someone stealing your wallet anger you because you are being inconvenienced? You will have to replace your driver’s license, credit and debit cards, and all the other important things in your wallet. Or, is it because there is something inside you that says stealing is morally wrong? Maybe some of the former (inconvenience), but I suspect more of the latter (the belief that stealing is morally wrong). Where does our sense of right and wrong come from? Is it a product of environment and/or upbringing, or is it something that is just hardwired into us that we have no control over? II think it makes more sense to say that it is hardwired into us. It comes from somewhere else.

Beliefs about right and wrong, along with many other things we use to interpret reality, are what constitutes our life paradigms. Our paradigms are what we use to interpret life and reality. Some people will say that they do not have a life paradigm. They will say that life does not mean anything. This is what is referred to as Nihilism. It is my contention that there is no such thing as a true Nihilist. People may think of themselves as Nihilists, but they are liars. It is not possible to live this way. We all have reasons for the things we say and do, whether we acknowledge those reasons or not.

It is also my contention that there is no such thing as a true Atheist. Most of the people I know who profess to be Atheists spend an exorbitant amount of time and energy arguing against something they say is not real. If God is not real, who cares? If you tell me that there is a purple elephant lying in my living room floor, I am not going to waste my time trying to convince you that there is not. I will just think you are nuts, and leave it at that.

I think a lot of people who profess to be Atheists are really people that are just mad at God about something that has happened to them in their lives, or some great disappointment that has occurred. I remember a time in my own life when I wanted to believe I was an Atheist. I was doing a lot of drugs, and honestly had a lot of guilty feelings about the things I was doing. So, I decided to say I did not believe in God. I was up one night, walking around. I remember saying out loud, God, if you are real, prove it. Do one simple thing to give me a sign. Make that light on that pole over there flicker on and off. The light did not flicker. I was mad! Just as I thought, you are not real! It later occurred to me that if God was not real, how could I be mad at Him? How could I be mad at a non-entity? The fact that I was mad proved to me that I really did believe in God, more so than a light flickering on and off. I saw that the problem was not with God, the problem was with me!

We all have reasons for the things we say and do. Let me give you an example of this: When my alarm clock goes off in the morning, I get up and get ready for work. Why? Why not just sleep in? Do I get up and go to work just because some other people I know are going to be there, and I am just going along for the ride? I don’t think so. (My job is not that great!) I get out of bed and go to work with a basic set of assumptions that go something like this: If I go to work, I will get paid. If I get paid, and use that money to pay my bills, my mortgage will not go into foreclosure. My car won’t be repossessed. My power, gas, water, and internet services will not be cut off. That is my work paradigm. I am not just going along for the ride. Sure, there can be other factors that comprise our work paradigm, such as personal fulfillment in the work we do, a desire to perform well and be a benefit to others, etc. There is a reason for going to work. It is not meaningless. We all operate under some paradigm, or paradigms whether we recognize and acknowledge them or not.

Along those same lines, it must be understood that we all operate under a basic set of assumptions. We all have things that we take for granted. Some people will say, Don’t take anything for granted. Question everything! This sounds good in theory, but in reality, no one can live this way. If I really lived this way, I could never do anything very simple, like just sitting down in a chair. I would have to wonder, each time, if the chair would hold my weight, or whether it would collapse. I would have to test it each time. The chair worked last time, but I can’t assume it will hold me this time, because it may have become weakened. This is nonsense. I am not going to torture myself with this mentally every time I sit down, or I would drive myself insane. I am just going to sit down in the chair. (There is a name for this kind of behavior: It is called Obsessive Compulsion Disorder, and it is mentally crippling.) This is not to say that our assumptions can’t be proven wrong and changed. They certainly can, and often should as we mature. Many of the things you thought you understood as a child are proven wrong, or partially wrong, or you gain a better understanding of them as you mature. Sometimes getting older does not necessarily meaning maturing, but it should.

We can compare these assumptions, these givens, to what we refer to in mathematical terminology as constants. An algebraic equation can’t be solved without constants. You can’t have an equation consisting only of variables. That type of equation could never be solved. The best that could be done with that type of equation would be to propose lots of theoretical possibilities. You can’t prove anything without constants. Constants, beliefs, assumptions, whatever terminology you choose to use, are where our paradigms begin. You can’t start with nothing. Every story, every theory, every philosophy, every set of religious beliefs has to start with something. Every story has to have a beginning, an implied Once upon a time.

It can also be said that our paradigm is our life’s framework. Every structure has to have a foundation and a framework. If it did not, it could not stand. Our paradigm is what holds our life together, and gives it stability. Our own personal lives, and the world in which we live, can seem very chaotic and confusing at times. Our paradigm must serve as our anchor, our connection to reality.

There can be many aspects to this paradigm. The first aspect is how we interpret things on a personal level. Why am I the way I am? Who am I? Why am I here? How do I interpret things that happen to me, or things I experience? Do I tend to feel victimized, or do I face life as an exciting challenge? Do the things I experience in life mean anything, or do I see them as just random chance? (This is a very significant issue.)

Another aspect of our paradigm is how we interpret other people and our interactions with them. Do we attribute value and significance to others, even to those with whom we disagree? Do we respect others and try to listen to them and understand them, or are we just interested in stating our own opinions and proving ourselves right?

How do we interpret the world we live in? How do we interpret the Cosmos in which our own planet is situated? What does it mean?

Another way of saying all this is that our beliefs form our paradigms. Let’s not get hung up on the use of the word beliefs. By beliefs, I simply mean those things we take for granted. Some people may say, I do not have a system of beliefs. This can never be true. If you say that you do not believe in God, that means that you believe there is no God, so you still have a belief system. You cannot prove that there is no God, and I cannot prove that there is, if we look at proving something in the sense of scientific experiments. So each of us exercises faith in what we believe. So called Atheism is just as much of a faith, a belief in something that cannot be scientifically proven, as is Christianity, or any other world religion. At the core of everyone’s interpretation of reality, however they choose to define it, is a set of beliefs, or assumptions about something, or someone.

Another word that is often