Tuesday, February 11, 2014
A No-Win Situation
After finishing Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle, I found myself contemplating my own ideas about religion. Vonnegut basically comes to the conclusion that what is important is the illusion that meaning and purpose exist in religion for the individual, not that it actually exists. In other words, he believes that even though religion may or may not provide humanity with the real truth, religion serves only the purpose of giving people hope and faith and make them feel like their lives have a purpose. Upon understanding Vonnegut's argument, the question I would pose would be, what is wrong with that? Vonnegut essential says that truth plays no part in religion, but isn't it the truth that religion makes people feel like their lives have meaning? I guess Vonnegut has accomplished his goal here in successfully manipulating the reader. Even though he warns the audience that nothing in the book is true, we, as readers, still fall for his manipulation. Clearly, Vonnegut is a man who understands the silliness and meaninglessness of life, and probably enjoys the fact that he is teaching the reader something about how he makes them believe that they all believe in something. What a vicious circle!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
And if religion does not exist does anything change? The way religion affects the mindset and lifestyle of a person is the same regardless of the accuracy of the beliefs. While faith may not be as credible as data based "truth" it doesn't make science any more real for people who believe in their religion. Truth is all about the person who defines it. Especially in the case of Bokononism, the people of San Lorenzo know they are lying to themselves but by making it their life it becomes what is real and what is true.
ReplyDelete