On Zeitgeist The Movie

So I recently watched Zeitgeist The Movie (the one on google video, or their website where you can find the sources), and I think it brought up a lot of really good points. First of all, to all those that question the validity of its statements, especially in the first part, I assure you it is true. One of the sources he cited, namely Manly P. Hall's Secret Teachings of All Ages (a very credible book), I have read before, and the information in the video is true to the facts. The information in the second and third parts are completely "googlable". You can also find a comparative chart between Jesus and Horus here:

http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_jcpa5.htm

And I know there's this website that claims such things as Attis was never resurrected and such. Here's a link to information refuting this claim:

http://www.bartleby.com/196/81.html

Anyway, the point the video makes is very good. It's not something to just accept blindly as truth because then you are making the same mistake. It's a video, I think, designed to stimulate the minds of the masses into thinking more. Less and less emphasis is being placed on philosophy and reason and more and more emphasis is placed upon the material. Before I can get to my next point, I must first define "bullshit", and I will use Harry Frankfurt's definition from On Bullshit.

To define "bullshit", Frankfurt first defines the difference between lying and bullshitting. When one lies, one consciously knows the truth, but deliberately conveys something different. However, when one is bullshitting, one has no concern for whether or not a statement or action is true, and is only for the betterment of themselves in front of others. Using this definition, you can say that our society is being conditioned into a life of pure bullshit. We are taught to go out and buy bullshit so that we can show it off, such as flashy cars, expensive clothes, or basically anything that we can get to make ourselves better than someone else. And these items have no concern for the truth for this reason: these material things have nothing to do with the true nature of the person. For example, someone driving an expensive dope car and dresses in expensive good looking clothing can be, and usually is, a total douchebag. This does not only apply to personal accessories. This also includes entertainment items we buy to occupy our minds with utter bullshit. Basically, we are conditioned to thrive in apathy.

Over the past couple hundred years, less and less emphasis is placed on philosophy. Philosophy now is often ridiculed and described as an outdated science that leads nowhere but a bunch of men asking "why?". But they are wrong. Reason is the single most important thing ever to grace humanity. But if this was true, why is it that nobody seems to know how to use it anymore? Why is it that everyone is so caught up in the material and can't seem to see that there is much more to this world than what appears? You've heard the phrase "don't judge a book by its cover", why shouldn't you apply this to reality? Why must we judge it as it is? The answer is that we shouldn't. This is where reason comes in. Unlike science, another method of determining truth, reasoning can determine truths in both the physical world and the metaphysical. Now I'm not saying science is a bad method, but instead I'm saying that while science is efficient in finding physical truths, it cannot determine anything we cannot observe. This is because the scientific method involves repeated experimentations and observations of those experiments, and truth is determined by repeated results. However, one cannot observe unobservable things such as concepts and ideas. This is where reason prevails. Only reason can tackle such questions as where we're coming from, where we're going, and why we're here.

The great thing about reason is that it requires no laboratory or facility, no government funding; it has no limitations and it cannot be observed. It is the gift of humanity but people are encouraged to not use it. People are encouraged to go out and buy bullshit to display social class, get married, have 1.4 kids, buy a two story house in the suburbs, put up a white picket fence, and live the remainder of their days in a vicious cycle of work and entertainment, or at least until retirement. But this is not how we humans are meant to live! These are only the most primal of our instincts! Most primates want social class and acceptance, a mate, offspring, territory, and so on. What separates us humans from the rest of the animal kingdom is that we have the ability to reason and create! Therefore, reasoning and creating are the only truly human experiences. However, I'm not saying that one shouldn't want to have a family and be financially secure and so on. What I'm saying is that those goals should not be the all-important. So from now on, PLEASE have an open mind. Accept that nothing is impossible and keep in mind that there is much more to this world than you can perceive. And the only way to discover the imperceivable half of this world is through reasoning, and to discover and understand this world is the purpose of humanity, as we are the only animal (that we know of) that has the ability to do so. So please, don't let reasoning and critical thinking die, and ponder the bigger questions out there. And also apply reasoning to your everyday life by critically analyzing all things passed on to you as "truth". Sorry I don't mean to sound like a preachy douchebag but this is something that I feel strongly about.

Peace and Love!