Interview With Michael Dent A Poet-Musician-Artist from Toronto About Art

Raising Meaning From Almost Nothing

The best excuse for art is that it promotes the good nature of earths inhabitants and raises meaning from almost nothing.  We do not live in a world that is meaningless.  The very thought of life being meaningless is a religious concept that is required for the invented or created meaning of gods and superstition.  Real and substantial meaning exists and can be demonstrated as religion but to not confuse honesty, art is what demonstrates the meaning better and truthfully, is the only way we can step aside from our delusion.  And this is by citing delusion as delusion or calling ideas that might be true but do not claim to be, art.  Science depicts a world too which is although not complete or understood by everyone, more real than art.  Art cites itself as untrue, as fiction, as simulation, as imitation.  But truth is revealed to the consumer in art unlike religion or other hoax driven ideas where a “truth” is foisted on the public as though they were a congregation that already believed things untrue and wanted to further there delusion into nihilistic dreams.  Defeating nihilism would be a great boost to science and art.  And the death of religious and religiosity and superstition and spirituality.

The Rejection Of Religious And Moral Principles

Nihilism is the rejection of all religious and moral principles, often in the belief that life is meaningless.  Also:  extreme skepticism maintaining that nothing in the world has a real existence.  Nihilism is a sign that the world is declining.  Imagine.  A world bustling with ideas and science compared to what we have:  laziness, religious indifference, moral slackening and a belief in materialism and determinism causing a world wide apathy and what amounts to little meaning or nihilistic criticisms and severe pessimism.   Religion must and should be rejected.  But we should not throw the baby out with the bathwater.  Not that we should retain our spirituality, but we should retain our desire for good, and love for people.   Nihilism is a step far too far.  Don’t reject Christ and then say fuck it all is hopeless.  Reject Christ and look into the morals of Christ and why everyone should reject him.  The rejection of religious and moral principles is important but not so that one can go all the way to “life has no meaning” but definitely subtract gods and superstition from your own “moral” or “meaning related” opinion of reality.

We Must Defeat Nihilism

When the problems are environment and arms race we are taking two steps backward into xenophobia, racism and sexism.  Christianity was once known as a good religion and now it spurs these terrible backwards ideas.  It will be the work of good people to turn the attention to the environment and arms race when everyone is focused on the inequality of our people due to the terrible ideologies which promote the hate we here in see in the media.  Though on one hand it would be nice to live in a friendly world, it is just not practical, our focus has to be on climate change and war or our earth will be uninhabitable or blown up.  Again, the problems challenging us are environment and arms race.  Not to say the other problems aren’t important but it seems a lot of smoke in the air from protests that are based on hatred of hatred and not practical solutions to world problems.  We can go ahead and become better people but right now doomsday is being predicted, and rightly so, the signs are there.  We must defeat nihilism.  Or we will be doomed.

Without Evidence

What?  And you expect me to believe without evidence?  Just count on it like it’s reliable when you and I both know it’s not reliable.  That it falls short in every test.  “There are no tests” you say echoing Socrates.  But there are tests.  You expect me to follow what you say when you say so much I disprove of at once.  When you dangle heaven like it were something other than a withered carrot.  When you erupt in a string of run on sentences that signify a passion and that is all.  But back to truth.  Back to reality.  You remind me of how much worse life could be understood.  And so often I criticize my worldview, because I can’t stand to criticize something as worthless as your worldview.

God And Other Superstitions

For the record I never think about God.  It was always too much for me.  Always a lie.  And why do I have an atheist blog if I never think about God?  Because I think about people.  And people have gods.  Fair enough?  Can you imagine a world without “gods”?  I have great difficulty.  The gullibility of mankind is endless.  Think about the things equally silly as God which people believe.  That if they’ve forgotten something at home they’re ruined.  If they lose their keys they want to kill themselves.  A bad feeling meaning something bad is about to happen.  The thousand superstitions a person goes through in their mind during the day secure “God” as a permanent fixture in mankind.  

The Bible and Morals

In what it stands the bible is, beyond its worship, beyond it physically being carried everywhere, beyond its “quotes” and side notes, a fairly unhelpful book for life.  One problem is its too old.  Another problem is it doesn’t deal with the human condition at all.  It is composed of stories.  Such stories that no one can relate to anymore.  And what’s worse is the stories have bad examples of how to behave.

Preferring Truth Over God

The excuses we have for believing in God are absurd.  As if something so huge could be an exception in every instance of truth.  Viewing a parallel, or kind of shadow, duplication, of the real events that are occurring, how can one be just in their perception?  Does not the second world conflict with the real world?  Does not the fake get into the real this way?  And should we not avoid religion and prefer truth.  “It’s comfortable to” or “my parents did” or “I grew up in it” does not fly and never did.  What is it that one finds the truth about death and then immediately cowers to their being God?  When God has nothing to do with truth or death.

Jettisoning Religion

The capacity of religion to be a good force in our world is no reason to keep it.  One thinks:  Would it not be nice if everyone followed rules?  But rules fail.  And in the case of the bible fail miserably.  And people don’t follow rules that aren’t enforced.  An imaginary hell is hardly a deterrent when it is imaginary.  And getting rid of religion is a huge task.  So many are indoctrinated with the sickness that it is as if the entire world is insane.  God is mans stupidest invention.  It makes him a failure.  And I wanted to win.  I wanted mankind to win.

Moral Or Not

The atheist position is the moral position.  God takes away morals.  He subtracts.  He puts the power in his own hands.  An atheist must defend himself before others as his godlessness is falsely seen as a wrong.  When the real wrong is intertwined in the dishonesty the atheist is rejecting.  The wrong of perpetuating a lie.  Of wasting time on imaginary problems and fantasies.

Who is to say what is good and what bad?  When all of us have an invested interest in the outcomes of our views.  When discourse on the subject is left out of polite conversation.  When the only ones advocating God are the preachers tucked away in their church.

To defeat nihilism?  That would mean to take down religion and stop making it an important part of our lives.  For out of such a destruction value has the power of being assigned once again.  And one would value good and see that through to the end?  Beyond its religious meaning?  Beyond its “metaphysics”?  I would hope so.