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Crossbreed atheism with spirituality

ajay0

Well-Known Member
Here you can see Viktor Frankl, a Jewish concentration camp survivor, commenting on the erosion of human values and virtuous conduct by the onslaught of nihilistic thought...


“If we present a man with a concept of man which is not true, we may well corrupt him. When we present man as an automaton of reflexes, as a mind-machine, as a bundle of instincts, as a pawn of drives and reactions, as a mere product of instinct, heredity and environment, we feed the nihilism to which modern man is, in any case, prone.
I became acquainted with the last stage of that corruption in my second concentration camp, Auschwitz. The gas chambers of Auschwitz were the ultimate consequence of the theory that man is nothing but the product of heredity and environment; or as the Nazi liked to say, ‘of Blood and Soil.’ I am absolutely convinced that the gas chambers of Auschwitz, Treblinka, and Maidanek were ultimately prepared not in some Ministry or other in Berlin, but rather at the desks and lecture halls of nihilistic scientists and philosophers.”- Viktor Frankl
 

stvdv

Veteran Member: I Share (not Debate) my POV
Atheism is a general non-belief in God, gods and deities. However this lack of belief does not necessarily guarantee spirituality.

Atheism and spirituality can go perfectly together, when there is a well-established value system or code of virtuous conduct in the atheist belief set which is firmly adhered to. However this too is seemingly impractical in the west due to popular philosophies like nihilism and existentialism, which believes that all values and virtues are abstractly contrived and are part of mere social conditioning.

As per eastern philosophy, on the other hand, proper virtuous conduct and behavior is potent on its own to bring the mind to meditative awareness and attain enlightenment, even for non-theists and agnostics.

I have created a thread in this regard, citing the example of female enlightened master Rajini Menon who had attained enlightenment by strict adherence to virtuous conduct alone.

Female enlightened master Rajini Menon on attaining enlightenment by adhering to virtuous conduct...

After meeting my Master I decided to be as virtuous as I can as my sadhana, and never meditated. My meditative awareness increased immense, probably all due to the Grace of my Master, but it's good to hear this example that this really worked for Rajini. My Master also says that when you practice one virtue, that is enough to obtain them all. Makes sense to me. I met this Swami Satchidananda (from your link) when He was in Holland long time ago. Very nice and friendly man. He radiated sweetness and Love.

And virtue can be anything. Aghori comes to mind. If they get Guru Grace then anyone can get it. So Anyone and Spirituality can go hand in hand. I do remember Shiva stories. Shiva is very easy in granting boons. He surprised me once, so now I am more careful asking Shiva. Before you know Shiva is there.
 

ajay0

Well-Known Member
After meeting my Master I decided to be as virtuous as I can as my sadhana, and never meditated. My meditative awareness increased immense, probably all due to the Grace of my Master, but it's good to hear this example that this really worked for Rajini. My Master also says that when you practice one virtue, that is enough to obtain them all. Makes sense to me. I met this Swami Satchidananda (from your link) when He was in Holland long time ago. Very nice and friendly man. He radiated sweetness and Love.

And virtue can be anything. Aghori comes to mind. If they get Guru Grace then anyone can get it. So Anyone and Spirituality can go hand in hand. I do remember Shiva stories. Shiva is very easy in granting boons. He surprised me once, so now I am more careful asking Shiva. Before you know Shiva is there.

Yeah, the point is that it is possible also for a non-theist or agnostic to attain enlightenment or spiritual development provided they adhered to virtuous conduct or a proper value system.
 

QuestioningMind

Well-Known Member
Understanding how something functions is useful to we humans because we survive and thrive by manipulating our environment to our own advantage, and by manipulating ourselves in relation to our environment. But the presumption that such knowledge is the sum of all truth, and that the physical functionality of the material realm defines what is 'real' from what is not, is blindingly limiting, and wildly inaccurate, to the degree that it denies the validity of human nature and perception, itself. And is thus perceived by many as being anti-human. It stinks of the kind of mechanical arrogance that lead fascist regimes in th past to justify eliminating their society's means of honest value assessment, through religion, philosophy, and art. We have been down this ultra-materialist, super-science road before, and it led us into one of the most inhumane and horrific eras in human history.

What an absolutely ridiculous claim. I'm certainly nor presuming that what can be determined via the scientific method is the sum of all truth. What I HAVE said is that THUS FAR the scientific method is BY FAR the best method we've come across for determining what is in truth real. It's certainly POSSIBLE that things exist beyond the scientific method to detect. But without any sort of verifiable EVIDENCE for something supernatural it would be silly to conclude that there definitely ARE supernatural events. You or someone else must FIRST come up with a reliable method for distinguishing between a GENUINE supernatural claim and a completely MADE UP supernatural claim. Until someone does claiming that something is supernatural becomes virtually meaningless.

Suggesting that it's the fault of the scientific method that human beings have used technological advances made possible via the method for atrocities caused in war or elsewhere is moronic. Knowledge itself is not inhumane. It's how human being choose to apply that knowledge that is or is not inhumane.
 

ecco

Veteran Member
Here you can see Viktor Frankl, a Jewish concentration camp survivor, commenting on the erosion of human values and virtuous conduct by the onslaught of nihilistic thought...


“If we present a man with a concept of man which is not true, we may well corrupt him. When we present man as an automaton of reflexes, as a mind-machine, as a bundle of instincts, as a pawn of drives and reactions, as a mere product of instinct, heredity and environment, we feed the nihilism to which modern man is, in any case, prone.
I became acquainted with the last stage of that corruption in my second concentration camp, Auschwitz. The gas chambers of Auschwitz were the ultimate consequence of the theory that man is nothing but the product of heredity and environment; or as the Nazi liked to say, ‘of Blood and Soil.’ I am absolutely convinced that the gas chambers of Auschwitz, Treblinka, and Maidanek were ultimately prepared not in some Ministry or other in Berlin, but rather at the desks and lecture halls of nihilistic scientists and philosophers.”- Viktor Frankl
One must always consider the source:

Viktor Frankl - Wikipedia
Viktor Emil Frankl was an Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist as well as a Holocaust survivor. He survived Theresienstadt, Auschwitz, Kaufering and Türkheim. Frankl was the founder of logotherapy, which is a form of existential analysis, the "Third Viennese School of Psychotherapy".

Frankl has been the subject of criticism from several holocaust analysts[5][6] who questioned the levels of Nazi accommodation that the ideology of logotherapy has and Frankl personally willingly pursued in the time periods before Frankl's internment, when Frankl voluntarily requested to perform unskilled lobotomy experiments approved by the Nazis on Jews,[7] to the time period of his internment, in what is hinted upon in Frankl's own autobiographical account and later under the investigative light of biographical research.​
 

PureX

Veteran Member
What an absolutely ridiculous claim. I'm certainly nor presuming that what can be determined via the scientific method is the sum of all truth. What I HAVE said is that THUS FAR the scientific method is BY FAR the best method we've come across for determining what is in truth real.
And you're still very wrong. As the only thing science can determine is which of our invented theories of physical functionality appears to work under a very specific set of test conditions. This is hardly an exposition on the limits or fundamental nature of reality.
It's certainly POSSIBLE that things exist beyond the scientific method to detect. But without any sort of verifiable EVIDENCE for something supernatural it would be silly to conclude that there definitely ARE supernatural events.
"Supernature" has nothing to do with anything. And the fact that we know so little about even the physical nature of existence is pretty strong evidence that there is a great deal about 'reality' that science is unable to detect, test, or even speculate about.
You or someone else must FIRST come up with a reliable method for distinguishing between a GENUINE supernatural claim and a completely MADE UP supernatural claim. Until someone does claiming that something is supernatural becomes virtually meaningless.
"Supernature" has nothing to do with anything. We wouldn't even be able to recognize it if we experienced it. It's just a concept created by the limitations of the human intellect.
Suggesting that it's the fault of the scientific method that human beings have used technological advances made possible via the method for atrocities caused in war or elsewhere is moronic. Knowledge itself is not inhumane. It's how human being choose to apply that knowledge that is or is not inhumane.
Science has no way of determining value or propriety because these are not physical functions. Which is why we NEED religion, philosophy, and art even MORE than we need science. Without it all science does is throw a box full of loaded pistols into a cage full of hyperactive monkeys. And that's not going to end well for the monkeys.
 

ajay0

Well-Known Member
One must always consider the source:

Viktor Frankl - Wikipedia
Viktor Emil Frankl was an Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist as well as a Holocaust survivor. He survived Theresienstadt, Auschwitz, Kaufering and Türkheim. Frankl was the founder of logotherapy, which is a form of existential analysis, the "Third Viennese School of Psychotherapy".​

Western philosophy and psychology, which is of recent origin, has not yet touched upon the phenomenon of enlightenment or Buddhahood , and this is why nihilism and other lopsided philosophies like existentialism were prominent in the west leading to an erroneous thought process and corresponding actions, considering all moral values to be abstractly contrived.

So, it is natural that Viktor Frankl himself perhaps entertained nihilist-existentialist philosophical ideas himself ( which anyway was in currency in europe at those times) and acted on it, due to lack of better ones to guide his thought process.

However one must say that Frankl also allowed compassion and values to guide him as well. As per the link you have given...

Beginning with the Nazi takeover of Austria in 1938, he was prohibited from treating "Aryan" patients due to his Jewish identity. In 1940 he started working at the Rothschild Hospital, where he headed its neurological department. This hospital was the only one in Vienna to which Jews were still admitted. His medical opinions (including deliberately false diagnoses ) saved several patients from being euthanised via the Nazi euthanasia program.
 
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ecco

Veteran Member
However one must say that Frankl also allowed compassion and values to guide him as well.
The first passage of his that you posted clearly shows him as a man who believes Creationism over Evolution and is OK with blaming mankind's shortcoming and evils on those who would accept nature over theism.

What was your point in posting about him?
 

ajay0

Well-Known Member
The first passage of his that you posted clearly shows him as a man who believes Creationism over Evolution and is OK with blaming mankind's shortcoming and evils on those who would accept nature over theism.

“If we present a man with a concept of man which is not true, we may well corrupt him. When we present man as an automaton of reflexes, as a mind-machine, as a bundle of instincts, as a pawn of drives and reactions, as a mere product of instinct, heredity and environment, we feed the nihilism to which modern man is, in any case, prone. - Viktor Frankl


Well, I don't see any creationism or evolution over here. He is only highlighting the dangers of outright materialism feeding nihilism as well.

What was your point in posting about him?

My point is to highlight the fact that atheist-materialism divorced from values due to nihilist-existentialist conditioning is devoid of any spirituality and highly dangerous for that matter.
 

QuestioningMind

Well-Known Member
And you're still very wrong. As the only thing science can determine is which of our invented theories of physical functionality appears to work under a very specific set of test conditions. This is hardly an exposition on the limits or fundamental nature of reality.
"Supernature" has nothing to do with anything. And the fact that we know so little about even the physical nature of existence is pretty strong evidence that there is a great deal about 'reality' that science is unable to detect, test, or even speculate about.
"Supernature" has nothing to do with anything. We wouldn't even be able to recognize it if we experienced it. It's just a concept created by the limitations of the human intellect.
Science has no way of determining value or propriety because these are not physical functions. Which is why we NEED religion, philosophy, and art even MORE than we need science. Without it all science does is throw a box full of loaded pistols into a cage full of hyperactive monkeys. And that's not going to end well for the monkeys.

This is hardly an exposition on the limits or fundamental nature of reality.

And I have NEVER made any such claim. All I have stated is that THUS FAR the scientific method is BY FAR the most reliable method we've discovered to determine how reality works. It's certainly POSSIBLE that there is a better method and someday we may figure out what it is, but until that time comes, the scientific method is the most reliable method we have available.

"Supernature" has nothing to do with anything. And the fact that we know so little about even the physical nature of existence is pretty strong evidence that there is a great deal about 'reality' that science is unable to detect, test, or even speculate about.

It does if you define the supernatural as proposed things that exist that can't be detected tested or even speculated about by science. Certainly such things DO exist that are beyond science's current ability to detect or test, but the question becomes what method do you use to determine which proposed things actually DO exist and which ones are nothing more than figments of a person's imagination? Until such a method is developed, speculations about things that exist beyond the scientific method to detect will forever remain nothing more than mere speculations.

Which is why we NEED religion, philosophy, and art even MORE than we need science.

No one has even suggested that the scientific method should or can in any way replace art, philosophy, or even religion. ALL I have said and will continue to say is that thus far the scientific method has BY FAR been the most reliable method we've found for determining how the universe works. Art and philosophy and even religion for some I suppose are essential qualities of being human and understanding what it means to be human. Can the scientific method create a beautiful painting that will evoke emotional responses? Nope... but that's not what it's designed for. Can it create a philosophy for moral behavior? Nope... but that's not what it was designed for.

What it IS designed for and what what art, philosophy, and religion fail to do is successfully determine such things as The Earth orbits around the sun or that germs and disease cause illness or that volcanoes erupt because of geological stresses taking place at the planet's core. So NO, we do NOT need religion, philosophy, and art MORE than we need science... IF the goal is to determine how the universe functions.
 

PureX

Veteran Member
This is hardly an exposition on the limits or fundamental nature of reality.

And I have NEVER made any such claim. All I have stated is that THUS FAR the scientific method is BY FAR the most reliable method we've discovered to determine how reality works.
And you're still wrong. Because the only reality we humans can know is the one we invent in our heads in response to our very limited experience of the great and mysterious 'what is' that we cannot truly perceive or comprehend.
It's certainly POSSIBLE that there is a better method and someday we may figure out what it is, but until that time comes, the scientific method is the most reliable method we have available.
It's logically impossible for us to determine that, so I must contend that it is your biased opinion. I understand how such a biased opinion can develop, as we humans do survive and thrive by our ability to understand and manipulate the physical mechanisms of our environment to our own advantage. So, of course, to us, being able to do so would seem like the epitome of 'knowing reality'. But it's not. Because our survival isn't even on the existential radar as far as we can tell. So it's really of no significance at all to the big 'what is'.
"Supernature" has nothing to do with anything. And the fact that we know so little about even the physical nature of existence is pretty strong evidence that there is a great deal about 'reality' that science is unable to detect, test, or even speculate about."

It does if you define the supernatural as proposed things that exist that can't be detected tested or even speculated about by science.
Well, that's just a semantic point, but even so, then you pretty much just proved that "supernature" exists (though I would take issue with your choice of term relative to your own definition of it). As all sorts of phenomena exist that science cannot detect, test, or control. Love, for example. Beauty, perfection, honor, and so on. Humans all over the world, and in all epochs, have experienced these metaphysical phenomena and yet science can do nothing to explore them but record the brain's reactions to them. Not exactly a stellar 'exposition on the limits or fundamental nature of reality', is it.
Certainly such things DO exist that are beyond science's current ability to detect or test, but the question becomes what method do you use to determine which proposed things actually DO exist and which ones are nothing more than figments of a person's imagination?
That we have asked the question pretty much proves that they exist. And since they do not exist as a physical expression, but rather as a metaphysical expression, science is of little use in exploring them. Which is why we humans engage in philosophy, art, religion, and even 'fun'.
Until such a method is developed, speculations about things that exist beyond the scientific method to detect will forever remain nothing more than mere speculations.
Wow! That bias of yours is really blinding you. Those other methods already exist, and millions of humans are already engaged in that exploration.
"Which is why we NEED religion, philosophy, and art even MORE than we need science."

No one has even suggested that the scientific method should or can in any way replace art, philosophy, or even religion.
Actually, a good many atheists are suggesting that religion be done away with all together, and have little to no understanding or appreciation of art as being anything more than an entertainment commodity. Their whole focus is on science and science alone as the singular and universal means of defining and understanding existence. They will deny it when confronted, directly, as you do, but their constant belittling and dismissing of anything and everything non-material and non-'scientific' gives them away, easily.
ALL I have said and will continue to say is that thus far the scientific method has BY FAR been the most reliable method we've found for determining how the universe works. Art and philosophy and even religion for some I suppose are essential qualities of being human and understanding what it means to be human. Can the scientific method create a beautiful painting that will evoke emotional responses? Nope... but that's not what it's designed for. Can it create a philosophy for moral behavior? Nope... but that's not what it was designed for.
Then it really isn't that important to most of us (unlike yourself). Because after our physical survival, comes the value and meaning of it all. The reasons for surviving in the first place. You know, the area of contemplation that defines us as human, as opposed to our being just another animal surviving blindly according to the dictates of it's DNA coding. ... I'm referring to the reasons we humans engage in philosophy, art, religion, and even 'fun'.
What it IS designed for and what what art, philosophy, and religion fail to do is successfully determine such things as The Earth orbits around the sun or that germs and disease cause illness or that volcanoes erupt because of geological stresses taking place at the planet's core. So NO, we do NOT need religion, philosophy, and art MORE than we need science... IF the goal is to determine how the universe functions.
But, of course, that isn't the primary goal of most human beings, after all. Which is why so many of us have grown wary, and weary, of this new atheistic 'scientism'.
 
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It Aint Necessarily So

Veteran Member
Premium Member
I like to ask why would an atheist meditate?

For the reason he or she does anything else - the need or desire for a perceived or expected benefit of some sort.

do most atheists have a similar or common view on this?

I wouldn't know.

I call my private, inner life of thought contemplation. I do it every day. I do it before I post here, typically while walking in circles around the island in the center of my kitchen near where my laptop sits (Kant is said to have done the same while walking through the streets of Königsberg) thinking about what I want to say and how I want to say it.

We have been down this ultra-materialist, super-science road before, and it led us into one of the most inhumane and horrific eras in human history.

Secular humanism transformed the world. It had to wait for religious ideologies to be subdued enough to switch over to Enlightenment values such as empiricism over superstition, and the modern, liberal, democratic state with guaranteed personal rights over despotic monarchies.

Nazi German was a failure of Christianity, the dominant religion, to prevent people from being monsters. If Christianity met their needs, their fate might have been better, like that of the major secular states in the West.

Christianity, which when unbridled brings us atrocities like inquisitions, is the decadent ideology, not secular humanism. Look at the American Christians rallying around their decadent president. Christianity couldn't prevent that, either.

Frankl: “If we present a man with a concept of man which is not true, we may well corrupt him. When we present man as an automaton of reflexes, as a mind-machine, as a bundle of instincts, as a pawn of drives and reactions, as a mere product of instinct, heredity and environment, we feed the nihilism to which modern man is, in any case, prone.

And that is a tired old straw man, a reductionist fally. Nobody but the religious is making the argument that we believe that man is nothing but [fill in the blank].

Is Christianity true? Are we really born spiritually infected with sin and worthy of eternal punishment without worshiping an unseen god? I have no reason to believe that, and consider it a destructive concept.

Frankl: "I became acquainted with the last stage of that corruption in my second concentration camp, Auschwitz. The gas chambers of Auschwitz were the ultimate consequence of the theory that man is nothing but the product of heredity and environment;

Auschwitz was about the people of one religion, Christianity, trying to exterminate another in what they called a final solution. Secular humanists don''t do such things to other people.

Frankl: "I am absolutely convinced that the gas chambers of Auschwitz, Treblinka, and Maidanek were ultimately prepared not in some Ministry or other in Berlin, but rather at the desks and lecture halls of nihilistic scientists and philosophers.”- Viktor Frankl

And I'm absolutely convinced that he is wrong. So what, Viktor?

I'm certainly nor presuming that what can be determined via the scientific method is the sum of all truth. What I HAVE said is that THUS FAR the scientific method is BY FAR the best method we've come across for determining what is in truth real.

I define truth as the quality that facts possess, facts being linguistic strings (sentences and paragraphs) that accurately map some portion of reality. Nothing can be called truth that does not derive from empiricism. I assume that you would agree that even if there are truths that cannot be experienced empirically to be discovered or tested , they cannot be called true without that, meaning that the ideas are useless.

What do you think of this? :

"How many angels can dance on the head of a pin. No matter what answer you give, literally nothing changes. No decision you will ever make in your entire lifetime can ever be influenced by the answer to this question. If nothing changes even in principle with respect to some proposition being true or false, then the distinction between them just vanishes.

"Truth has no meaning divorced from any eventual decision making process. The whole point of belief itself is to inform decisions and drive actions. Actions then influence events in the external world, and those effects lead to objective consequences. Take away any of these elements and truth immediately loses all relevance.

"We should expect similar decisions made under similar circumstances to lead to similar outcomes. Pragmatism says that the ultimate measure of a true or false proposition lies in its capacity to produce expected results. If an idea is true, it can be used in the real world to generate predictable consequences, and different ones if that idea turned out to be false. In other words, the ultimate measure of a true proposition is the capacity to inform decisions under the expectation of desirable consequences.

"All we need to know is that we have desires and preferences, we make decisions, and we experience sensory perceptions of outcomes. If a man has belief B that some action A will produce desired result D, if B is true, then doing A will achieve D. If A fails to achieve D, then B is false. Either you agree that truth should be measured by its capacity to inform decisions and produce results or you don't. If you agree, then we can have a conversation. And if we disagree about some belief, we have a means to decide the issue.

"If this is not how your epistemology works - how you define truth - then we can't have a discussion, and I literally don't care what you think, since it has no effect on anything.
" - anonymous Internet source

As the only thing science can determine is which of our invented theories of physical functionality appears to work under a very specific set of test conditions.

Religion can't do even that.

What more do you need to know? What other information can you use apart from the expected outcomes for actions you might take.?

the fact that we know so little about even the physical nature of existence is pretty strong evidence that there is a great deal about 'reality' that science is unable to detect, test, or even speculate about.

Point? If science can't answer the question, nothing can.

And religion is nothing but speculation, albeit stated as fact.

"Supernature" has nothing to do with anything. We wouldn't even be able to recognize it if we experienced it. It's just a concept created by the limitations of the human intellect.

Supernatural is a word used to pretend that things that don't exist are tucked away somewhere where they can't be experienced by any means. That is also the description of the nonexistent - things that cannot even in principle be detected or experienced.

so many of us have grown wary, and weary, or this atheistic 'scientism'.

I'm tired of religion. It's useless except to people who haven't learned to cope without it, a condition created by religion itself. It's a self-licking ice cream cone - "a self-perpetuating system that has no purpose other than to sustain itself" Like cigarettes, it satisfies a need, but a need that it is responsible for.

Science has made our lives better. It lights up our homes at night, has put men on the moon and brought them home, and has conquered polio and small pox. Science makes our lives longer (80 is the new 60), healthier, more functional (eyeglasses were a great invention), more comfortable, more efficient (especially in communication and transportation), easier, and more interesting, as with this activity we're participating in now involving computers, fiberoptic and electric cables, radio communication, and satellites.

Religion's accomplishments? Inquisitions, crusades, religious wars, religious genocides, making the lives of homosexuals and atheists more difficult and dangerous, preventing life-saving stem cell research, fighting science in general, etc,

The Protestants hate the Catholics, The Sunni fight with the Shia. The Muslims hate the Christians, Jews, and Hindus, who hate them back. And on and on.

Notice the absence of secular humanists in that religious food fight. Follow their lead - tolerance.

I mentioned eye-glasses. Sure, it's great that people with needs that can only be met with religions have those needs met by it, but that is not an envious position to be in. Better to have those needs met without religion if possible, just as it's great that eyeglasses are available for people that can't see well without them, but isn't it better to not need them in the first place - to have clear vision without help?

And yes, I understand that to the faithful, praising religion is good and kind and holy, while pointing out its failures is militant atheism.
 

ecco

Veteran Member
“If we present a man with a concept of man which is not true, we may well corrupt him. When we present man as an automaton of reflexes, as a mind-machine, as a bundle of instincts, as a pawn of drives and reactions, as a mere product of instinct, heredity and environment, we feed the nihilism to which modern man is, in any case, prone. - Viktor Frankl


Well, I don't see any creationism or evolution over here.
"as a pawn of drives and reactions, as a mere product of instinct, heredity and environment",

Does that sound like he is talking about God's creatures or the results of "mindless evolution"?

He is only highlighting the dangers of outright materialism feeding nihilism as well.
And yet it was Christian Germans following the teachings of Martin Luther that put him into prison camps. Not too insightful was he?


My point is to highlight the fact that atheist-materialism divorced from values due to nihilist-existentialist conditioning is devoid of any spirituality and highly dangerous for that matter.

Why do you think atheist-anythings would be divorced from values? Are you under the impression that good only comes from religion/spirituality? Are you under the impression that evil only comes from atheism?

If so, see above.
 

ecco

Veteran Member
The reasons for surviving in the first place. You know, the area of contemplation that defines us as human, as opposed to our being just another animal surviving blindly according to the dictates of it's DNA coding. ... I'm referring to the reasons we humans engage in philosophy, art, religion, and even 'fun'.

Yep, yep and yep. Us atheists don't like art; don't care about philosophy and we sure don't like fun.

If we had our way, we would burn all books that have naughty pictures in them.

If we had our way, we would cover up statues that have an exposed woman's breast showing.

If we had our way, we wouldn't allow blacks and whites and browns and yellows to intermarry with whites.

If we had our way, we would make sure homosexuals and transgenders stayed where they belong - in the closet.

If we had our way, we would forbid the use of alcohol and other such stuff.

If we had our way, we would insist the only "right" way to have sex is between a man and a woman who are married to each other and to do so only for the purpose of making kids.

If we had our way, we would not allow people to dance. All that swinging and swaying and touching - disgusting.





Oh, wait...that's you religious guys.




@QM, Sorry for interrupting your discussion.
 

QuestioningMind

Well-Known Member
And you're still wrong. Because the only reality we humans can know is the one we invent in our heads in response to our very limited experience of the great and mysterious 'what is' that we cannot truly perceive or comprehend.
It's logically impossible for us to determine that, so I must contend that it is your biased opinion. I understand how such a biased opinion can develop, as we humans do survive and thrive by our ability to understand and manipulate the physical mechanisms of our environment to our own advantage. So, of course, to us, being able to do so would seem like the epitome of 'knowing reality'. But it's not. Because our survival isn't even on the existential radar as far as we can tell. So it's really of no significance at all to the big 'what is'.
Well, that's just a semantic point, but even so, then you pretty much just proved that "supernature" exists (though I would take issue with your choice of term relative to your own definition of it). As all sorts of phenomena exist that science cannot detect, test, or control. Love, for example. Beauty, perfection, honor, and so on. Humans all over the world, and in all epochs, have experienced these metaphysical phenomena and yet science can do nothing to explore them but record the brain's reactions to them. Not exactly a stellar 'exposition on the limits or fundamental nature of reality', is it.
That we have asked the question pretty much proves that they exist. And since they do not exist as a physical expression, but rather as a metaphysical expression, science is of little use in exploring them. Which is why we humans engage in philosophy, art, religion, and even 'fun'.
Wow! That bias of yours is really blinding you. Those other methods already exist, and millions of humans are already engaged in that exploration.
Actually, a good many atheists are suggesting that religion be done away with all together, and have little to no understanding or appreciation of art as being anything more than an entertainment commodity. Their whole focus is on science and science alone as the singular and universal means of defining and understanding existence. They will deny it when confronted, directly, as you do, but their constant belittling and dismissing of anything and everything non-material and non-'scientific' gives them away, easily.
Then it really isn't that important to most of us (unlike yourself). Because after our physical survival, comes the value and meaning of it all. The reasons for surviving in the first place. You know, the area of contemplation that defines us as human, as opposed to our being just another animal surviving blindly according to the dictates of it's DNA coding. ... I'm referring to the reasons we humans engage in philosophy, art, religion, and even 'fun'.
But, of course, that isn't the primary goal of most human beings, after all. Which is why so many of us have grown wary, and weary, of this new atheistic 'scientism'.
 

QuestioningMind

Well-Known Member
And you're still wrong. Because the only reality we humans can know is the one we invent in our heads in response to our very limited experience of the great and mysterious 'what is' that we cannot truly perceive or comprehend.
It's logically impossible for us to determine that, so I must contend that it is your biased opinion. I understand how such a biased opinion can develop, as we humans do survive and thrive by our ability to understand and manipulate the physical mechanisms of our environment to our own advantage. So, of course, to us, being able to do so would seem like the epitome of 'knowing reality'. But it's not. Because our survival isn't even on the existential radar as far as we can tell. So it's really of no significance at all to the big 'what is'.
Well, that's just a semantic point, but even so, then you pretty much just proved that "supernature" exists (though I would take issue with your choice of term relative to your own definition of it). As all sorts of phenomena exist that science cannot detect, test, or control. Love, for example. Beauty, perfection, honor, and so on. Humans all over the world, and in all epochs, have experienced these metaphysical phenomena and yet science can do nothing to explore them but record the brain's reactions to them. Not exactly a stellar 'exposition on the limits or fundamental nature of reality', is it.
That we have asked the question pretty much proves that they exist. And since they do not exist as a physical expression, but rather as a metaphysical expression, science is of little use in exploring them. Which is why we humans engage in philosophy, art, religion, and even 'fun'.
Wow! That bias of yours is really blinding you. Those other methods already exist, and millions of humans are already engaged in that exploration.
Actually, a good many atheists are suggesting that religion be done away with all together, and have little to no understanding or appreciation of art as being anything more than an entertainment commodity. Their whole focus is on science and science alone as the singular and universal means of defining and understanding existence. They will deny it when confronted, directly, as you do, but their constant belittling and dismissing of anything and everything non-material and non-'scientific' gives them away, easily.
Then it really isn't that important to most of us (unlike yourself). Because after our physical survival, comes the value and meaning of it all. The reasons for surviving in the first place. You know, the area of contemplation that defines us as human, as opposed to our being just another animal surviving blindly according to the dictates of it's DNA coding. ... I'm referring to the reasons we humans engage in philosophy, art, religion, and even 'fun'.
But, of course, that isn't the primary goal of most human beings, after all. Which is why so many of us have grown wary, and weary, of this new atheistic 'scientism'.


And you're still wrong.

LOL You KEEP saying that, yet I'm STILL waiting for you to offer up a superior method for determining how the universe works. What OTHER method has enabled you to communicate via the Internet? What OTHER method figured out germ theory? What OTHER method explains that volcanoes are the result of natural geological activity and NOT the result of the volcano God being angry? UNTIL you offer up this superior method, you can CLAIM that I'm wrong all you want... but it won't actually be true.

It's logically impossible for us to determine that, so I must contend that it is your biased opinion.

It's logically impossible for us to determine WHAT? I wrote:

It's certainly POSSIBLE that there is a better method and someday we may figure out what it is, but until that time comes, the scientific method is the most reliable method we have available.

Are you saying it's impossible to determine if there is a better method? Apparently you're right, because YOU certainly haven't offered up a better one.

Well, that's just a semantic point, but even so, then you pretty much just proved that "supernature" exists (though I would take issue with your choice of term relative to your own definition of it)

LOL... my original post compared mysticism to the supernatural which YOU said was wrong... and NOW you're agreeing. Just because science has no way of measuring a completely subjective thing like beauty, perfection, and honor does NOT mean that any of those things are Supernatural or mystical in any way.

That we have asked the question pretty much proves that they exist.

WHAT???? I asked how we distinguish between things that people propose to be true that science cannot currently detect or measure which actually ARE true and those which are NOT actually true. And your response is That we have asked the question pretty much proves that they exist. SO, the fact that I ask the question do magical fairies that science cannot detect exist means that magical fairies that science can't detect actually DO exist?

Good grief... that means you're willing to believe in ANY ridiculous claim anyone might choose to make.

Wow! That bias of yours is really blinding you. Those other methods already exist, and millions of humans are already engaged in that exploration.

Really? We ALREADY have a method for reliably determining if a fantastical claim that can't be detected or confirmed by science is a REAL claim or a FALSE claim? Please DO share!

Actually, a good many atheists are suggesting that religion be done away with all together, and have little to no understanding or appreciation of art as being anything more than an entertainment commodity.

I could care less what any other atheist may or may not suggest. You're talking to THIS atheist.

Then it really isn't that important to most of us (unlike yourself).

If you say so... though I suspect you'd be singing a very different tune if one of your relatives died from a simple infection just because that unimportant scientific method that led to the discovery of penicillin had never existed. It's really rather sad that you take for granted all of the truly amazing benefits you enjoy on a daily basis because of the scientific method, while at the same time moronically suggesting that it hasn't been the most effective method we've ever come up with to consistently determine how the universe works.

atheistic 'scientism'

A completely made up term to describe a totally fictional viewpoint.
 

Spartan

Well-Known Member
Authors suggest:

There is case that aggressive strand of atheism: in the Soviet case, Khrushchev-era atheist propaganda and in the contemporary Western case, the “New Atheism” had been/is a factor in giving rise to atheist spirituality.

There is recognition in some that opposition to something or even factors that are often associated with atheism (such as rationality, naturalism, science, criticism of religion) do not necessarily provide a deeper meaningfulness or purpose in life. Instead, failing to produce a positive alternative for religion in combination with the aggressive rhetoric results in a bad reputation for atheism.

Secularism and Nonreligion

Does any atheist agree?

If one is an atheist and 'spiritual' then that spirituality is not from God but from the devil. After all, the devil is spiritual.
 

atanu

Member
Premium Member
If one is an atheist and 'spiritual' then that spirituality is not from God but from the devil. After all, the devil is spiritual.

I will not go to that extreme since many atheists are actually atheists because their father/mother was atheist. And devil is possibly one's own proclivities.:)
 

atanu

Member
Premium Member
But:

Does Spirituality Make You Happy?
Spirituality for stress relief?
The Science Of Spirituality: A Psychologist And A Neuroscientist Explain Being 'In The Flow'

And a very comprehensive review, which concludes:

Religious/spiritual beliefs and practices are commonly used by both medical and psychiatric patients to cope with illness and other stressful life changes. A large volume of research shows that people who are more R/S have better mental health and adapt more quickly to health problems compared to those who are less R/S. These possible benefits to mental health and well-being have physiological consequences that impact physical health, affect the risk of disease, and influence response to treatment. In this paper I have reviewed and summarized hundreds of quantitative original data-based research reports examining relationships between R/S and health.

Religion, Spirituality, and Health: The Research and Clinical Implications
 
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