Philosophy of Imagination*Seventeen

I was reading a philosophy article that was making the argument for 'God'. He made some interesting points, but the foundation of his argument is the same one that religious people make again and again. Who created the Universe? There has to be a 'God', because someone created the Universe, or the matter that grew into the Universe. But the same argument can be made about 'God'.

If 'God created the Universe, who created God? It's a circular argument, that like all great philosophical discussions has no answer. Yet. 

My goal is to not impugn on anyone's beliefs, or morals or values or interests. Let people do anything they want, is what I believe, as long as they're not hurting anyone else, physically or emotionally. That's the only time I'll stand up and say 'hold the fuck on'. If people believe in God, great, believe in God and Jesus and the Holy Ghost. Or Muhammed. Or Ganesh. Or math and science. Or Mother Earth. Or Zeus. Vindictive creators are particularly interesting. Believe what you want and leave others to do the same. Where we run into problems is when we admonish and vilify those who believe differently from ourselves. If someone wants to believe 'flying spaghetti' (a real religion) to be the 'god', then let them. How is that hurting you? Let people be. 

I believe Imagination is the Creator. That it can exist with your other beliefs and ideas. Your Imagination is what allows you to believe in a 'God' of your choosing. Imagination allows you to close your eyes and see that 'God' if you want. Your Imagination knows right and wrong and helps you create your morals and values -- perhaps with the aid of your 'God'. And you live your life by these morals and values, or by a lack of them. Do what you want (as long as you're not hurting anyone).

We can all believe in Imagination. If I say 'star chasing cowboy pickle', something pops in to your head, an image. And everyone's image is different. 7.5 billion different images. So 7.5 billion different images of 'God'.

We all have our own 'God'. Created by our unique Imaginations. Let people be*.

*Unless they're hurting someone or something.

Philosophy of Imagination*Sixteen

In the great movie from 1984, NEVERENDING STORY, Atreju and Falkor go on a quest to save Fantasia. Sounds awesome, right? Because it is! (Although my wife would disagree -- sometimes if you don't see a certain type of movie when you were a kid and there is no nostalgia attached or patience for corniness and bad CGI, no matter how beloved, you'll think it's shit. Mine is HOOK. Sorry Hook fans, I still love you.)

We come to find that it's not a quest to save Fantasia, rather a quest to capture the Imagination of a kid. When the kid realizes that it's him that will save everything, all he needs is that seed of an idea, one particle of light to drop into his own Imagination and he can recreate Fantasia and make it even better than before. One kid's mind can make infinite Worlds. Sounds like that kid might be God? Spoiler, he is not God. He's is just a kid, but armed with his Imagination, he can do anything a God can (we are told that God has all these powers from religions and other sources, Bible, Book of Mormon, etc, but we're still waiting on some actual scientific proof -- I'm sure they'll let us know when they find it -- we'll wait.) If all he needs is an Imagination to have god-like powers, does that make us all gods? No. We shouldn't use the word god, because it implies something to be worshipped. We don't want to worship anyone. That implies that a God is more important or better than everyone else, which is not true. We are all the same. All equal. We all have Imaginations that give us great power, but we must believe in it and ourselves to unleash it. To spread goodness in our own way across the Universe. To express ourselves, to create our Fantasia for the rest of the Universe to enjoy.

It is the Imaginations quest for knowledge, otherwise known as Curiosity. This is the path of our evolution. To seek, to learn, to create a better understanding of the Universe and all the people and things in it. Without that Imagination Quest, we as a species would rot and wither away. First our minds and then our physical bodies. Without the Imaginations Quest/curiosity for knowledge and learning life would be shit. A big pile of shit. Even if you had billions of dollars, could buy anyone or anything that you wanted, if you got a blow job/cunnilingus from a different hot girl/guy every day, if you ate the finest foods for breakfast lunch and dinner, lived in a palace, could drink the day away and do nothing but have unalloyed pleasure day in and day out, if you were without curiosity and new knowledge, you would soon become miserable! Guaranteed.

We need our Imagination Quest to go on living. To be happy and fulfilled. To make a better World for the Imaginations (not gods) that will come after us. You must Quest for Imagination-Knowledge-Happiness, they have to be chased down and caught with great difficulty and hard work.

Vacuos pursuits, greed, idleness and pain are slugs. They chase you and fall into your arms. They have to be asked to leave and when they become belligerent you have to throw them out. Why do we revere what is so easy to attain? Questing for money and stuff. We spend most of our lives in these pursuits. Fuck that quest.

We're gonna be a tribe called Imagination Quest! Showing ourselves and others the beauty that lies on the Quest within!!!