Planned Obsolescence

Apr 18, 2006 00:35

My uber-wise six year old asked me tonight, "Does God want us to die?"

Thoughts? Comments?

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Comments 12

flexibeast April 18 2006, 07:12:43 UTC
Who or what is "God"? What is meant by "want"?

Personally, i believe there are natural cycles to existence, and i also believe that the Divine (what i shorthand with the phrase "the Goddess") both pervades and transcends this universe. To the extent that trying to postpone death indefinitely is trying to push against the natural cycles of the Goddess, yes, i would say that "God wants us to die" - in the same way a mountain 'wants' water to flow down it, rather than up it. In other words, i regard death as a natural outcome of the characteristics of the underlying behaviour of existence.

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ruth_lawrence April 18 2006, 13:00:08 UTC
I'm less of a deist but am in basic aggreement.

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flexibeast April 18 2006, 14:37:27 UTC
Yes. I'm atheist myself, but my daughter (having a Catholic mother and having heard some Easter stories at school) was certainly thinking of the Christian God. I thought it was an interesting philosophical question. But for her, my answer was pretty close to what you've said here. Which I pretty much conform to also, although without an "entity".

But, having said that, my favourite science writer, Prof Paul Davies, in various books, has basically said that scientifically, the idea of some sort of creator, cannot be discounted (so maybe I'm agnostic). He's a fabulous writer of cutting edge physics and astronomy, if you haven't already discovered btw.

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flexibeast April 20 2006, 03:51:35 UTC
Well, heh, in terms of what the Christian God wants: i regard the Christian God as one aspect of the Divine. An aspect that is basically a three-old who thinks that he's the centre of the universe, demands that everyone do things his way, and throws destructive temper tantrums when people don't. :-)

i know of Paul Davies, but have never got around to reading his stuff - maybe i'll get to it, someday, someday . . . .

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ruth_lawrence April 18 2006, 12:59:32 UTC
I'm a pan-entheist or panpsychist: think Zen, think Taoism.

Mortality is. This particular universe will end. Maybe the meta-universe is alive, and can be thoght of a God. All of it, including us.

I don't think something that wants or doesn't want is 'out there'.

I do think we are as much God ourselves as anything we've found in the sense that we are self-aware, and nothing else on Planet Earth seems to be so.

So no, God doesn't want it. Everything is God. We are part of God that thinks...so, obviously the ideas of power and control attached to some ideas of God aren't true (thank goodness!).

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jomaraubat April 18 2006, 14:41:37 UTC
Yes Ruth. I've copied my response to hierodule here to save you from chasing it and me from retyping:) and you both are coming from a similar position.

"Yes. I'm atheist myself, but my daughter (having a Catholic mother and having heard some Easter stories at school) was certainly thinking of the Christian God. I thought it was an interesting philosophical question. But for her, my answer was pretty close to what you've said here. Which I pretty much conform to also, although without an "entity".

But, having said that, my favourite science writer, Prof Paul Davies, in various books, has basically said that scientifically, the idea of some sort of creator, cannot be discounted (so maybe I'm agnostic). He's a fabulous writer of cutting edge physics and astronomy, if you haven't already discovered btw."

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ruth_lawrence April 18 2006, 15:02:24 UTC
No, I haven't read him, but I am reading David Chalmers, a philosopher... :-)

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jomaraubat April 18 2006, 15:12:36 UTC
Aha - Someone else just told me about him too - which obviously means I'm destined to read him, no?

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