Deciding

When one deeply examines the world of philosophical debate, it simply comes down to faith.  Yes, one can argue about a myriad of philosophical details, but beneath all of one’s philosophy is faith. Eventually, digging down deep enough and asking the right questions, we believe something or some things that we do not prove nor do we seek a proof, we simply believe them.  Some things (probably many things) are embraced at the presuppositional level and thus, not questioned.

What do we do with this?  The first thought, for me anyway, in response to this, is to recognize the futility of debate and argumentation.  If someone holds to view contrary to our own and they are someone who has worked through the many philosophical questions that plague certain people, then arguing those philosophical beliefs will lead to nowhere, as there are presuppositions underlying those beliefs, that need to be addressed first.

My second thought has to do with learning to think presuppositionally.  We must learn to think down deep. In other words, we have to learn to ask the questions that lie beneath and behind the philosophical argumentation that so often takes place.  We need to learn to identify and find the rationale for those questions, so that, when interacting with others, we can construct and direct conversation to a fruitful conclusion.  

In short, we must decide to believe.  The questions that lie at the bottom of who we are, do not have answers constructed from fine, logical argumentation.  We decide to believe. This is where prayer comes in. We can argue all we want (but shouldn’t) about philosophy. But it won’t go anywhere.  We must, instead, lead to the deep questions, with no answers, and then pray that God would reveal himself and the futility of life without God, to those with whom we interact.  

Only prayer can change a man’s heart.

Short sighted

There is a reason that the early church fathers, the monastics and our priests speak of the overarching importance of humility.  It is easy to compare one self to others, especially when one can cherry pick those to whom comparison is made.  It is easy to criticize and condemn others.  But it is much more difficult to only compare ourselves to those above and beyond us.  This is one of the reasons that having a spiritual mentor is so valuable.  We find someone that is spiritually superior to us and then we emulate them and hear their instruction.
But to really hear, we must first recognize and acknowledge our lack. This means we identify where we are ignorant, immoral and weak.
This is about humility.
But even besides all of this is recognizing our short sightedness.  As temporal and distracted mankind, we cannot see further than the moment.  We cannot even accurately remember the past.  Science has shown us over and over again just how faultily and romantic we remember past events.  And the further back we go, the less accurate these memories become.
Looking forward is even worse, for we cannot see past the "right now".  We might think that we can plan for the future, but we do not even know if we will be breathing tomorrow.  We cannot even rightly interpret the events of what is taking place right now.  Sure, we can see these events, but we cannot know how they will affect us tomorrow, or next week, next month or next year.
Something we see as terrible or troubling might every well be the exact thing we need to become more holy in our future.
We must have faith that God is working all things for our good.

Existence

What’s the point?  To be more exact, what is the point of my existence?  I probably cannot say that there is “a” point, as in a singular reason for my existence.  And even if there is, I could probably not comprehend or articulate it.  I do have responsibilities on my plate, some chosen, others ontological.  Simply being a human being, made in the image of God, gives me responsibilities.  I am responsible to love God and love neighbor.  Being married with children, I am responsible to lead and provide for my family.  Being an employee, I am responsible to fulfill my duties as a costing analyst, to the best of my abilities. This list can be expanded, i.e., a son, a brother, a neighbor, etc.

So the underlying question is this, what do our chosen responsibilities reveal about what we believe to be important?  And what do we do when that mentality changes after we have made those choices?  What amount of effort or price do we pay to get out of those responsibilities, if we come to a place where priorities have shifted?  Our position in life as laypeople (as opposed to monastic), automatically sets us up for certain responsibilities/freedoms/structure.  It seems that the American culture is having a direct (and often unnoticed/unspoken) affect upon these.
In short, we must avoid allowing alien beliefs and practices to control who we are and what we do.  Our faith is nothing if it does not directly affect every area of our lives.