Rene Descartes wrote these famous words in his remarkable philosophical work "Discourse on Method" in 1637. I thought that, perhaps, it was appropriate to begin my first substantive blog entry with an seemingly obscure reference to Monsieur Descartes' notorious statement. My decision is due to the fact that I, above all else, believe in rationality. I accept Descartes' basic premise that the our starting point for discovery, whether scientific or metaphysical, must begin with the assumption that something called rationality exists. It is an appropriate introduction to myself and why I am engaged in blogging.
While purposely maintaining my anonymity, I will attempt to layout a few of the key elements that have contributed to building my worldview. I could discuss, in today's entry, many of these elements. However, due to time limitations and boredom of whatever readers may exist, I will confine myself to but one of these, as it is the primary factor. It is religion and philosophy.
I was raised as a nominal protestant Christian in the United States. Religion was only a minor influence through most of my childhood. However, I, for whatever reason, became extremely interested in Christianity and religion, in general, in my teens. As it turned out, this was a phase that I was passing through until my early adult years. By the time, I had reached my twenties, I was a devout skeptic and dabbled in socialism. Eventually, I found my way back to theism, in the form of Islam. The clarity and authority of Islam, or at least my perception of it, was impressive to me. After many years of practicing Islam, I realized that I have too many questions about Islam to continue to practice it, in good conscience. Although I am now longer Muslim, however, many aspects of Islam still resonate with me, though. The last, and perhaps final, phase has been Christianity. Although, still not a being of a specific denomination, I am feeling out various forms of Christianity. I have never been drawn back to atheism, in any form. It seems too much of a leap of faith to conclude that there is no such thing as rationality; as this is the ultimate conclusion that must be drawn from the assumption that a higher intellect cannot exist. In the present age, atheism, popularly believed, is merely hedonism without a philosophical backbone. I think that one has much more intellectual integrity in being an agnostic, as opposed to an atheist. Perhaps the greatest response to the question of God is recorded in the Gospel of Saint Mark,
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