There's No Plan

This piece started out with me wanting to define god's plan. Reading one thing after another, after another, after another of other people's definition of what that is, I stopped wanting to write about it. Reading the many variations just made me realize that I don't want to define it, try to understand it or even set in motion something to talk about that would in any way give any religionist an excuse to defend it. So, in other words, who cares about god's plan? Not me. Because, seriously, it's not logical that there is one plan based on the different themes that are out there. It's just whatever the flavor or interpretation of that particular faith is.

I know that I always debate people about their beliefs but today, I'm not willing to have a discussion of understanding what god had intended. I don't believe in god, so why would I try to even fathom what that made up person had in mind for us? No, the theme today is reality.

Why do we, those who oppose the idea of a supernatural being, always try to discredit him and his practices? An atheist's stance always has been to focus on reality, maybe that's what we should be speaking about. If making sense is why we choose not to believe because the whole supernatural thing doesn't, then let's choose to only talk about life in terms that do just that. 

Concentrating on living the life that we think it is and what we want it to be should be a priority, right? Considering that life is a journey that changes with each new experience, I would think that anybodies plan ultimately should be about ensuring that the life we live with all its changes, as well as its stable periods and every situation in between, should be as enjoyable and smooth, but as exhilarating as it can be.

Along the way, nature and the society in which we live that life throws us curves that can make or break us. Comfort and resolution, at those times, is what we crave but don't necessarily get. What is the next step, how do we fix things, why does it have to hurt so bad? Those uncertainties or unanswered questions should logically drive us in the direction of resolution but not always. Sometimes we get trapped in the cycle of bad chemistry combined with bad choices but also, in situations that are beyond our ability to rectify. Not learning how to rationally handle those situations that are within our power to handle, can stop us from progressing to the next level of understanding and moving beyond it.

A person who does not rely on a spectre up in the sky to handle those moments in life that are fraught with crisis has to think about the next step, evaluate the reality of his or her situation and then determine what the next best solution is to handling their crappy reality. The only progress that can be made is with the determination to change the outcome of the current situation. Even and especially those that are in potentially life-threatening situations.

It sounds so easy to just put it out there like that, like I've got all the answers. I don't. Especially when I know that we have all had situations in our lives where commanding oneself to do the rational or sane thing is incredibly difficult and seemingly impossible. Intense emotions are powerful expressions of the reaction to those situations in our lives that bring us to our knees. Experiencing them can intensify whatever the situation may be and deny us the rational thought it might take to get a handle on the situation that is going out of control.

Many situations also require intervention of a medical kind because, at times, imbalances in our brain chemicals create a whole host of other physical situations that just 'facing' reality do not solve. For all the rationale I possess myself, I could be one situation away from a nervous breakdown. We are complicated machines with a rationally functioning brain that also performs millions of chemical interactions on a daily basis that can change the outcome of how we use that brain.

Aside from an imbalance that impedes our ability to see our situations exactly as they are, reality isn't really all that scary. It just is as it represents itself. No expectations that it would be any different than how it appears to me. When I look out the window, the sun in shining, birds are chirping and the wind is blowing through my window and eliciting a favorable response for just 'being' what it is.

The child in the picture below has the opposite reality, one of desperate living conditions and a quality of life that is obviously a hardship. This child's reality is certainly an emotion-evoking situation for me, but again, this picture is of a child who is starving. Does this stir me to action, yes, but does my reaction to it change his or her reality, no.This is one of those situations that would be hard for the average innocent, vulnerable child to just turn-around using logic and rationale because the factors contributing to this are out of its control. Yet, it is a reality, one that I, as a rational thinking person could, upon seeing the problem, rationally come up with a solution to end this suffering.

picture compliments of jesus-is-savior.com

This is what living in reality means. You accept the horrors, as well as the beauty of it and you live with it, through it and because of it. It just is. The emotions that come with it shouldn't change your perspective of it, but serve to enhance it or motivate you to change the circumstances that are adding to your dissatisfaction or downright discomfort because of it.