Manee
Well-known member
Was thinking of starting a blog to use up some of my free time when undergoing chemotherapy. I've got a couple very different articles, one on cricket and one is a bit of a ramble and I was wondering if someone could just let me know if they're any good or are in need of a bit of professionalization.
The cruelness of atheism: Day-by-day
The rise of evangelical atheism, spreading the word about the non-existence of God has successfully permeated popular culture in England in the 21st century, where I, and most of you, happen to claim residence. Even if one does not enjoy the rather confrontational musings of Richard Dawkins and peers – the common thought, Gemeinschaft or whatever you would like to call it, is that religion is self evidently absurd and therefore, the main idea espoused – that there is a God, there is an afterlife and there is a purpose can be similarly ridiculed.
I wish to keep this piece short and free of previous philosophical baggage. It is far too easy to become lost in jargon, reputed philosophers, historical monstrosities (Stalin was an atheist, don’t you know!) to avoid the key issues of introspection. I wish to tackle two questions:
Is order not there?
Is ‘truth’ so valuable?
On 8th April 2011, I was taken ill with pains all over my upper body. A couple scars, 9 litres of blood, partial tumour removal and a couple months of chemotherapy pending, life should be back to normal by the next academic year (fingers crossed). One thing which plagued me was that it just made no sense, whatsoever. Some of the more hard-nosed readers may baulk at that very sentence. Of course it doesn’t make sense – there is no man-like deity (or committee) that creates and watches over life – pouring sense into every aspect of life. The fact remains that I was lucky to survive the surgery and am lucky that we live in an age where chemotherapy gives me a fighting chance of survival. Alas, children are starving in Africa, the commonly used example, and I complain about the lack of sense in my life? How dare I?
I dare to do so because it has affected me. Is this self-centred? Evidently! However, try to empathise with me for a moment. It surely must be difficult. Try to empathise with people who do not know where there next meal is coming from, just that it likely won’t come at all. With all the intellectual pomposity of atheism – there has been a gross negligence to ignore the sheer impossibility of genuine empathy. The important thing is how people live their own lives. I’ve often asked fervent atheists what the purpose of life is, if there is no God. They invariably answer that the purpose is ‘life itself’ (I hope this article is not rendered redundant by this perhaps overgeneralization).
So, I continue, if the purpose of life is ‘life itself’, then why is there the great focus upon ‘truth’? Faith, religion, God, all essentially aims to curb the fear of death – arguably the greatest fear one can possibly conceive. Why ruin someone’s day (because people do not tend to consider death for more than a day, it just isn’t practical) in pursuit of something like ‘truth’, without the ‘consequence’ that so many atheists place their moral compass in the direction toward. Has the logical machine of atheism been plagued with a flaw which has been seldom recognised? This is probably a place for discussion and further inspection, but with my desire to keep this short, I wish to conclude sharply.
This article is perhaps admirable in how it asserts the sheer pointlessness of attempting to enforce any viewpoint across the God-debate, or any other debate which is predicated upon self-reflection. Do I see order in the universe, do I use this to justify a God and do I think this is ‘true’? Yes, I do see order – I’d like to think there is a God so I do not spend an eternity after a short life. I think this because of my friends who have supported me through this. They have found myself ready for the next portion of my life in a way that I was not, a year ago. I used to take great pride in my articles, published for various small websites and blogs – but meaning really does begin to fade when you cannot acknowledge that sometimes you are boggled by your own luck in friends and support through a difficult time.
Does this sound pathetic? Does this sound mildly capable of being regarded as true in philosophical circles? You probably do not think so, but I hope desperately that you understand that it doesn’t matter. What matters is ‘life itself’ – or so I have perhaps unfairly intellectually burdened upon the atheist.
I’ve been told that the most important thing to think about through this process is to get through one day at a time. Hopefully I have imparted this wisdom, this ‘truth’ upon you, the reader, too. (Or if not, at least I can maintain neutral ground by retreating to the pointlessness of it all).
India Vs England Test Series Preview
You would be kind not to call this an aimless rant based loosely upon Ishant Sharma and Stuart Broad
As India and England prepare to lock horns in the clash to decide the number one Test team, much has been made of the various superstars who will be on show. The much criticised Kevin Pietersen will battle to regain form against the swing master Zaheer Khan and perhaps, tactical selection pending, the left arm spin of rival, Yuvraj Singh will cause Pietersen a fair bit of strife too. Indeed, when it comes to star power, India are totally unmatched – boasting the likes of MS Dhoni, Rahul Dravid and of course, Sachin Tendulkar – among numerous others.
However, various lesser known names will also take part in the much hyped clash of the titans. Neither England, nor India, due to various circumstances have a settled pace bowling attack; this is not an ideal situation for any team, especially if the two teams happen to be competing to be unofficially/officially/who-really-cares (I do, damn it!) ‘Test match number one’, which are, personally, my favourite sequence of four words.
‘The best laid plans of mice and men [etc]’ and this has been the case for the two teams as they have, as all teams do, tried to form a stable pace bowling line up in the previous years which could serve them over the next few years. Such is the nature of the beast that injuries and losses of form (and in the case of Pakistan, dreaded corruption) mean that this leaves the pace line up as one of the most difficult tasks in ‘long term cricket team planning’ which are, personally, my favourite sequence of five words.
Stuart Broad and Ishant Sharma are two bowlers whose careers have run in vague parallel to each other. Both debuted in Test cricket in 2007 and both average 35.97 with the ball. The first connection excites me greatly, the second much more so – perhaps unhealthily so – perhaps to the level where I need to see someone, but the question is who? But alas, that appears to be an issue for another time. On a simpler level, both are tall, both debuted at a young age and both have a fair bit of speed which marked them above their peers, in selectors and pundits’ eyes as potential future greats.
Despite exclusively sharing the upper plateau of Test cricket, the support staff structure of India and England are rather different. England aim to create the new model army – with chiselled physiques, well oiled bowling actions and some of the top support staff that money and science can muster. India are a lot more informal, the role of head coach has been seldom recognized as important; in India’s recent period of dominance, Dhoni received credit and Kirsten received little – the inmates run the asylum (in a good way).
But all these parallels and divergences appear to fade into insignificance when it comes to Broad and Ishant. Perhaps it is the very nature of cricket that these statistics, these analyses and the actual work done with players matters little once you get out into the middle and it is your body and mind pitted against the opposition’s. There is a chance that both of them may not play, that one will play, despite effectively having been groomed for years for a series of this magnitude.
Which begs the question…what was the point of all this?
