skep*ti*cal
adjective
1. not easily convinced; having doubts or reservations
Origin: GREEK (skeptic) – meaning “inquiry”, or “doubt”
/ish
suffix
1. slang term used to approximate the value of the root word
Origin: U.S.A. – High school hallways, circa 2003
SKEPTIC-ish
adjective
1. having doubts yet possessing a hope for the currently inexplicable
Origin: U.S.A – Parts unknown, February, 2018
Ah words, and their meanings. Some days it seems you just can’t help but trip over your own tongue. Choosing the right word can be such a struggle some days, my friends and I often joke that we’re “practicing our words” when we find ourselves sounding dumb. In some circles, a “you get the point” following a salad of key words is all that is needed to get like-minded individuals to a shared level of understanding. But what happens when the speaker, the receiver, or the subject matter are a bit more foreign to each other?
I can hear this fourth grade peer of mine yelling “context clues” at me, as well as many an entry level psychology student yelling “body language!” Now what if you’re reading the message, the author is not only of a different culture but also a different time period, and is describing epic/magical events that you have never witnessed in your own life?! To take it a step further, his accounts also shatter your understanding of the limitations of the physical world! I know, I know, and I hear you! I feel my own excitement raising as I ponder how to approach interpreting and understanding such a message. But when the message has brought about such passionate devotion from so many, and offers answers to the existential questions which plague our consciousness, is it a message you can afford to click “mark as read” or simply “delete” on? I think not. I think that’s the kind of message that you send the employees home and lock the office door for…
“The unexamined life is not worth living for a human being.” Socrates offered the Athenian court when asked to suggest his own punishment. Socrates was found guilty of “impiety” (lacking respect for the Gods) and “corrupting the youth” for his public discourses on morality and politics which challenged the status quo. He had effectively written his own death sentence with that response. Funny isn’t it? In different eras many of us here may have found ourselves in his sandals, and he may have found himself as an analyst on CNN.
Today, questioning dogma and challenging your own conclusions is the business model of progress and the heart of the scientific method. So it is in the spirit of Socrates’ examined life, the scaffolding of the scientific method, and the aim of progress that SKEPTIC-ish was created. And what better place to begin than the beginning. The beginning of recorded answers to those questions we shape our lives around. The questions of who am I, why am I here, and what happens when I die? Roll over your office chair and read over my shoulder as I click “open” on that message. The message with the “blueprint for a good life” attachment, sent from one who has already examined it.
Join me on my expedition through the religious texts of our world. Destination: a deeper understanding, and a better life.
Sincerely,
– SKEPTIC-ish