"It seems a cold world without something... more."

"On the contrary," said Oromis, "it is a better world. A place where we are responsible for our own actions, where we can be kind to one another because we want to and because it is the right thing to do instead of being frightened into behaving by the threat of divine punishment..."

-Eldest by Chris Paolini, pg. 544


"For what is time? Who could find any quick or easy answer to that? Who could even grasp it in his thought clearly enough to put the matter into words? Yet is there anything to which we refer in conversation with more familiarity, any matter of more common experience, than time? And we know perfectly well what we mean when we speak of it, and understand just as well when we hear someone else refer to it. What, then, is time? If no one asks me, I know; if I want to explain it to someone who asks me, I do not know... Now, what about these two times, past and future: in what sense do they have real being, if the past no longer exists and the future does not exist yet?"

-(14, 17) of Confessions, book 11, by St. Augustine.


"As for me, all I know is that I know nothing."

- Socrates

These three quotes reflect three views I have in life. Thanks to my philosophy class (which is a lot more difficult than I had initially expected) I have begun to question what I do and do not know, which, according to Socrates, is nothing.

But you know what? I think I'm fine with that.

Sure, it may seem a bit dreadful to think about. Everyone wants to believe they know something. But in the overall scheme of things, it's impossible to really know anything, no matter how basic. And understanding that you do not know anything, in this instance, can be comforting.

Augustine's approach to what time is, initially, was baffling on two accounts. The first is that philosophy, in and of itself, is farily difficult to read. The second is that it's such a valid way to frame time. We all know what we're talking about when we talk about time, but to accurately describe it is another thing entirely. To say that time is hours, minutes, and seconds, is a start, but it only describes how we measure time's passage and not the concepts of it. And to think of the past is to recall images that we have stored due to our sensory input, but this is not to say that the past still exists. This brings thoughts to my mind that are bittersweet. We can let go of painful instances in the past, as the past no longer exists. We shouldn't dread the future for what it may hold that is painful, because not only does it not exist yet, but it will pass into the present and shortly thereafter, to the past.

The first quote (and I realize that I have just addressed the quotes in reverse order, it was not intentional but it is amusing to some degree) is not philosophic in origin but it rings of a philosophical statement, though crude. Perhaps I'm just used to philosophy being posed in the diction of the ancient Greeks. This quote is far into the story of Eragon, the newest Dragon Rider, when he is asking his instructor, Oromis, about the religion of the elves. When Oromis answers that the elves do not worship any sort of higher power, Eragon is startled, and says, "it seems a cold world without something more." What Oromis says in response struck a chord in me, as I have been through many phases in my quest for beliefs that religion has yet to satisfy. I was baptized a Roman Catholic, studied Buddhism, delved into Wicca, and finally settled on holding no strong religious ties. The world of science seems more reasonable to me than the world of theology. Each person must find their own way through life, and though others choose an omnicient being, I choose logic and reason. This is not to say, however, that the followers of religion are wrong, as many people feel that I am wrong for 'not believing in anything.' I simply differ in the way that I believe that I am capable of making decisions based on what I have learned and what I expect, nothing more, nothing less. How you choose to be a good person is up to you and you alone.

I feel that I've exhausted my current thoughts, as well as my word choice. Though some of my grammar may be incorrect, I enjoy stretching my vocabulary and making everything fit, and it's never a crime to be well-spoken.

As spoken by many a wise soul...
Atra esterni ono thelduin, mor'ranr lifa unin hjarta onr, un du evarinya ono varda.

~Marina