The first one is that everything that begins to exist, has a reason for existence. This is also known as the principle of causality.
The second premise is that the universe began to exist.
Therefore, there must be a cause for the universe’s existence.
To say that the first premise is false seems very hard in the world we are living in today. How can something come out of nothing? If that were true, then we should at least notice this occurring around us.
Oooh, a car just showed up on my driveway. I wonder how that happened?
But we don’t, because something does not just come out of nothing. There is always a cause for something that exists. So how then do we explain the universe we live in? Did it come out of nothing or did something or some higher power cause it to exist?
Of course, being a religious person myself, the answer for me would be, that God created the universe we live in and everything in it. But I'm not writing this to force my beliefs on you. I just thought that this was a very compelling argument for the existence of a creator.
Does it unequivocally prove the existence of God? No. But it does make you wonder, right?
The more we depend on technology to make decisions for us, the less we actually decide for ourselves. On the surface level this seems good; the less decisions you have to make, the more mental bandwidth you have later on to decide on something else.
The problem is that technology cannot measure everything in the world around us. It cannot measure people's reaction to certain things, it cannot measure feelings or emotions, it cannot measure a person's mood, etc... And so technology cannot reliably predict everything that's going on around you, nor can it reliably predict what's going to happen in the future. Hence, the decisions it makes is based on its own expected reality, not yours.
Focus on consuming information that you know you need right now
Trying to consume everything to learn something, is not the best use of time. It is better to consume information that you know you need right now. Consuming information that you might need in the future, in other words reading just in case you will need it, is a waste of time.
It's the end of the year and for some reason I'm itching to start writing journal entries again. I considered just turning this into another Weeknotes post, but I don't think I can keep up with that schedule. So, this will be the start of a new journal entry series.
I say new because I've had a journal entry series before. If you are a returning reader, you've most likely even read them. If you are a new reader, then you missed out on a number of cringe-worthy personal posts. And that's part of the reason that series came to an end. I somehow outgrew that phase and no longer wanted to write about overtly personal stuff.
So, for this new series, one of the things I want to focus on is just sharing what I've learned. Instead of this journal/series being about “What's been going on with my life?”, I want it to be more about “What have I learned today?”
Also, I won't commit to a schedule for posting. It could be once a month, once every 4 months, or even just once a year. Whatever it will turn out to be, I'll write one when I feel like writing. So before that urge to write fades, here goes.
The subject of this short film is the theologian John Hull (1935-2015). He recorded the words featured in the film in an audio diary. The recording began in 1983, when he became fully blind after several years of progressively losing his sight.
Watch this short film and you'll gain a much better appreciation of your gift of sight.
Listening to John's words as he describes the despair and the hole he finds himself in, trying to break through the wall of blindness, but never getting anywhere — it was at times hard to listen to. But that's what makes you really appreciate being able to see right now.
A good read on why you might want to make use of “Read It Later” apps, like Pocket or Instapaper. Tiago also goes through his preferred setup and why it works for him.
In this article, Tiago Forte quotes David Allen on the benefits of having an organized reading list available all the time. The reason being, is that life is full of these random moments where we don't have anything to do. Having an organized reading list can come in handy during those moments. It is better to spend that time reading something good, than to spend that time browsing social media or consuming junk information.
Below are some of my key takeaways from reading this.
Improve yourself with incremental acts performed consistently every day
Self-improvement is all about small, incremental acts performed consistently and intently every day. It's about doing the work that needs to be done to get better, day by day, until you finally get to see some results.
Excellent Sunday homily from Bishop Barron. He's drawing attention to yesterday's reading from Ezekiel Chapter 2. Every baptized Christian and that includes me, is called to be a Prophet.
Each one of us who have been baptized in the Christian faith, are all prophets in a way, because we are expected to spread the word of God.
I have tried doing that on this journal. Every once in awhile, I talk about God, I talk about my faith, I share some Christian music, I share some interesting homilies like this one. And whenever I do, I notice that I would lose readers and subscribers. It has been a stumbling block for me. Sometimes, I ask myself, what's the point of doing so, if no one is listening?
I came across this music video a long time ago, back in 2013 or 2014 maybe. I remember getting teary eyed at reading the fan letters in the music video. Anyway, I was still an avid Facebook user then. I shared it on Facebook and that was it, I just forgot about it. Not even sure it garnered a Like on Facebook. It disappeared into the feed, never to be seen again.
And so imagine my delight when I rediscovered it a few weeks ago. I found it while going through my music log posts, trying to replace the Spotify embeds with YouTube music videos. I discovered that the music video has the same effect on me now, as it did then. It's a beautiful song, one where I feel like God is talking to me. And the music video shows how much comfort and peace it brought to other people.
I already shared this song in a previous music log, but I feel like it deserves to be shared again. Hopefully, this time around, it will reach a lot more people and not simply fade away into an algorithmic feed.
To anyone who needs to hear this message today, know that you are not alone. Look up and see, love has a face. ♪ ♫ ♪
I've had this YouTube video open on a browser tab on my phone for a few weeks now. I thought the question was interesting, but I never actually viewed the video until today. This 1 minute video gives a concise answer to the very interesting question of, “How do we know Jesus rose from the dead?”
In case you didn't watch the video, the answer is, the presence of the church today.
Jesus was crucified and rose from the dead, as the story goes, 2,000 years ago. Again, 2,000 years ago. Had the story of resurrection been fake, had it been fabricated, how come the church still exists today?