I think the supernatural has its place in expressing the appreciation for the wonders of life and living, but to divine its meaning and purpose is what I have a problem with religion. Attaching loaded words like sin and heaven, I find problematic. Doing so has led to the justification of horrific atrocities. As for providing a path for redemption and meaning, I think that's great, just as long as it is personal and descriptive, not prescriptive.
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I think you might like Spinoza, Einstein and Carl Sagan both admired his ideas about god and didn't identify as atheist. They clearly rejected any version of a sky genie who lusts after human women and punishes unbelievers. I don't know if letting the most backward ideas become the default for religious thinking even though they are the majority is inevitable.
Buttercup
Level 8
July 16, 2019
0
I do like Spinoza. I haven't read very much of him, but what little I have read has resonated with me. As for a sky genie lusting after human women, I'm confused what you're referring to. If Christianity, I don't think there is any indication that the deity lusted after women. As for punishing unbelievers, most definitely.
@Buttercup Ah ic... I've never thought of that before. Scriptually though, Mary gave birth from an "immaculate" conception. While Zeus and Osiris is more representative of reality, I think there even being a sky genie defeats the purpose of questioning the realistic nature of this fiction.
Excuse me. I should have established the context of this statement. I posted this in response to someone's comment on a discord community I'm apart of. "Obviously I don't think the supernatural is nonesense but it has it's place. I agree with that the natural is already super. But I think the supernatural has it's place. Despite that it's best to focus on what's here and what's touchable (except in my case, God of course)"
Friskycat
Level 5
July 16, 2019
0
I really enjoy William Blake's idea of looking inward for an appreciation of the wonders of life:
I rest not from my great task!
To open the Eternal Worlds, to open the immortal Eyes
Of Man inwards into the Worlds of Thought: into Eternity
Ever expanding in the Bosom of God. the Human Imagination
- from Jerusalem
brentan
Level 8
July 16, 2019
0
I think I failed in establishing the context of my statement, which is completely my fault. I think appreciating the wonders of life is a completely human act, for obvious reasons I hope. That said, for me, I don't really care to dwell on the wonders and mystery of life, only that they are. For me contemplating any further is waste of thought and emotion for me. If I want to contemplate the mysteries of life, then I contemplate my own psychological make up and the mysteries of what makes me who I am. I find that self reflective contemplation somewhat useful, but certainly more useful than marveling at something that does not need it.
The supernatural has no place in expressing the wonders of life and living...I think that you are completely wrong there I’m afraid. Sin and heaven are human constructs, as is religion and a belief in god. Science can explain most of the wonders of life and living, and those things which at present are unknowable we can only speculate on, but there’s no evidence of anything supernatural at work.
Marionville
Level 10
July 16, 2019
2
I agree with you that sin and heaven are complete human constructs, and are completely useless. As for the mysterious mechanism that governs our world, I think the absence of evidence of the supernatural neither confirms nor denies its existence.
And I guess I failed in establishing the context of that statement. I posted this in response to someone's comment on a discord community I'm apart of. "Obviously I don't think the supernatural is nonesense but it has it's place. I agree with that the natural is already super. But I think the supernatural has it's place. Despite that it's best to focus on what's here and what's touchable (except in my case, God of course)"
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