On Ideological Fundamentalism

I've had my fair share of encounters with the polarities of rigid absolutism and objectivism on one side, and flexible relativism and subjectivism on the other, and have eventually come to see the light that lets all flowers bloom. While it's not a popular position to take among the followers of one tradition or the other, I haven't heard the likes of the following statement I came across yesterday even from religious fundamentalists, at least not in so many words.

"I recognize the evil in your foundation and your arguments are saturated with it - and it must be denounced vehemently because it is a cancer out there."

No doubt, relativism can strike an annoying chord in the ears of those who would rather believe their model of understanding is a de facto theory of everything, both in the realm of religious dialogue as with anything else featuring strong ideological convictions. That it is annoying is rather an understatement, for it's downright threatening, inasmuch as it suggests the possibility of tearing down the precious walls of absolute opinion built and maintained by generations of adherents.

The above citation becomes doubly curious over the fact that it was addressed to yours truly in a discussion that had absolutely nothing to do with poking the holy cows of any flavor of religious fundamentalism, but rather in the course of an attempt to discuss a purely secular (and not even political) theme with a person sporting a long academic background. A world where ideologies are juxtapositioned in such a radically condemning fashion is a world gone sad and sour

I suppose ambivalence can be threatening, but really it is only from a state of ambivalence that something truly new can evolve. Rigid ideologies, even while they may serve a purpose, are almost invariably antithetical to the progress and evolution of human understanding, shunning as they do the prospects for discovering solutions outside the established framework. All the while, doubt remains one of the most powerful tools at our disposal in our quest for knowledge and understanding.

This idolatry of human mental constructions is perhaps the single most devolutive force in the history of mankind with a long and devastating track record of stifling, oppressing and persecuting those discontent with available solutions, seeking to cross over the establishment to the undiscovered land. The problem started with Adam and Eve grabbing a fruit off the tree of forbidden knowledge and receiving a due punishment, and has really only grown worse ever since.

Choosing Friends and Mythologies

One of the darker sides of religion features in its adherents' habit to accept and reject friends on the basis of the mythos they have chosen to explain their universe. Pooling resources with people subscribing to similar metaphysical beliefs is unfortunately not the optimal means of connecting with the existing base of sentient beings, as it severely narrow down your possibilities, not unlike in the case of a monoglot stuck with an obscure language.

The narrower you draw the scope of your connections, the smaller the possibilities of your being holistically nourished by social interaction shrink. On the other hand, should you choose to expand the range of your connections above and beyond identifications and defenses rising from particular belief systems, the specifics of which are not all that essential in the grand scheme of things, you would effectively maximize your interactive potential in life.

Unfortunately beliefs and mythologies don't function as a straight procedural equation. People can get highly emotional and irrational over their beliefs, and particularly so when they feel their particular existential framework is under expressed, implied or assumed threat from contradicting views. Crossing through a number of religious communities over the years has shown me just how temporary, frail and superficial many relationships based on religion have been.

Should anyone wonder with my often pointed critique of common beliefs, I'm as a matter of fact against endorsing any given view as the final and ultimate word in metaphysics, including my own. All beliefs are subjective, inasmuch as experience itself is a subjective phenomenon. One pet future utopia of mine is a world where the humanity at large has evolved to a point where metaphysical relativism is so widely taken as a self-evident value that the mere concept of religious friction is a barely intelligible oxymoron.