Active Users:440 Time:17/06/2025 03:40:31 AM
Re: Agree Gaps Send a noteboard - 12/04/2011 09:22:22 PM
I find that people whose understanding of reality is close to mine can self-identify as believers, atheists or agnostics and all be very close to one another in their philosophy. I would call myself a "believer" in the sense that I reject the strictest form of atheism, an "agnostic" in terms of affirmative belief with respect to any particular idea or philosophy, and an "atheist" if one is required to adopt a belief system in toto to be a believer.


I was reading _______ a few months ago, and he talked about how the most intelligent Christian theorists he had ever met had truly understood the metaphorical nature of their belief system. These were people at the top of their faith structure, presiding over a organization of materialist, "orthodox" religious followers, and in a lot of ways, they might be considered atheists - but it is about self-identification, not outside classification. And metaphors, or allegories, or whatever you'd like to call them, still contain a lot of power - power which is important, and sometimes, unexplainable.

As to the strictest form of atheism: this is why I find Daoism so powerful or interesting. One of the tenents is: don't use something limited (human understanding or logic) to explain something unlimited (existence, or "the meaning" of existence). It's like trying to use a ruler to measure wind velocity. There's a lot that can't be explained, and it may be because we don't yet have the skills for it yet, or it may be because it's inexplicable because of some other metaphysical/ontological force, and we shouldn't just reject it outright.

(typed quickly in a small square box, so I don't get shitcanned)
I cannot even copy his manner because the manner of his prose was the manner of his thinking and that was a dazzling succession of gaps; and you cannot ape a gap because you are bound to fill it in somehow or other -- and blot it out in the process. -- Nabokov
Reply to message
Questions about souls... - 12/04/2011 03:06:54 AM 2228 Views
Re: Questions about souls... - 12/04/2011 03:23:00 AM 1202 Views
All right. - 12/04/2011 05:50:08 AM 1175 Views
Re: Questions about souls... - 12/04/2011 06:27:14 AM 1158 Views
It would really depend on the mechanism - 12/04/2011 06:28:24 AM 1035 Views
You assume we all know, and agree on, what "soul" means. - 12/04/2011 08:42:47 AM 1078 Views
It is what hope, which is a thing with feathers, perches on. - 12/04/2011 07:32:07 PM 1138 Views
But seriously, what does it do? - 12/04/2011 11:01:58 PM 1137 Views
It makes poems pretty. - 13/04/2011 07:00:03 PM 1158 Views
Re: Yeah, exactly. - 15/04/2011 02:43:24 AM 1125 Views
Just going off the 'reborn' thing.. - 12/04/2011 08:53:28 AM 1056 Views
Hm. - 12/04/2011 03:22:01 PM 1180 Views
Agreed. - 12/04/2011 05:49:11 PM 1025 Views
it wouldn't change much for me, but I'm pretty flexible in my spiritual beliefs - 12/04/2011 04:23:34 PM 1168 Views
This. *NM* - 13/04/2011 04:15:11 PM 617 Views
Re: Questions about souls... - 12/04/2011 05:44:53 PM 1231 Views
What a fantasy. - 12/04/2011 07:57:38 PM 1089 Views
What happened to two? *NM* - 12/04/2011 08:20:41 PM 622 Views
Thanks, I fixed it. *NM* - 12/04/2011 08:29:20 PM 632 Views
Your comments, or mine? - 13/04/2011 01:24:53 AM 1564 Views
You get one guess. - 13/04/2011 07:09:01 PM 1287 Views
One dismissive answer deserves another. - 24/04/2011 12:54:44 AM 1181 Views
I'm a Christian who is partial to reincarnation, so I do not think much would change. - 12/04/2011 06:21:36 PM 1128 Views
*is disappointed* *NM* - 12/04/2011 08:01:05 PM 558 Views
You'd be surprised how frequently I get that from both sides. - 12/04/2011 08:22:24 PM 1111 Views
I bet you do! - 12/04/2011 08:47:59 PM 1074 Views
Re: I bet you do! - 13/04/2011 04:02:07 AM 1088 Views
Does it really? - 24/04/2011 01:09:34 AM 1009 Views
OMG! - 14/04/2011 06:19:50 PM 1102 Views
Go expand his worldview. *NM* - 14/04/2011 06:56:03 PM 584 Views
I think we are similar in some respects philosophically. - 13/04/2011 05:59:38 AM 1062 Views
Who says.... - 13/04/2011 07:11:24 PM 1018 Views
So then my question is.... - 13/04/2011 07:08:42 PM 1019 Views
Because I believe that Jesus was an incarnation of the λόγος. - 14/04/2011 12:36:36 AM 1046 Views
*heh* - 14/04/2011 04:12:32 PM 1164 Views
I think I answered it pretty clearly in my post title. *NM* - 14/04/2011 06:59:47 PM 638 Views
Actually, you didn't. - 15/04/2011 12:12:42 AM 1118 Views
Re: Actually, you didn't. - 24/04/2011 09:04:04 AM 1097 Views
I think that, like a lot of other people responding, I would want and need more information. - 12/04/2011 07:13:14 PM 1051 Views
Speaking of the agnostic/atheist thing - 12/04/2011 07:40:04 PM 1107 Views
99% that there is no God... - 12/04/2011 08:08:42 PM 1157 Views
Technically, no, atheists simply lack belief in a God. - 12/04/2011 08:19:15 PM 1090 Views
Whoah there, - 12/04/2011 08:26:43 PM 1074 Views
Okay, I have to admit I wasn't expecting to get called out on that. - 13/04/2011 04:03:08 AM 1181 Views
no I think that's just the literal definition... - 12/04/2011 11:19:18 PM 1012 Views
Isn't that what "technically" would imply? - 13/04/2011 04:04:42 AM 1207 Views
It certainly doesn't mean you can't make conclusions. - 12/04/2011 08:09:41 PM 1174 Views
Re: Campbell: - 12/04/2011 08:42:09 PM 1161 Views
Self-identification is an interesting point here. - 12/04/2011 09:00:46 PM 1092 Views
Re: Agree - 12/04/2011 09:22:22 PM 1104 Views
Answers. - 12/04/2011 09:05:38 PM 1066 Views
That's not a compelling counter-argument for me. - 12/04/2011 11:22:21 PM 1238 Views
Never mind. - 12/04/2011 11:34:46 PM 1031 Views
be sure to post if it does happen *NM* - 12/04/2011 11:56:17 PM 574 Views
Have you had any vivid dreams that came true? - 13/04/2011 01:16:59 AM 1006 Views
My mom used to have dreams like that, usually about relatives. - 13/04/2011 02:25:45 AM 1195 Views
I can easily believe that. - 13/04/2011 06:14:51 AM 1008 Views
Minivans can fit lots of useful stuffs, like furniture. *NM* - 13/04/2011 03:47:04 PM 638 Views
So can gas-guzzling SUVs, and full trucks. *NM* - 13/04/2011 05:13:20 PM 589 Views
for that matter, you can fit a surprising amount even in a baby truck! *NM* - 13/04/2011 06:36:58 PM 569 Views
I'd find it quite comforting - 12/04/2011 07:40:09 PM 1035 Views
Well, as I said in my census form on Sunday - 12/04/2011 08:36:05 PM 1198 Views
Pythagoras was a total nut. - 12/04/2011 10:05:42 PM 1154 Views
True - 12/04/2011 10:13:43 PM 1050 Views
It would upset my belief in science - 12/04/2011 09:39:39 PM 1199 Views
There's so much wrong with that statement. - 12/04/2011 09:55:45 PM 1177 Views
If science proved there really was an Easter Bunny would it affect your believe in science? *NM* - 12/04/2011 10:30:09 PM 679 Views
*is both bored and annoyed* - 12/04/2011 11:03:10 PM 1068 Views
right. - 12/04/2011 11:18:31 PM 1265 Views
and what if science proved that science was false? - 12/04/2011 11:48:32 PM 1140 Views
I think that's kind of the point; it can't. - 13/04/2011 01:33:44 AM 1014 Views
Did you read my original post? - 13/04/2011 03:13:34 AM 983 Views
I did, yes. - 13/04/2011 03:32:18 AM 1026 Views
Yes it would upset my belief in science, why is that so hard to accept - 13/04/2011 01:56:59 PM 1133 Views
What's a soul? - 12/04/2011 10:51:39 PM 1050 Views
I can only give you my personal take. - 13/04/2011 01:47:39 AM 1178 Views
so did this guy took a railroad spike through the head - 13/04/2011 01:58:52 PM 1195 Views
Nah, he just got someone else's added to him. But now Ruin can influence him. *NM* - 13/04/2011 06:38:31 PM 641 Views
Thanks a lot - 13/04/2011 07:02:29 PM 1058 Views
No. - 23/04/2011 09:15:16 PM 1074 Views
but we know personality can be draticaly altered by physical means - 24/04/2011 03:28:36 AM 1386 Views
"We" don't know that; that's the problem. - 24/04/2011 07:02:49 AM 1216 Views
Can one have an identity without memory? *NM* - 13/04/2011 03:46:16 PM 606 Views
Sure. - 23/04/2011 08:53:51 PM 907 Views
Re: My question about souls: who will save your souuuuls? *NM* - 13/04/2011 04:04:21 AM 606 Views
I would becoming interested in tracing people's souls across time/space - 13/04/2011 04:00:51 PM 1054 Views
Re: I would becoming interested in tracing people's souls across time/space - 14/04/2011 03:29:55 AM 1132 Views
Sorry :-) - 14/04/2011 10:15:30 AM 1142 Views
Interesting concept.... - 13/04/2011 07:28:42 PM 1032 Views
Heh. Loose faith. - 14/04/2011 02:32:27 AM 1035 Views
It kinda still works though....doesn't it? - 14/04/2011 04:14:19 PM 1053 Views
it does work. well in fact! *NM* - 24/04/2011 03:24:25 AM 585 Views
Oooh... - 14/04/2011 04:31:30 AM 1116 Views
Who says..... - 14/04/2011 04:26:31 PM 1170 Views
Wow, thanks for all the responses!! - 14/04/2011 03:42:38 AM 1180 Views

Reply to Message