Love Topples Faith, Part 1

Love Topples Faith

—An Imaginary Dialogue

So, if all our actions are caused by chemicals in the brain, isn’t that a dismal statement about humans in general?

Well, if the chemical reactions are as powerful as to make you feel like you have a free will, that’s something.

But if free will is an illusion, doesn’t that mean I’m not responsible for anything?

It doesn’t. Even if free will is an illusion, there’s every reason for us to play along. And even if we live in a Matrix-like simulated reality, that doesn’t change the gravity of what we do and what happens to us in this world. As long as the illusion is as perfect as to lead you to inquire whether it is an actual illusion (and to no clear end whatsoever), that’s the most flabbergasting illusion there is—if it is one! You’ll never find an optical illusion this convincing... The point is, claiming the world is entirely deterministic probably doesn’t threaten your current lifestyle at all.

What if people behave better under the guidance of a spiritual principle?

Well, that’s a whole different thing. If that spiritual principle is blind faith in the supernatural, it’s better to reject these superstitions. More on that later. If the spirituality in question is a completely abstract framework of belief, that might be entirely O.K. For instance: suppose someone in your family dies. The cliché thing to say is they’ll ‘always live on’—in our hearts or our thoughts. If you don’t mean that literally, but as an expression of intellectual acknowledgement of the love one feels for a deceased friend, that is viable. If you claim they’re watching you from heaven, that’s a misguided, sometimes selfish and even dickish thing to say.

To be continued...