Comments on Dizgraceland: Religious views

Hey Kristy, Good to hear from you! I've been here,...

2009-06-22T21:25:02.773-07:00

Hey Kristy,
Good to hear from you! I've been here, just less prolithic and avoiding a cyberstalker. But I'm easing back in to public blogging.

The family is well and growing (to clarify, the kids are growing and not the family size). How are you? I couldn't find your blog anymore and assumed you had dropped out.

Hi Tim, Where you been? I've missed reading you. G...

2009-06-22T18:12:42.947-07:00

Hi Tim,
Where you been? I've missed reading you. Glad to see you're still at it. How's the family (Washington branch)?
Kristy

RA, It would be nice to discover that everyone st...

2009-06-15T07:52:21.896-07:00

RA,

It would be nice to discover that everyone striving for enlightment along a specific path discovered the rest of the searcher's at the goal.

You don't need to feel like a coward for not coming to conclusion about a god by the time you are 50. More and more I think age is a meaningless marker of infinite time. What is 50 in the face of forever?

As for believers, I think tolerance of other's beliefs should be a requirement of any religion. It would ease some of that insecurity that makes people try to blot out opposing points of view.

Religion...it's such a complicated matter and yet ...

2009-06-15T03:14:02.440-07:00

Religion...it's such a complicated matter and yet your last paragraph summed it up perfectly for me.

But if you think about it, if there is no "right" path then that opens up the option that any path gets you where you are going. I like that. It means we're all winners in the end.

I have always felt like a bit of a coward where faith and religion are concerned. Here I am fast approaching the half century mark and I still can't decide if I believe in God or not. It feels like a bit of a cop out but then again I don't spend a lot of time thinking about it either.

I DO however believe in myself and that the secret to being a good Christian is not necessarily believing in a higher presence but just always striving to be the best person you can be.

You may or may not have noticed that not all believers are "good" people.

Time: "I have never been overly impressed with pro...

2009-06-10T15:53:14.010-07:00

Time:
"I have never been overly impressed with proof about anything. Even if you experience something, it doesn't prove it is a universal truth, especially if someone is prone to hallucinations."

Careful there. If you want to go down that path then you first need to establish that the universe can or can not be proven to exist.

Regardless, I've got a daughter here who just had five stitches installed in her noggin from a toddler style demonstration of Newton's laws of motion.

Hallucination or not, Newton's laws are repeatable, measurable, consistent and a bitch of a headache providing proof of their existence - at least in the universe my imaginary Daughter, Uncle and I live in.

Interesting observation about Dune. Unlike the Bene Gesserit the messiah was able to look forward in time too and saw only one route that didn't spell extinction for human kind - tapping the Islamic based fundamentalism in the Fremen in a Jihad that spread humanity across the universe.

NB, I read the Celestine Prophesy some time ago. I...

2009-06-10T14:19:18.463-07:00

NB,
I read the Celestine Prophesy some time ago. I can't for the life of me remember what it was about. I lent my book to someone and they never gave it back. So I assume it was something about "paying it forward."

When you say you are having "more fun reading this stuff lately" are you referring to the physics materials or Dizgraceland :)

R.
I don't know.

I have never been overly impressed with proof about anything. Even if you experience something, it doesn't prove it is a universal truth, especially if someone is prone to hallucinations.

And aren't we all :)

I read all of the Dune books and what sticks with me most was the main character became divine by having all of the memories of everyone of his ancestors. I believe it was Herbert's metaphor for human's collective knowledge being the true god.

"...those who say, don't know." So if I say "I do...

2009-06-10T06:28:34.473-07:00

"...those who say, don't know."

So if I say "I don't know" do I or do I not know?

Where I get hung up is the lack of evidence. Where is heaven? How can we objectively test for the existence of reincarnation? Have I ever met an angel? How does the prayer mechanism work?

If magic exists then it must have some underlaying mechanism that can be understood! It's considered a virtue to have faith. I can not see how understanding makes magic any less wonderful - I still get excited every time I get in an elevator or fly in a plane even though I know how they work.

I guess I tend to lean towards Frank Herbert's description in his "Dune" series. Religion is a mechanism to ensure the species continues.

I haven't done most of the things you've mentioned...

2009-06-09T21:47:15.720-07:00

I haven't done most of the things you've mentioned. I guess I didn't religion-hop as much as I thought. I did try to teach myself telekinesis/psychokenisis but I just gave myself a headache. I also tried to see my own aura. I had read "The Celestine Prophesy" and thought maybe... hmmmm... well, it would be cool if it were true. Nothing yet has seemed 100% true. I'm even having a hard time swallowing the physics stuff I'm reading. Anti-matter??? Eleven dimensions??? Theory or not, I'm having more fun reading this stuff lately.

I want to hear the story about the fight with the bartender.