From: spike66 (spike66@attbi.com)
Date: Tue Apr 01 2003 - 20:02:04 MST
Lee Corbin wrote:
>>>...How long would it take God, playing fairly, to
>>>actually persuade you that He exists, and that all the
>>>traditional stories in the Bible are true...?
>>>
>>>Me, about fifteen minutes. Lee
>>
>>For me, less than that. All I *ever* asked of god
>>was one really really convincing hallucination, vision,
>>or even a good lucid dream...
>
> But then, how indeed do you know that it wasn't an
> illusion?
I wouldn't, and thats the point. It wouldn't even
matter, since all I am asking for is a good illusion.
Consider Joss Palmer in Contact (loooove that movie,
one of the rare instances where the film was better than
the book, better because it has such feeling, rare in
the science fiction genre). Palmer more or less
acknowledges that his belief is based on an overwhelming
feeling that he once had, an emotional experience. When
Dr. Arroway has her experience with the father-imitating
alien, she too realizes that her entire adventure
could have been an elaborate halucination, yet still
she comes to believe that the others are out there.
> Your pals let you down for your own good.
Granted, however I was a good churchman, and will
freely admit that I was in many ways a happier person
during those years in which the god-illusion was still
firm. I never had any problems with the strict rules
of the church, didn't feel them overly restrictive, and
I miss that religion feeling. Of course there is no
going back. The extropian philosophy is a meager
substitute in some ways, but it has the advantage
of dealing with pysical reality, of having objective
truth to it.
Interesting note: perhaps you have heard me mention
my favorite book, Goedel Escher Bach, the Eternal
Golden Braid, by Hofstadter. In 1980 I read in that
work about self referencing paradox. I realized that
the objective truth value of my religious belief
system was completely unverifiable since it was
entirely based on self reference.
One good objective, non-self-referencial piece of
evidence was all I asked of religion, and none
could be provided, even if I were willing to settle
for a halucination.
spike
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