romansh

I suspect both sides are illusions ... at least ultimately. And this is, I think partly, Tariki's point. I don't think of the universe as symmetrical or asymmetrical, but it is I suspect balanced. Chaotically perhaps, balanced nevertheless. I am told (possibly read) that the not-self is a better translation rather than no-self. I tend to use the term intrinsic self (which we seem to assume in our daily lives)... a self that is somehow detached from its environment. That for me is the illusion. I am a product of the universe ... it took a whole universe to make me. You, Jen, Paul, Tariki et al. are contributing to my evolution.

I can't say I have read any of Stephen Batchelor's books, but I do visit his (and his wife's) website periodically. I came across him with his piece on Buddhism and agnosticism and have followed his works at a great distance since then. There are things I find contradictory in Buddhism such as beliefs in not-self and dependent origination (which I think are fine) and yet many Buddhists, I gather, believe in free will. I also gather from the little I have read of Batchelor he does not believe in free will either. Regarding your quote from Batchelor, I would love to discuss it with him. I have similar experiences and perhaps conclusions. But when we talk of love, compassion and other positive attributes ... the source is of the same place as is our fear, loathing, hate. I have no problem for striving for the former but denying God's place (whatever your God happens to be) in the latter, to me seems ridiculous. Should I ever have a gravestone here is my personal sound bite I would be happy to have on it: When I look deep inside myself, I see the universe staring quietly back.

Yes questions are fun ... for ourselves and in the Socretean tradition to test other people's thoughts. But the good thing about answers is that they lead to other questions which may lead to new places or even undermine the very answers we thought we had. ps is not a Doctrine (an answer) that can be questioned?

Science does not deal in proof unless we are dealing in alcohol. And here the Imperial degrees proof is stronger than the US version. What science does have is corroborating evidence, no evidence one way or another or evidence that contradicts the hypothesis. What is the corroborating evidence for an experience of God? That is beyond me. So ultimately it is personal testimony that we are discussing. Except that when that testimony is questioned it can be upsetting to people.

I have no quarrel with a <insert appropriate faith here> terrorist anymore than I do with a tornado or tsunami, at least intellectually speaking. An 'experience" is just that an experience. Calling that experience faith, even if it is the love of all humankind, to me does not seem what the discussion of faith is all about.

Some claim indifference is the opposite. In fact it is the opposite of hate also. Love and hate come from "caring" about about some particular aspect of the world. I can only love and hate actions that I care about. Complete indifference could be seen as absolute detachment. Looking at the faith discussion it seems to me similar to the no true Scotsman debate. Consciousness is a fogged up window into our immediate past, I would argue. Even an intellectual understanding falls under this description. PS happy Jāņi

Just an aside Paul ... there are some who might argue that God is love, compassion and other positive attributes. others claim God is all and infinite. I think a pantheist might accept the supposedly negative aspects of humanity and include them their God as well. Similarly I being monistically inclined accept all of the universe as it is. I have been shaped to like certain parts of it more than others, but that is OK too. I love this quote from Joseph Campbell ... it just about nails it for me! But the ultimate mystical goal is to be united with one's god. With that, duality is transcended and forms disappear. There is nobody there, no god, no you. Your mind, going past all concepts, has dissolved in identification with ground of your own being, because that to which the metaphorical image of your god refers to the ultimate mystery of your own being, which is the mystery of the being of the world as well.

Yes there are some interesting speculations going on here. But ultimately the are a variety societal behavioral patterns that for various reasons may or might not imprint on us. (This I think is true for all of us, me included). We don't always have sufficient understanding of the situation, (the myriad of causes that make us who we are) and this allows us to think of ourselves as somehow separate. The ultimate illusion is that we are somehow separate from one another, from the animal kingdom, from life in general, the inanimate and even the universe itself. It took the whole universe to make you who you are Paul ... and you are "shaping" the whole universe, but the apparent bits of shaping are not immediately or easily observable beyond your immediate environment. A commonly accepted literal translation of religion from the Latin is to reconnect. But reconnect to what? I think for some this is to reconnect to God, for some it is humanity, for others it might be compassion or love. For me it is to reconnect to the universe (here I use universe in its broadest sense). And by this, perhaps unfortunately, I don't mean in an emotional sense; but, I mean in a deep intellectual sense. This position is I think is applicable to both pantheism and atheism, militant or otherwise.

Paul I don't think we can explain these things solely in terms of neurology and psychiatry. While no doubt very important there are other considerations like gun culture of the US, societal acceptance of homosexuals and what his particular brand of religion suggested to him as a reasonable course of action. Did he have faith he was doing the reasonable thing? I don't know. But I certainly hope so; in that doing such terrible thing when you are not sure would not make any sense at all to me.

Tell me what are your axioms (assumptions) and I will give you my opinion as to whether your belief is valid. Having said that we should also test our assumptions for their validity, don't you think?

The problem with prayer is it means different things to different people. Intercessory prayer does not work as far we can tell .. at least based on any serious studies we have done. Now some claim God works in mysterious ways ... so from that point of view anything (but anything) is God's will, especially if the thing is positive or glimmer of positiveness can be seen in some tragedy.. Now does prayer affect our brain structure? of course it does. Everything we do affects our brain structure. Thinking rationally and not accepting 'truths" on faith also affects our brain structure. Our source? The universe or whatever? I can say that my beliefs and actions are more than likely a product of my environment ... I am a product of my environment. I am not sure my environment has a direct or significant access to my prayers. But my environment does respond to my actions. Actions speak louder than prayers.

While I might be "progressive" I don't particularly label myself as Christian. So bearing that in mind: 1. Do you believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour? For me we have to separate Jesus from Christ. The first is (I think probably) a historical character, though there are strong arguments against a Jesus character. The second is a myth and here I use the word myth positively, in the Campbellian sense. It would appear much that is ascribed to Jesus is added by later scribes and it is difficult to differentiate history from myth. Anyway the Christian myth is to be taken as metaphor. 2. What are your views on hell, eternal damnation, and demons? Absolutely not. The Campbellian interpretation of eternity is not some really long time off into the future but now ... which goes on for a really long time. It is as Joseph suggests the state on of mind we find ourselves in now. Demons? Not come across any myself, and those few people who seemed to believe in them are normally either mentally ill or are steeped heavily in their religious world view. 3. What do you think about homosexuality? Yep it exists, in humans and the mammalian world. But I do think some of the more traditional Christians have succumbed to their cultural fears. 4. Do you believe God created the earth in six literal days? There is a vast amount of evidence against the Biblical proposition from a variety of scientific disciplines. I think the hypothesis can be safely dismissed until there is some actual evidence from outside of literal interpretations of the Bible. By the way ... you should define (I think) what you mean by God?

It may well ... placebos often work too, at least to some degree. Unfortunately so do nocebos .. as highlighted by the STEP project I meant to post before.

My apologies ... I meant to post this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Studies_on_intercessory_prayer#The_STEP_project

The Step project I must admit I wonder here. Perhaps people should be praying for the ability for each of us to shed our personal delusions.

Just curious ... why the really short time span to edit one's post? Is it possible to lengthen the editing period? The site logs whether and when edits are made. Also many fora allow editing for hours or days. I get distressed when I have sentences that don't make sense or grammatical errors that I have made blaring back at me. proof reading as I post does not work for me.

At the end of the video I linked there was a clip of a lady not being allowed into the ladies' change room (I think) because she looked to much like a man. Implementing such laws is going to be problematic ... showing ID to get into a bathroom? A masculine looking woman being refused entry into a bathroom? All this, by and large, is an unnecessary nonsense.

Another thought crossed my mind was how many years have transgendered people used the bathroom where the felt most safe? Was there an issue? How big an issue was it, assuming there was one. Nobody was asking is America ready; apparently it was, by and large, unaware that America was unready. This whole storm in a teacup was brought to an overflowing boil by the North Carolina politicians (and perhaps some other states).

Whether America is ready or not is quite an interesting question, and I think the answer is likely no. A more interesting question is are we as individuals ready and how are we going to advocate for the position we feel is logical. Waiting for a breeze in the right direction is one possibility and tacking into the wind is another.

If I were to watch FOX News, I too would yell at it emotionally.

I can't help thinking this is a very cynical and inaccurate view of Obama. It sort of implies he can't see the ramifications that might occur from any policy he implements (if that is what presidents do in the US). Obama is not stupid nor is he (I think) callous. Are you suggesting he is not aware that his actions could affect this year's election and that is somehow irrelevant his loosing a favourable place in the Democratic Party's history?

Paul This https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lX1QHezZUhg is the sort of thing the US has to cope with.

Here I sort agree with Joseph. I can see people's concerns. Their concerns are based on societal indoctrination. Using reason won't help directly, only indirectly. We are dealing with deep societal phobias (and I am not immune to them). We are not out of the woods regarding homosexuality, despite equality legislation in most civilized countries there is an underbelly of discrimination. This is equally true of race and other social aspects of our society. So I what we are discussing is not so much where we are going, but how we are going to get there and rationalizing our path we want to take.

I have seen women walk into a men's bathroom simply because the ladies' queue was too long. Sorry does not cut it.

I understand Joseph. A government can't force these things? So NC can't force people to use bathrooms that match their genitalia?