I just wrote this to a friend of mine.
Friend: “Why are you trying to be so philosophical?”
Me: “Trying?”
Friend: “Yes, Trying.”
Me: “I’m not trying.”
Friend: “Sounds like it to me.”
Me: “Often, the most direct answer is not an answer at all. By asking another a question, they must answer the asker, as well as answer themselves.”
Friend: “Yes, this is a tactic used by people not able to answer the question posed to them.”
Me: “No. Asking a question as an answer makes you answer ME, as well as YOURSELF. Instead of being forthcoming with my own emotions, I seek to have you EXAMINE your own. Do not insult me by proposing that I am incapable of answering a question you presented to me. Rather, realize I’m trying to make you search yourself, instead of luring me into your personal struggle.”
And, dang it… I did feel pretty philosophical about that! And darn good to!
For a long time, Eragon stared out the window, turning Oromis’s words over in his mind. “You don’t believe in an afterlife, then.”
“From what Glaedr said, you already knew that.”
“And you don’t put stock in gods.”
“We give credence only to that which we can prove exists. Since we cannot find evidence that gods, miracles, and other supernatural things are real, we do not trouble ourselves about them. If that were to change, if Helzvog were to reveal himself to us, then we would accept the new information and revise our position.”
“It seems a cold world without something . . . more.”
“On the contrary,” said Oromis, “it is a better world. A place where we are responsible for our own actions, where we can be kind to one another because we want to and because it is the right thing to do instead of being frightened into behaving by the threat of divine punishment. I won’t tell you what to believe, Eragon. It is far better to be taught to think critically and then be allowed to make your own decisions than to have someone else’s notions thrust upon you. You ask after our religion, and I have answered of you true. Make of it what you will.”
Christopher Paolini – Eldest