Everything Is Nothing

If perception is truth, then there’s no such thing as truth.

— Xenocrates

The squares labeled A and B are the same shade. Click here to see proof.

Rene Descartes once posited that the only proof that we exist is the fact that we are conscious of ourselves thinking. His famous quote, “Cogito, ergo sum” (I think, therefore I am) has a great deal of meaning for those of us who are constantly in search of the meaning of life. I have already posited that life has no intrinsic meaning outside of what you choose to give it. In this post, I’ll go a step further to demonstrate why there is no such thing as truth.

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■ E-mail: accordingtoxen[at]gmail[dot]com

What’s the point of it all?

God is the correct answer to a silly question.

— Xenocrates

This fantastic sight wasn’t created. It evolved that way. The NGC 1672 Spiral Galaxy © Hubble Telescope.

A young woman confronted me recently about my last post. She was angry at me because it made sense. All her life, even though she doesn’t subscribe to any particular religion, she still wanted to believe that somewhere out there, there was something more than the life that we have. Apparently she was dissatisfied with how her life turned out and hoped that there was something more. So I conceded that yes, there is something more, but it is probably not spiritual. She was furious: “Why not?” She prodded. “How else can we explain our existence if there isn’t some grand purpose to it?” This post is my answer to her question.

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■ E-mail: accordingtoxen[at]gmail[dot]com

Dream Interpretation

…it is human nature to value mysticism over fact, since facts are nowhere near as intriguing…

– Xenocrates

Dreams are visual representations of our desires.

Have you ever had one of those vivid dreams where you were positive that it carried some strong omen but you weren’t sure what it was? Well that’s what this post is really all about. Dream interpretation is actually a lot simpler than people tend to think and I’m going to tell you how to understand them using simple science. Eventually you’ll come to see that there is absolutely nothing mystical about dreams at all. You won’t fear your nightmares after this.

Morality vs. Religion

“Morality and religion exist as mutually exclusive concepts as one does not automatically predicate the other.”

– Xenocrates

Taking an oath on the Bible is something of a conflict of interest – considering what’s written in it.

When asked about why religion is necessary, one of the common answers most people will probably tell you (even if they aren’t believers) is that religion provides a framework for moral behaviour. So allow me to permanently fix that problem by blowing this fatuous assumption out of the water once and for all.

The Anatomy of Belief

“Conflict over belief is as worthwhile as conflict over a favourite colour.”

– Xenocrates

There are many systems of belief in the world. Most beliefs are propagated by the innate compulsion of their subscribers to derive purpose from the world around them. As such, religion is effectively a moderate transmutation of mythology, philosophy and science. It attempts to be the silver bullet that is the catch-all solution for all of life’s problems. That’s why religion is the most conspicuous of all systems of belief. It attempts to explicitly fill the gaps science and philosophy do not. However, there are some dark, disturbing characteristics about religious belief that a lot of religious people are either unaware of or seem to ignore altogether. Growing up in an environment that catered to the far Christian right taught me a lot of highly valuable lessons about these characteristics. This post details the top ten most valuable lessons I’ve learned about religious cognition. Most of these I learned after intense debate and oftentimes, vicious confrontation: