Agreed. I like that you brought up the ‘neutral’ position of the UK Royal Family, as head of both church and government — Possibility
And your alternative offer is god(s) :rofl: Let the people decide! — universeness
If a cosmology is complete, and mine is, what other reason for it's existence can be given than gods? — Hillary
Anything your unfettered imagination can come up with. Anything goes in your world of woo woo. — universeness
Like in science! — Hillary
No science makes effort to discern between what is plausible and what is not. — universeness
A truly religious person will likely have a fanatical certainty of the general law that is to be observed... I would go so far to say that there are exceedingly few examples of truly religous individuals, — Merkwurdichliebe
Gautama, in my humble opinion, was cursed with hyperalgesia (his pain threshold was low) and hence, I suspect, his description of existence as hellish (1st Noble truth: Life is suffering). — Agent Smith
This shows a pretty egregious lack of understanding of what "suffering" means in Buddhism.
Thank you for the opportunity to use "egregious" in a post. — T Clark
So, who did you ask was committing the Scotsman fallacy? — Merkwurdichliebe
What's your take on suffering...in an out of Buddhism? — Agent Smith
A common, sloppy rendering of the Truths tells us that life is suffering; suffering is caused by greed; suffering ends when we stop being greedy; the way to do that is to follow something called the Eightfold Path.
In a more formal setting, the Truths read:
The truth of suffering (dukkha)
The truth of the cause of suffering (samudaya)
The truth of the end of suffering (nirhodha)
The truth of the path that frees us from suffering (magga)...
The Second Noble Truth teaches that the cause of suffering is greed or desire. The actual word from the early scriptures is tanha, and this is more accurately translated as "thirst" or "craving."
We continually search for something outside ourselves to make us happy. But no matter how successful we are, we never remain satisfied. The Second Truth is not telling us that we must give up everything we love to find happiness. The real issue here is more subtle; it's the attachment to what we desire that gets us into trouble. — Learn Religions
it's the attachment to what we desire that gets us into trouble. — T Clark
Many religious writers are in complete agreement and sometimes go further than atheists on this subject. Just read Christian writers David Bentley Hart or Bishop John Shelby Spong, or one of the best more recently by a Christian writer Kristen Du Mez Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation. This is important stuff and can't really be minimized with vague 'straw man' claims. — Tom Storm
This is another one of those philosophical enigmas that I haven't been able to crack for, what?, the last 30+ years. — Agent Smith
Sorry - I should point out that my personal experience of democracy is external to the US system. I wasn’t referring to the ‘separation of church and state’ as such, but to its common (mis)interpretation as the ideal of secularism: as Wayfarer pointed out, the difference between ‘freedom of’ and ‘freedom from’ religion. — Possibility
Avoiding attachment without trying not to try to avoid it is the hardest part. Please don't imagine I know how to do it. — T Clark
Separation of church and state doesn't mean we exclude religious values, it means we exclude religious institutions from government.
— T Clark
Sorry - I should point out that my personal experience of democracy is external to the US system. I wasn’t referring to the ‘separation of church and state’ as such, but to its common (mis)interpretation as the ideal of secularism: as Wayfarer pointed out, the difference between ‘freedom of’ and ‘freedom from’ religion.
I think where the US struggles is in recognising this distinction. So I agree with you here, and I think that secularism should not be presented as the ideology behind ‘the separation of church and state’ at all. They’re not supposed to mean the same thing. That was kind of my point. — Possibility
the way out of the maze of suffering/agony/angst/pain. — Agent Smith
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