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Self-Created
Significances
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Self-Created Significances
T.L.C. A moment ago,
you said that religious beliefs play a major role in determining the meaning and
the significance of
same-sex marriage.
What did you mean?
Big D I meant that marriage is not just one “thing” that everybody sees in exactly the
same way.
Everyone brings
his or her own meaning to this issue.
T.L.C. Why is
that ?
Big D The best way to
explain that is to go back to three
of the basic principles of human nature .
T.L.C. OK, I’m
listening .
Big D
Here’s the first
basic principle: Human
life is filled with significance and meaning,
all of which, is insignificant and
meaningless.
T.L.C. And what does
that mean ?
Big D It means that
there
are no inherent significances in anything humans do. It means that the events, by themselves, have no
meaning. The
meaning every
experience has is the meaning each person gives to it, only that meaning, and nothing more.
I’ll give you an example. Collectively,
humans pay millions of dollars so that on Saturday and Sunday afternoon
a group of the physically biggest and toughest guys
available will carry a twelve ounce, inflated rubber balloon covered with
pigskin from one end of a football field to the other.
On Tuesday morning, in less than five minutes, almost any healthy,
adult human
could carry three-dozen footballs from one end of that same field to the other
and back. What, then, is the
significance and meaning of moving a leather-covered balloon around a
grass-covered field with
white lines on it, and where does that
significance and meaning come from?
T.L.C. OK, what’s
the significance and meaning ?
Big D Like everything
else in human life, it has only the significance you give to it, and it means
exactly what you believe it means.
T.L.C. And where does
that significance come from ?
Big D From the
participants in the game and from the observers.
The movement of that football is
placed in the context.² of a
contest and
great meaning is given to its movement within that
context.
T.L.C. So ?
Big D So the meaning
and the significance it has is artificial; it’s arbitrary; it’s made up.
It’s not inherent in the movement of the football, itself.
It’s made up of the individual beliefs, the collective beliefs, and the
agreements made between all the people involved with, or watching, the movement
of that leather covered balloon. The
significance is in the people, not in the football.
Likewise,
a wide variety of meanings can be applied to anything and everything
humans experience in life. The
meaning of any experience has much more to do with the person having the
experience than it has to do with the external experience itself.
Its meaning is the meaning that the person chooses to give to it.
Everyone chooses their own meaning based upon their past experiences, and based
upon their own belief system and by focusing
on particular aspects of the experience and by ignoring other aspects.
Let
me give you an absurd example of an event having more than one meaning.
On the morning of September 11, 2001, more than 3,000 humans were
wantonly murdered simply because they happened to be in the wrong place at the
wrong time. While hundreds of
million of people were shocked and appalled by that event, a large number of
Palestinians were shouting with joy, dancing in the street, and passing out
candy.
Why?
Because their religious and social structure gives power and prestige to
religious fanatics who have a very dysfunctional view of reality.
The people dancing and shouting were taught that they were victims and
that Americans were the villains. The
significance they placed on that event was a product of their misguided training
and conditioning and obviously, not inherent in the event itself.
T.L.C. But that was an
exception.
Big D Was it?
It’s an extreme example, yes, but it is far from an exception.
They were celebrating because their equally
ignorant, religious leaders had taught them that such an
event was a good thing. Violent
religious extremists, regardless of what religion they're peddling, are a global curse on humanity.
T.L.C. How does that
relate to gay and lesbian rights?
Big D
The same
principles apply.
The
religious beliefs and mental conditioning within the observer are critical
factors in determining what an event means.²
And
another thing to consider is that by their very nature, religious beliefs are based on assumptions, not on factual
evidence.²
What marriage means has everything to do with the assumptions people make based on
their religious beliefs. And,
for most people, their beliefs are a product of the religious and cultural
environment in which they spent their first seven years of life.
T.L.C. Why do people
believe in the religion they believe in?
Big D For most
people, the answer is “For one reason and one reason only -- because that's
the belief they learned as a very young child.”
Their beliefs are a product of their conditioning and have nothing to do
with the religion itself. Why is it
that most people believe in the same religion that their parents believed
in?
T.L.C.
OK, Why?
Big D
Because
the belief doesn't come from the religion. It comes from the
people.
T.L.C. And now relate
that to same-sex marriage.
Big D
In any
controversy, each
side sees this issue from its own point of view.
Each side believes the story on their side and gives their perspective
great meaning. At the same time, they disbelieve or ignore the
perspective of the other side.
Marriage rights have the same problem as any other religious controversy.
There are those who are so adamant in their religious beliefs that they
attempt to force their beliefs into others.
Some religious fanatics are so far out of touch with reality that they
are literally insane. Until a few years ago the fundamentalist Christian forced-motherhood
promoters fit that description.
Today, it's the violent Muslim
extremists.
But,
regardless of how emotional one get over the any issue, the significance is still only the significance each person brings to it.
That significance is arbitrary; it’s made up, and it stems from the
personal and religious beliefs of the person who made it up. You might also note that the
fundamentalist Christian leaders are being
very successful at programming their beliefs into the minds of the public.²
T.L.C. So religion
plays a major role in the gay marriage controversy.
Big D Not just a
major role. Religious belief
plays the major role.
Just observing the people on both sides of this issue ought to make that
abundantly clear.
T.L.C. What do you
mean?
Big D The
anti-gay rights side is made up almost exclusively of conservative Christians with
behind-the-scene support from the Roman Catholic Hierarchy.
People on the gay rithts side come from a vide variety of religious and
philosophical backgrounds.
T.L.C. So it’s
conservative Christians against everyone else.
Big D That’s an
oversimplification, but it’s also reasonably accurate.
T.L.C.
Is there anything else?
Big D Yes,
there's another topic we need to look at is the way humans perceive their earthly
experiences. It's called
Selective Perception
.
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