Queue on 5/8/2009 at 14:19
Is it.
Stitch on 5/8/2009 at 14:37
Quote Posted by Vivian
I'll be honest and admit something - when people tell me they're religious, I do see it as a sign of some kind of personal weakness. Like they are too ignorant, stupid or scared to deal with the universe as it is, so they take the easier/more comforting route of believing what are essentially works of fiction.
That's a common blanket misconception favored by atheists as it allows them to feel like they're righteous soldiers fighting back the tendrils of darkness. While there certainly is truth to it for specific case, in general religion is more easily explained by lifelong conditioning and the fact that our brains are wired to see connections that don't actually exist.
Queue on 5/8/2009 at 14:43
Quote Posted by Stitch
...and the fact that our brains are wired to see connections that don't actually exist.
Now that's something I will agree with 100%. I love it when people read one of my stories and tell
me what I meant to say--or the "hidden" meaning.
...certainly glad they have the inside scoop. I was totally lost.
jay pettitt on 5/8/2009 at 14:47
...it's what I was trying to say, only so much better.
Vivian on 5/8/2009 at 15:42
Quote Posted by Stitch
in general religion is more easily explained by lifelong conditioning and the fact that our brains are wired to see connections that don't actually exist.
If I was trying to weasel my way out of your insightful grip (and I am) I would say that comes under the heading of 'ignorance'.
Starrfall on 5/8/2009 at 15:58
The problem with Descartes' third meditation is that he could have just summed it up by writing I AM GAY AS FUCK FOR GOD THEREFORE HE EXISTS
Herr_Garrett on 5/8/2009 at 18:01
Quote Posted by Starrfall
The problem with Descartes' third meditation is that he could have just summed it up by writing I AM GAY AS FUCK FOR GOD THEREFORE HE EXISTS
It's a bit more compliated than that, methinks.
jay pettitt on 5/8/2009 at 19:35
Do tell...
rachel on 5/8/2009 at 20:17
Quote Posted by Herr_Garrett
It's a bit more compliated than that, methinks.
Well by limiting the notion of perfection to that of existence, they failed to realize that you can imagine stuff that doesn't exist. It's what the "perfect island" refutation is all about. I can imagine a perfect, pristine island even if it doesn't exist in reality.
There's a wonderful discussion about this very reasoning between the two main characters in Umberto Eco's
Foucault's Pendulum. In one of their many drunken philosophical digressions, they explore the logic of both attitudes and end up concluding that if something like God does exist, we not only won't be able to perceive it, we won't even be able to
conceive it.
