There was once a Scientist who was very knowledgeable in his field of Biology. He achieved the Nobel Prize and celebrated the rest of his life with immense wealth and happiness. But, he was also notorious among his peers for being very arrogant, argumentative and a steadfast Atheist. He was the firmest believer of Logic and Reason I have ever known, and that played a huge role in his successful career.
And then, he came to my University. I was responsible for showing him around campus, taking him out for dinner, and dropping him off at the house of another Biologist at my University.
After dinner, we were walking together from the University to the Biologist's house and it was dark. During casual conversation, we strayed into metaphysics and religion, science and art, and similar philosophical debate about the mind-body duality.
He asked me, "Do you believe in God?", to which I said, "Yes." He then said, "If God is merciful and compassionate, how come my wife left this world a year ago, and I have to suffer such emotional loss and distress? Why am I being so tortured for no fault of my own?"
I said to him, "He is helping you learn.", to which he responded, "Fuck off, you are just being argumentative! I have seen endless debates full of circular and illogical reasoning in my whole life, and it's full of logical fallacies, to the point of stupidity! I can spend EVERY SECOND OF EVERY DAY, till the end of my life, deconstructing every single argument, and proving each of them wrong!"
I remained patient and calm. I thought, "So he needs proof."
I told him, "I am sorry for being so insensitive. I am sorry for your loss. I know how hard it is, because one of my own aunts died in a fire accident, and she was one of my eight favorite aunts."
We continued talking and we were almost at the end of our walk. I asked him if there has ever been a mugging incident on his University campus, and if anyone was hurt. He said he not only knew of such cases in his own town, there have been numerous such mugging and armed robbery incidents in the US because of the current economic depression. He told me a story about a mugging incident where an old woman robbed a college student, threatening him with a Swiss Army Knife.
I then said to him, "Yeah, the sale of Swiss Army Knives should be regulated in hardware stores, and by local authorities."
I then went on to say to him, "It's dark now, and we are very close to campus. There have been reports of mugging late at night, and it gets less safer, the darker the sky turns. Let me tell you one thing before I leave you. It's completely plausible that a guy could walk up to the two of us, pretending to seek directions, but instead take a knife out of his jacket, and rob the two of us this instant. But, I don't see any guy walking up to us, and I can hardly think of such incidents when I go home every night, after a hard day's work, when all I want to do is fall into my bed and go to sleep."
I can see the house we were going towards, a couple of blocks away.
I continued, "Let me tell you what I am thinking right now. EVERY SECOND OF EVERY DAY I don't get mugged, is God's way of showing his mercy and compassion to me, even though I have experienced multiple losses in my relatives and personal life, for no fault of my own. I know everything in life does not go by logic or reason, because Logic itself is flawed in many senses."
He opened his eyes so wide I thought his eyeballs were going to pop out of his sockets, when he said, "You are the greatest philosopher I have ever seen in my life!"
I told him, "No, I am not. I am no different from the infinite number of human beings and creatures on this planet, and it's illogical to assume that I am better than any other philosopher or being I know about."
He had a look in his eyes that bordered on reverence and immense respect for me, and then I called the other Biologist on his mobile, asking him to buzz open the front door.
I told the Scientist, "Good luck with your life. I am sure you will find someone that deserves a world-famous biologist like you." He thanked me and we bade goodbye to each other.
And then, he came to my University. I was responsible for showing him around campus, taking him out for dinner, and dropping him off at the house of another Biologist at my University.
After dinner, we were walking together from the University to the Biologist's house and it was dark. During casual conversation, we strayed into metaphysics and religion, science and art, and similar philosophical debate about the mind-body duality.
He asked me, "Do you believe in God?", to which I said, "Yes." He then said, "If God is merciful and compassionate, how come my wife left this world a year ago, and I have to suffer such emotional loss and distress? Why am I being so tortured for no fault of my own?"
I said to him, "He is helping you learn.", to which he responded, "Fuck off, you are just being argumentative! I have seen endless debates full of circular and illogical reasoning in my whole life, and it's full of logical fallacies, to the point of stupidity! I can spend EVERY SECOND OF EVERY DAY, till the end of my life, deconstructing every single argument, and proving each of them wrong!"
I remained patient and calm. I thought, "So he needs proof."
I told him, "I am sorry for being so insensitive. I am sorry for your loss. I know how hard it is, because one of my own aunts died in a fire accident, and she was one of my eight favorite aunts."
We continued talking and we were almost at the end of our walk. I asked him if there has ever been a mugging incident on his University campus, and if anyone was hurt. He said he not only knew of such cases in his own town, there have been numerous such mugging and armed robbery incidents in the US because of the current economic depression. He told me a story about a mugging incident where an old woman robbed a college student, threatening him with a Swiss Army Knife.
I then said to him, "Yeah, the sale of Swiss Army Knives should be regulated in hardware stores, and by local authorities."
I then went on to say to him, "It's dark now, and we are very close to campus. There have been reports of mugging late at night, and it gets less safer, the darker the sky turns. Let me tell you one thing before I leave you. It's completely plausible that a guy could walk up to the two of us, pretending to seek directions, but instead take a knife out of his jacket, and rob the two of us this instant. But, I don't see any guy walking up to us, and I can hardly think of such incidents when I go home every night, after a hard day's work, when all I want to do is fall into my bed and go to sleep."
I can see the house we were going towards, a couple of blocks away.
I continued, "Let me tell you what I am thinking right now. EVERY SECOND OF EVERY DAY I don't get mugged, is God's way of showing his mercy and compassion to me, even though I have experienced multiple losses in my relatives and personal life, for no fault of my own. I know everything in life does not go by logic or reason, because Logic itself is flawed in many senses."
He opened his eyes so wide I thought his eyeballs were going to pop out of his sockets, when he said, "You are the greatest philosopher I have ever seen in my life!"
I told him, "No, I am not. I am no different from the infinite number of human beings and creatures on this planet, and it's illogical to assume that I am better than any other philosopher or being I know about."
He had a look in his eyes that bordered on reverence and immense respect for me, and then I called the other Biologist on his mobile, asking him to buzz open the front door.
I told the Scientist, "Good luck with your life. I am sure you will find someone that deserves a world-famous biologist like you." He thanked me and we bade goodbye to each other.
No comments:
Post a Comment