by nvrgnbk 26 Replies latest jw friends
Clearly, it must be possible to bring reason, spirituality, and ethics together in our thinking about the world. This would be the beginning of a rational approach to our deepest personal concerns. It would also be the end of faith.-
p.221 The End of Faith by Sam Harris
Will it ever happen? Is it happening already?
Isn't faith based on reason? If it isn't, then it's zealotry, fanaticism. And how can you have spirituality without the Greatest of all spirits?
Just asking.
It all depends on what you mean by faith?
All good questions zack and choosing life.
Reality, that which all persons experience universally, is a great place to start.
Reality, that which all persons experience universally, is a great place to start.
What can we agree we all percieve?
Gravity. Heat, cold, birth, death, 3 states of matter, taxes.
I think I would have to read more of what he has to say, anwser the question. Just one sentence like this one posted is not enough for me to fully understand what he is saying. dummy me, purps |
Interesting thread nvr
"Isn't faith based on reason?" zack....you just put my mind in gridlock. I may have to chew on that a while. If you have faith in the existence of an omnipotent creator than it is reasonable to you. Faith can be based on reasonable expectations. Is there a difference between 'faith' and 'belief'? Our beliefs do not necessarily have anything to do with reason. I read Sam Harris's book. I doubt we will see the end of faith any time soon and I do not really think that the end of faith would be a good thing.
nvrgnbk: Reality, that which all persons experience universally, is a great place to start.
I sure hope I can make it Wednesday night! Interesting topic.
Reality is experienced universally by every thing, not just persons. However, reality is rendered subjective by the act of experience. That is, by the very act of experiencing/interacting with reality we make reality subject to perception.
Even if we experience reality universally we do not share a perfectly common universal experience with reality. Each experience with reality is (at some level, in some way) unique to the observer. "Similar" does not equal "the same."
I am coming to believe faith is part of what fills in the gaps between our experiences and the experiences of others; part of what bridges the gaps between the rational, the real, and the potential. I am starting to believe that the potential is the spiritual, it is the ever present phantom reality of the unknown, both the yet to be, and the could have been. Ethics are simply general guides toward a subjectively desirable reality from among the vast array of potential realities.
I already firmly belief (and I don't have many of those firm beliefs) that faith is inseparable from hope. Faith makes a reality that is more desirable to us much more likely. For instance, I really believe faith will make it much more likely Shroedinger's Cat is alive.
Live Life
We are a world dominated by fear. Just as the images in a dream are symbols of inner states and feelings, so our collective reality is largely a symbolic expression of fear and of heavy layers of negativity that have accumulated in the human psyche. We are not seperate from our world, so when the majority of humans become free of egoic delusion, this inner change will affect all creation. You will literally inhabit a new world.
Since all worlds are interconnected, when collective human consciousnes becomes transformed, nature and the animal kingdom will reflect that transformation. Hence the statement in the Bible that in the coming age "The lion shall lie down with the lamb." This points to the possiblity of a completely different order of reality.
"Up to the present....the whole created universe in all its parts groans as if in the pangs of childbirth."
edited to add: the above is from Ekhart Tolle's book The Power of Now
(won't you all be glad when I read another book?!?!?!?!)))
Clearly, it must be possible to bring reason, spirituality, and ethics together in our thinking about the world. This would be the beginning of a rational approach to our deepest personal concerns. It would also be the end of faith.-
p.221 The End of Faith by Sam Harris
Will it ever happen? Is it happening already?
Faith has two general implications which can be implied either exclusively or mutually:
- To Trust:
- Believing a certain variable will act or has the potential to act a specific way despite the potential influence and probability of known or unknown change.
- To have faith in ones spouse that he/she will keep a promise of commitment
- To have faith that the world will someday be peaceful
- To have faith in a person to pay you back
- To believe without reason:
- Believing impulsively, or believing based upon personal hopes
In either case, Faith is based upon the interpretation of the intangible (feelings, emotions, etc.) instead of the physically tangible and is primarily associated with religion in modern times.
Clearly, it must be possible to bring reason, spirituality, and ethics together in our thinking about the world
My thinking is this is exactly what the witnesses are trying to preach. One word, One message, One god, One truth.... for everyone. Or any organized religion for that matter.
This would be the beginning of a rational approach to our deepest personal concerns.
I don't think spirituality is rational, although I am only now gathering information about it.
Will it ever happen? Is it happening already?
I suppose it could, but do we want it to? No, the end of faith is not even close to ending.IMO
