"I'll be honest about it. It is not atheists who get stuck in my craw, but agnostics. Doubt is useful for a while. We must all pass through the garden of Gethsemane. If Christ played with doubt, so must we. If Christ spent an anguished night in prayer, if He burst out from the Cross, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" then surely we are also permitted doubt. But we must move on. To choose doubt as a philosophy of life is akin to choosing immobility as a means of transportation."
I thought I'd share a bit of the book I'm reading...
by Surreptitious 22 Replies latest jw friends
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Sirius Dogma
Heya Surrep,
Interesting book. I totally disagree with them.
To choose doubt as a philosophy of life
Agnostism is not a philosophy of life. Since when is a belief a philosophy of life? To believe a god exists or to think a god does not exist is not a philosophy. While the person who wrote this book obviously believes having a belief, one way or another is important to himself and therefore important to everyone else, that is simply not the case. He seems to think either knowing a god exists or knowing a god does not exists has a strong bearing on a persons life, like this belief is a vehicle of life. What about those of us who really and truly could care less?
I do not care either way. It would not make a bit of difference how I live my life regardless of whether a god exists or not.
I think some question have no answers. They are simply not provable, unknowable and have no bearing on life. I don't concern myself with them. 'Is there a god?' is one of those questions. The courageous choice to make is accept the fact that 'I don't know the answer' and move on. Convincing yourself otherwise is likely delusional.
That my opinion anyway.
SD
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joannadandy
What's the book the passage is from? Who's the author?
I don't know that I would characterize doubt and questioning (or agnosticism) as immobility. I just read a cool book by Jennifer Michael Hect, it's called Doubt: A History. Hecht is professor of history at Nassau Community College in New York.
She says that as a scholar she always noticed the "shadow history" of doubt out of the corner of her eye. Hecht is broadly addressing the human impulse to question what is given in order to find meaning and understanding. She sites Socrates and Jesus, Thomas Jefferson and Emily Dickinson among doubters. She suggests that only in modern time has doubt been narrowly equated with a complete rejection of faith, or a broader sense of mystery. But I don't think she, nor I would equate it with complete and utter immobility. How can you? To question is to open new doors of thought. To explore possiblities otherwise shut. If anything, in my mind, death grip on ones faith allows for a complete shut down of movement of thinking.
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Leolaia
I agree, SiriusDogma. That is why I am agnostic too. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
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Surreptitious
I too am closer to being agnostic than anything else. I've only just started this book and may hate it when I'm done, but so far it's interesting.
Jo, it's "Life of Pi" by Yann Martel.
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boa
"I'll be honest about it. It is not atheists who get stuck in my craw, but agnostics. Doubt is useful for a while. We must all pass through the garden of Gethsemane. If Christ played with doubt, so must we. If Christ spent an anguished night in prayer, if He burst out from the Cross, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" then surely we are also permitted doubt. But we must move on. To choose doubt as a philosophy of life is akin to choosing immobility as a means of transportation."
'But we must move on.' is an assumption. Assumptions are the basis of 'believing' something. 'To choose doubt as a philosophy of life is akin to choosing immobility as a means of transportation' Thus, doubt = immobility? And there's a problem with that? Indeed, the assumption <again> by this writer is that immobility is not a long term viable option because 'mobility' is much better. The tone of my response is a result of my current 'assumption' which is immobility lol. And damn, I'm enjoying it! boa....
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drwtsn32
By dictionary definitions I am both an atheist (someone who doesn't believe in god) and an agnostic (someone who doesn't believe you can prove or disprove the existence of god).
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Surreptitious
I'm an agnostic JW. I knock on your door and have no idea why.
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drwtsn32
LMFAO Syrup!!!!
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rem
I don't think the author is trying to directly equate doubt with immobility, though the wording does imply that he/she sees both doubt and immobility as negative attributes. The author is just trying to describe, in his/her opinion, the absurdity of choosing doubt as a philosophy of life as it is incompatible with his/her worldview, just as immobility is incompatible with transportation.
I don't agree with the author's premise, though. No sane person uses doubt in they Phyrronic sense as a philosophy of life. How could they, really, since it is a self-refuting philosophy? In reality agnostics and atheists doubt the existence of god. This is not a "philosophy of life" and, therefore, is not incompatible with living a happy, normal life.
rem