I am being deceived by nothing.
Quoting: Heretic_333 That is the statement of the truly self-deceived.
You worship yourself as the master of parsing reality.
You basically think of yourself, intellectually speaking, as a God. You believe if you are clever enough, you will not die.
It is the oldest deception of all.
Like others have pointed out, you give no account for the initial cause of Life, and the creation of the universe.
The glory belongs to God. And you know it.
AC 8597527, I highly recommend reading the works of Christian Philosopher, Soren Kierkegaard.
If you truly wish to impart what you view as wisdom to another person, you must first have an understanding of the situational awareness of that person. Surface judgements and simply saying, based on a feeling, that a person is deceived because their perspective of Divinity or Life differs from yours, only serves to further separate both of you from learning anything from each other.
On March 30th, 1846, Kierkegaard published "Two Ages: A Literary Review" which was a critique of the novel "Two Ages" written by Thomasine Christine Gyllembourg-Ehrensvärd. In this work, Kierkegaard attacked the conformity and assimilation of individuals into "the crowd".
Here is an excerpt from a Wiki article written about Kierkegaard's analysis of "the crowd". The article uses too many external links instead of actual footnotes for my taste, but the author's synopsis of Kierkegaard's critique is very good.
As part of his analysis of the "crowd", Kierkegaard accused newspapers of decay and decadence. Kierkegaard stated Christendom had "lost its way" by recognizing "the crowd," as the many who are moved by newspaper stories, as the court of last resort in relation to "the truth." Truth comes to a single individual, not all people at one and the same time. Just as truth comes to one individual at a time so does love. One doesn't love the crowd but does love their neighbor, who is a single individual. He says, "never have I read in the Holy Scriptures this command: You shall love the crowd; even less: You shall, ethico-religiously, recognize in the crowd the court of last resort in relation to 'the truth.'"[72] Kierkegaard takes out his wrath on the crowd, the public, and especially the newspapers in this short sample of his work. In this quote he also gives an inkling of what true Christianity is like. God must be the middle term.[73]
Quoting: From Wiki Article"...Do you dare to claim that human beings, in a crowd, are just as quick to reach for truth, which is not always palatable, as for untruth, which is always deliciously prepared, when in addition this must be combined with an admission that one has let oneself be deceived! Or do you dare to claim that "the truth" is just as quick to let itself be understood as is untruth, which requires no previous knowledge, no schooling, no discipline, no abstinence, no self-denial, no honest self-concern, no patient labor! No, "the truth," which detests this untruth, the only goal of which is to desire its increase, is not so quick on its feet. Firstly, it cannot work through the fantastical, which is the untruth; its communicator is only a single individual. And its communication relates itself once again to the single individual; for in this view of life the single individual is precisely the truth. The truth can neither be communicated nor be received without being as it were before the eyes of God, nor without God's help, nor without God being involved as the middle term, since he is the truth. It can therefore only be communicated by and received by "the single individual," which, for that matter, every single human being who lives could be: this is the determination of the truth in contrast to the abstract, the fantastical, impersonal, "the crowd" – "the public," which excludes God as the middle term (for the personal God cannot be the middle term in an impersonal relation), and also thereby the truth, for God is the truth and its middle term." - Søren Kierkegaard, Copenhagen, Spring 1847
Quoting: Soren Kierkegaard [
link to en.wikipedia.org]
Please forgive the wall of words in this post, but Kierkegaard's words here are important for all us to understand. The search for Truth is an individual journey; revealing itself slowly to each of us as we are able understand it. Truth changes and evolves as we continue to question that which we believe to be true about ourselves and the nature of the Divine. Truth is not a collective epiphany. It is the result of a single individual reaching out to touch the face of the Divine. Therefore, to say one is deceived is not only judgmental, it is a mirror reflecting back upon ourselves that which we do not understand because it exists outside the comfort of the collective. For without the collective reconfirming conformity, we are then forced to look deeply into ourselves and face that which we fear and do not understand.
