Subject: Re: re: Choice of religion
From: LR Pearson, Arts 99 (lp9616@bristol.ac.uk)
Date: Fri Jan 21 2000 - 06:38:37 EST
On Wed, 19 Jan 2000 22:19:02 -0800 Robbie <shok@netcom.com> wrote:
> Lucy-Ruth said:
>
> Well for one thing, almost every religion includes among its rules,
> expressed or implied, that it is the only correct one (thereby negating
> all the rest). And as no one has more or less proof of its validity
> than the next, selection of religion must be either geographic or
> arbitrary.
>
Yeah, that's the bit I hate, too. [Continuing at bottom]
> But moving beyond that point, sure. I can sympathize with much of what
> you say. I would argue that religion is so pervasive for the very fact
> that we cannot help but be humbled in the shadow of the power and beauty
> of Nature; the Universe is a remarkable thing. I love the ocean. There
> is precious little that I love more. I've never lived very far from it
> and I can't imagine ever living very far from it. Watching the sun set
> over the Pacific Ocean from a rocky cliff in San Francisco as eight-foot
> waves - immense walls of water - loudly crash down not far from where I
> stand with infathomable force is the most awe-inspiring thing I've ever
> experienced. I make a point of experiencing it often and I never get
> used to it. I am no less amazed by the ocean today, now that I've seen
> it probably many thousands of times, then I was when I was four. I plan
> on driving 3000 miles this summer for no reason other than to be awed by
> the power and beauty of Niagra Falls.
>
> I look around me every day and I am amazed by the simple complexity of
> Everything, from clouds to flowers to insects to the bodies of people
> around me and of my own. I am humbled and awed by the Universe even
> though my mind - which came into existence through our evolution and is
> only capable of that which at some point or another, helped us survive -
> is incapable of wholly comprehending much of it.
>
> I think these feelings are inherent to human consciousness and everyone
> feels them to some degree or another, whether or not they have the
> capacity to express them. Throughout the ages, many people have felt
> these feelings, this humility, this awe, and they have called it God.
> They gave this creation charateristics, a personality, and a collection
> of stories comprising a complete mythology. These gods and their
> accompanying mythologies are numerous and varied; as are the people and
> cultures that have invented them. Many of these mythologies include the
> belief that we can communicate directly with God(s) and that he/it/they
> answer(s) our prayers and that we can continue living in some form after
> we die.
>
> None of this seems very reasonable to me and I have yet to find any
> compelling reason to believe any of it. I am not compelled to
> contribute the feelings I have and that we all have to a deity. I do
> not believe that a belief in a deity is necessary to provide a simple
> definition for my feelings, nor do I believe that it is necessary to
> lend them validity. I am perfectly comfortable and happy with them as
> they are. I do not believe in any god or religion and I feel no worse
> for it.
>
> -robbie
>
Yeaay, I'm with you on that one, Robbie. And what a beautiful post.
Thank you.
Love, Lucy-Ruth
----------------------
LR Pearson, Arts 99
lp9616@bristol.ac.uk
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