Anyone can think they are a master of knowledge in the realm of mysticism. — schopenhauer1
One could as easily level the accusation that mastery - real or imagined - of science, tech, construction, math etc give people a sense of control and mastery. — EnPassant
However, God and the mystical world are accessible to everyone. — schopenhauer1
This understanding is not accessible to all. Even if you understand it "conceptually", not everyone can actually participate in each or sometimes any of these aspects. — schopenhauer1
True but that does not tell us anything about the veracity of belief. Personally I am very cautious about psychoanalytic views on religion. They are too vague and too easy to make up. It seems to me that humans are deeply attached to the language of myth. Myth may be older even than written language. You only have to look at tribes in far away places to see how mythological they are. Humans need to mythologize consciousness and that is why religion is so heavily mythologized. It is pointless to talk in terms of whether myth is 'true' or 'false'. Myth is only the 'packaging' for our spiritual reality (whatever you take that to mean). We build myth around these things because we are deeply mythological.Yes, but that would be true in a material sense that it is actually creating functions by harnessing natural processes and materials that are useful for survival, comfort, or entertainment and can be measured as to its development and effectiveness in solving the need or want. — schopenhauer1
Anyone can think they are a master of knowledge in the realm of mysticism. — schopenhauer1
However, God and the mystical world are accessible to everyone. Anyone can think they are a master of knowledge in the realm of mysticism. It provides a sort of mastery of our understanding and of our place in the universe, without doing the heavy lifting. — schopenhauer1
Our willingness to accept scientific claims that are against common sense is the key to an understanding of the real struggle between science and the supernatural. We take the side of science in spite of the patent absurdity of some of its constructs, in spite of its failure to fulfill many of its extravagant promises of health and life, in spite of the tolerance of the scientific community for unsubstantiated just-so stories, because we have a priori commitment - a commitment to materialism.
It is not that the methods and institutions of science somehow compel us to accept a material explanation of the phenomenal world, but, on the contrary, that we are forced by our a priori adherence to material causes to create an apparatus of investigation and a set of concepts that produce material explanations, no matter how counter-intuitive, no matter how mystifying to the uninitiated.
Moreover, that materialism is absolute, for we cannot allow a Divine Foot in the door. The eminent Kant scholar Lewis Beck used to say that anyone who could believe in God could believe in anything. To appeal to an omnipotent deity is to allow that at any moment the regularities of nature may be ruptured, that miracles may happen.
You can see myth evolving today in Hollywood movies. We have superheroes, fiends, angels and all manner of beings coming through our screens. These myths are 'archetypes' of realities deep in our psyche... — EnPassant
Religion also serves useful social functions. It is a low cost opiate, for instance. It provides cultural continuity (both over time and space). It is a spring and reservoir of important cultural output -- music, architecture, painting, sculpture, stained glass work, etc. It provides a framework of meaning. Granted, it's not the only such frame, but it has a proven track record; it works reasonably well; it is cost effective; it's on the ground, in place, and functioning. — Bitter Crank
STEM doesn't offer much in the way of meaning. Minutia mongering just keeps people busy.
It's also worth noting that a lot of the technology we have is for the benefit of its corporate owners, not us the people. From the corporate point of view, people are poor substitutes for robots. — Bitter Crank
Anyone can think they are a master of knowledge in the realm of mysticism. It provides a sort of mastery of our understanding and of our place in the universe, without doing the heavy lifting. — schopenhauer1
What amazes me more in religious debate, is not the lack of philosophical sophistication but the lack of the development of history. — schopenhauer1
Okay, so what refined debate about religion would you like to have? — schopenhauer1
Although for Jesus this advice was indeed part of a larger claim about the nature of all reality, that claim is not a necessary part of the advice. Anybody, whatever their ideological beliefs, can experiment with "Love thy neighbor as thyself" in their own personal life and come to their own conclusions regarding it's effectiveness. No belief is necessary. No faith is necessary. No God is necessary. No church is necessary. No clergy are needed. Holy books not required. — Jake
Completely agree. The only observation I would make is that, left to their own devices, people won’t generally do this. It doesn’t come naturally. So while you might say that no belief is necessary - where do you find the rationale to motivate this attitude, if not in religion (or philosophy)? — Wayfarer
However, God and the mystical world are accessible to everyone. — schopenhauer1
To me, it (organized religion) is ridiculous and has no place in the twenty-first century, but what I have learned is that I wish I could blindly believe, it would have brought me great comfort and great peace...instead I have to struggle, quite often, in finding my own meaning to my life. — Grre
And what got lost in all of this, is the necessity of inner change... — Wayfarer
But accessing this mystery of the religious (or perhaps just its dogmas) are open to all.. and give all a sense of autonomy over ones abilities. — schopenhauer1
I hear your argument, but would counter argue that mysticism and even dogma based religion is not open to all. Just as with STEM some folks are born with a knack for it and some are not. This can edited to some degree with effort, but only to some degree. — Jake
I don't know- someone praying, meditating, or doing some act/deed that is deemed holy, seem pretty accessible. — schopenhauer1
Even the "minutia" of religious laws and dogmas, are not that complex compared with STEM and the enormous amount of information needed to keep the modern economy running. — schopenhauer1
Again, mysticism may be "inexhaustible" in its veiled mystery, but it is also something people can pick up and do. — schopenhauer1
Hmm.Our material lives are not sustained by religious tradition or mystical knowledge, but by electrical systems, construction principles, engineering principles, manufacturing principles, scientific principles, and the maintenance principles that maintain them. — schopenhauer1
I would phrase it as, not everyone 'is' an expert. But sure.Not everyone can be an expert in the exacting minutia that is required to maintain the industrial/electronic/engineering behemoth systems that go into what actually sustains and maintains our daily living. — schopenhauer1
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