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Rahz
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Re: Atheism is the only rational position [Re: sonamdrukpa]
#17810821 - 02/15/13 11:16 PM (10 years, 11 months ago) |
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It seems to me spontaneous creation implies a underlying potential, not created.
That implies an infinite past and infinite future. This universe is but the breath of an unborn and undieing beast is my guess.
I also see parallels in time and movement such that there could be no point in time when nothing moved. The destruction and creation of the universe are the same. No time can pass between these events so the universe is continuous in it's eternal movement.
-------------------- rahz comfort pleasure power love truth awareness peace "You’re not looking close enough if you can only see yourself in people who look like you." —Ayishat Akanbi
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Rahz
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Re: Atheism is the only rational position [Re: clam_dude]
#17821530 - 02/17/13 08:43 PM (10 years, 11 months ago) |
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Perhaps the original concept of a monotheistic God was Atheistic in nature?
Must God be a deity? I mean, I know an atheist mantra is "I don't believe in God", but isn't it the deity there is a dis-belief in? And is God any less God, not being a deity?
-------------------- rahz comfort pleasure power love truth awareness peace "You’re not looking close enough if you can only see yourself in people who look like you." —Ayishat Akanbi
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Rahz
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Re: Atheism is the only rational position [Re: clam_dude]
#17821743 - 02/17/13 09:22 PM (10 years, 11 months ago) |
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I am atheist, but I also consider reality to be the mono-God which religion twisted into a monotheistic God. It's the only rational position. What else could God be if not everything?
-------------------- rahz comfort pleasure power love truth awareness peace "You’re not looking close enough if you can only see yourself in people who look like you." —Ayishat Akanbi
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Rahz
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Re: Atheism is the only rational position [Re: teknix]
#17821959 - 02/17/13 10:02 PM (10 years, 11 months ago) |
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Sure, if pantheism is considered a non-theistic position which it seems it generally is.
-------------------- rahz comfort pleasure power love truth awareness peace "You’re not looking close enough if you can only see yourself in people who look like you." —Ayishat Akanbi
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Rahz
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Re: Atheism is the only rational position [Re: clam_dude]
#17910981 - 03/05/13 11:29 PM (10 years, 10 months ago) |
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There's always the what if. What if doesn't count if you know all there is to know about how things are. The truth is a snake oil waiting to be sold, the uncertainty is the constaint.
Atheism is the rational position, but is life rational? And if not, what is the worth of atheism?
-------------------- rahz comfort pleasure power love truth awareness peace "You’re not looking close enough if you can only see yourself in people who look like you." —Ayishat Akanbi
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Rahz
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Re: Atheism is the only rational position [Re: clam_dude]
#17911075 - 03/05/13 11:55 PM (10 years, 10 months ago) |
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Quote:
Numbers are concepts, not physical objects.
But what are you defining as the field?
I would not argue that 'numbers are real' but numbers are actually fluid representatives of a process which is constantly functioning. Numbers are both static and dynamic. They cannot be disputed on their own grounds. They are inherent in verbage. They are elementary to speech and before it. They represent the basic foundation on which the human creature expresses it's polarity.
-------------------- rahz comfort pleasure power love truth awareness peace "You’re not looking close enough if you can only see yourself in people who look like you." —Ayishat Akanbi
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Rahz
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Re: Atheism is the only rational position [Re: sonamdrukpa]
#17943797 - 03/12/13 12:47 PM (10 years, 10 months ago) |
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Quote:
sonamdrukpa said: Are there any cultures that don't have a creator or have a non-anthropomorphic creator? I can't think of any and wikipedia's article on creation myths doesn't mention anything of the like really.
It seems early Christianity held a disparity between the beliefs fed to the commoners and the understandings in the upper priesthood. More pronounced IMO is the disparity between commoners in Hinduism and the priest class. What begins as understandings of the forces of nature become anthropomorphized for the masses. According to an early Catholic priest it makes it 'easier to understand'.
Yet if the people are being presented with a divine human form when there is none the obvious question is whether any understanding is being created. More likely it makes controlling the masses easier, and this is taken as understanding.
We're in charge... understand?
The tendency is easily explained by humanity's propensity for hierarchy coupled with the observation of cause and effect. An ultimate cause isn't logical but the mind is still drawn to examine it as a consequence of it's logical operation and the apparent fact that life is not logical. Easier to believe a lie than to accept the possibility that nothing makes any sense. The lie keeps the family together through common 'bond', the ultimate figure head the sugar taken with the medicine of authority.
What I find more curious is the info old religions come up with, like Hinduism's claim that each universe lasts 311 trillion 40 billion years, at which point it is simultaneously extinguished and created again. They came up with the Big Bang theory thousands of years ago. How did they do that, and how were they able to think on such vast time scales without some relevant scientific input?
-------------------- rahz comfort pleasure power love truth awareness peace "You’re not looking close enough if you can only see yourself in people who look like you." —Ayishat Akanbi
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Rahz
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Re: Atheism is the only rational position [Re: sonamdrukpa]
#17944097 - 03/12/13 02:14 PM (10 years, 10 months ago) |
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Quote:
I would not call simple creation ex nihilo "coming up with the Big Bang
They're basically the same... but I get your point. I wasn't suggesting they have an accurate estimate. Modern science places the age of the universe at around 13-14 billion years, Hinduism places it at around 156 trillions years. I'm going to go with modern science. But it's not like there were cultures all over the world placing such time frames on existence.
-------------------- rahz comfort pleasure power love truth awareness peace "You’re not looking close enough if you can only see yourself in people who look like you." —Ayishat Akanbi
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Rahz
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We await you peer reviewed evidence.
-------------------- rahz comfort pleasure power love truth awareness peace "You’re not looking close enough if you can only see yourself in people who look like you." —Ayishat Akanbi
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Rahz
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Re: Atheism is the only rational position [Re: Nillion]
#28603371 - 12/30/23 02:07 PM (28 days, 23 hours ago) |
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Atheist = not theistic. One can add more but it's not reasonable to say someone has a belief simply because they indicate the absence of a belief.
-------------------- rahz comfort pleasure power love truth awareness peace "You’re not looking close enough if you can only see yourself in people who look like you." —Ayishat Akanbi
Edited by Rahz (12/30/23 02:16 PM)
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Re: Atheism is the only rational position [Re: Nillion] 2
#28603446 - 12/30/23 03:20 PM (28 days, 22 hours ago) |
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From etymonline.com Quote:
1570s, "godless person, one who denies the existence of a supreme, intelligent being to whom moral obligation is due," from French athéiste (16c.), from Greek atheos "without god, denying the gods; abandoned of the gods; godless, ungodly," from a- "without" (see a- (3)) + theos "a god" (from PIE root *dhes-, forming words for religious concepts).
The existence of a world without God seems to me less absurd than the presence of a God, existing in all his perfection, creating an imperfect man in order to make him run the risk of Hell. [Armand Salacrou, "Certitudes et incertitudes," 1943]
I deny the existence of equestrian unicorns. I don't know for sure that they don't exist but I don't tend to say maybe because someone drew a picture of one.
In a practical sense isn't this the difference between an atheist and an agnostic?
-------------------- rahz comfort pleasure power love truth awareness peace "You’re not looking close enough if you can only see yourself in people who look like you." —Ayishat Akanbi
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Rahz
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Re: Atheism is the only rational position [Re: redgreenvines] 1
#28605447 - 01/01/24 06:50 AM (27 days, 6 hours ago) |
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"The kingdom of God is within you" - Jesus
-------------------- rahz comfort pleasure power love truth awareness peace "You’re not looking close enough if you can only see yourself in people who look like you." —Ayishat Akanbi
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Rahz
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Re: Atheism is the only rational position [Re: The Blind Ass]
#28605565 - 01/01/24 08:58 AM (27 days, 4 hours ago) |
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Quote:
The Blind Ass said: Ye ol' 'desolate palace'; whereupon entering & exiting, one is filled with an invorgartive & spectacularly immaculate splendor?
Silence is pretty good at times. Sometimes I want the noise. Knowledge of cycles prevents hypocrisy. Grab hold. Let go. Breath in. Breath out. Love, hate. Laugh, cry. I don't know about immaculate, but it's spectacular at times. Grab hold. Let go.
The first thing we do is breath in. The last thing we do is breathe out. In between there's a whole lot of breathing in and breathing out.
-------------------- rahz comfort pleasure power love truth awareness peace "You’re not looking close enough if you can only see yourself in people who look like you." —Ayishat Akanbi
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Rahz
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Re: Atheism is the only rational position [Re: Nillion]
#28616079 - 01/10/24 07:44 AM (18 days, 6 hours ago) |
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Very bare bones definition of God. What is the use of it without adding more to it?
-------------------- rahz comfort pleasure power love truth awareness peace "You’re not looking close enough if you can only see yourself in people who look like you." —Ayishat Akanbi
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Rahz
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Re: Atheism is the only rational position [Re: Nillion] 1
#28616805 - 01/10/24 07:45 PM (17 days, 18 hours ago) |
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I know someone who has a minimalist God belief and I've never disregarded him for it. He's a very rational person but has a sense of the profound which he attributes to God. I agree with Einstein but not in a literal sense, just that the concept of God is drawn to the unknown, to the mysterious nature of our perceptions.
-------------------- rahz comfort pleasure power love truth awareness peace "You’re not looking close enough if you can only see yourself in people who look like you." —Ayishat Akanbi
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Re: Atheism is the only rational position [Re: Svetaketu]
#28617582 - 01/11/24 12:40 PM (17 days, 1 hour ago) |
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I prefer "reality". What is reality? Everything and all potential.
This may produce a sense of being a part of something greater... but what? Something profound? Something not profound? A person will naturally want more information, but any further description of what it is necessarily connotates what it isn't.
To Nillion and Einstein's credit their definition of God is more expansive and doesn't inherently connotate what God is not. I don't see the utility in such expanse. While I see utility in further description it also tends to be dubious. I mentioned my friends use, and it's meaningful to him. That is fine. I have had similar experience of awe and wonder and profundity. I don't need to identify a causative force. I don't know if there is a causative force. I'm not saying the idea doesn't make sense but it relates to human thought. Humans make things, therefore things are made. Humans do things, therefore what's done has a doer. Humans can see hierarchy in personal and social sense. But does reality have a maker, a doer, a hierarchy? These questions indicate limitation of information and understanding but perhaps not all questions have answers.
I don't know. I want to know! What is it?!
I don't know. That's okay. The silence is profound at times. Adding words doesn't make it more so, for me. In silence there is no necessity of mystery. What are these questions that arise and why do they disturb my silence? Perhaps best to have a gentle smile and let the questions slip from the mind.
-------------------- rahz comfort pleasure power love truth awareness peace "You’re not looking close enough if you can only see yourself in people who look like you." —Ayishat Akanbi
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Rahz
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Re: Atheism is the only rational position [Re: redgreenvines]
#28617642 - 01/11/24 01:36 PM (17 days, 13 minutes ago) |
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Quote:
redgreenvines said: I do not think it is dubious to revere nature as holy and worth observing.
Well that's the rub. To perhaps contradict myself a bit, revering nature means revering all aspects of nature, being the totality of everything, or revering nature means revering aspects we like or find agreeable or wonderful while disliking aspects that seem awful?
It's not that I don't like nature but when something is elevated the rest is lowered. I think in a fundamental sense (outside the scope of utility) everything is nature.
-------------------- rahz comfort pleasure power love truth awareness peace "You’re not looking close enough if you can only see yourself in people who look like you." —Ayishat Akanbi
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Rahz
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Re: Atheism is the only rational position [Re: seagu]
#28628257 - 01/20/24 08:29 AM (8 days, 5 hours ago) |
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And you have a sense of emotional validation as proof of these claims? Or does it go beyond emotional validation and seem like a self evident truth where feelings, words, perception, meaning, all coalesce into something that is irrefutable?
-------------------- rahz comfort pleasure power love truth awareness peace "You’re not looking close enough if you can only see yourself in people who look like you." —Ayishat Akanbi
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