On Goals

It has often been recommended to me that I write down my goals.  This is probably because it's an important thing to do.

A Little Nervous

It makes me a little bit nervous to think about my specific goals.  It's easy to think about my general goals, e.g. learn truth, live my life for the highest priorities, help people, do good, etc.  But, when I try to define those things more, I get a bit nervous because it is difficult to do and I don't want to be wrong.

Most people probably have some of the same general goals that I do, but most people probably disagree on the specifics of those general goals.  To some degree, that is OK because everybody is different.  However, to another degree this is not OK because not everyone's specific goals are good or correct ones.

To Learn Truth

Let me flesh out one of my general goals, i.e. to learn truth.  This goal implies learning and truth.  I believe in both of these things axiomatically.  But, what sort of truth am I after?  The truth about the nature of reality, truth about God, the Bible, and the purpose of humanity.  Truth about right and wrong.  Truth about happiness and health.  The truth about the biggest problems in the world and their relative order of importance.

This is too much to focus on at once.

God

Let me take one of the things about which I'd like to know truth, i.e. God.  I want to know whether or not there is a God.  I want to know the best arguments for and against the existence of God.  I want to know the best arguments for and against certain characteristics of God.  I want to know the relative certainty that can be achieved for each of the aforementioned things.

Some things come to mind that would potentially help me to know these things.

1. Read the best material, i.e. popular books, articles, scholarly literature, textbooks, journals, etc. for and against the existence of a God.  Such reading should also include material about how to determine what probably is true (i.e. epistemology), and how to determine one's level of certainty when judging truth claims (probability theory, logic, the scientific method, etc.).  
2. Pray, and/or fast, on a regular basis in order to ask god or gods to prove themselves.  Prayers should be sincere.  Perhaps it should be done daily without an end date.  Perhaps fasting should be done as an alternate form of petitioning, with the hope of drawing down answers sooner.  (As of now, it seems that the potential benefits of doing these things outweigh the costs enough in order to justify their practice.)
3. Communicate with the significant figures in this field of knowledge, e.g. scholars, scientists, rabbis, philosophers, priests, theologians, etc.  Written and oral communication, both in-person and electronic, should be utilized. 
4. Investigate claims of miracles, e.g. answered prayers, healings, prophecies, visions, and other alleged supernatural occurances.  This may include familiarizing myself with literature and personalities within the field of paranormal investigation.

I should take these four points and break them down into manageable tasks.

Tasks

Perhaps in my next post...