(Untitled)

[zial]

I need a wise man to tell me the truth. Is there anyone wise out there who could talk to me meaningfully about god, the purpose of life and the ways to change? I'm still such a child. I need a grownup to make it all OK

Comments

[mshonle]

Keep a skeptical but open mind. When someone tells you something you don't agree with, don't just immediately cast it aside. If you think about it more, and you find flaws in the logic or assumptions, don't reject it then either. Instead, think of how the argument could be changed such that you'd become convinced. If you've identified a serious flaw in the argument, you can disagree, but now you'll have a deep reason for doing so. If find no flaws, then you should consider it

[zial]

I'm at a point in my life right now, a point that I'm sure almost everyone goes through, where it seems like I can't come up with a single non-trivial thought without it instantaneously generating a hundred contradictory thoughts, from all conceivable (to me) angles. So, I guess I'm just jealous of people who have a doctrine to follow. It's a sort of frame of reference that I think you need in order to find yourself...in order to know anything, really. Something has to come apriori...I'm still waiting.

[mshonle]

I say there's no better way to go than to start getting interested in ethics and striving to live a moral life. It certainly shouldn't be the "morals" of Christianity, which seem to abuse that word so heavily. I'm talking more about the values you already have and believe in, and following their logical conclusions. Sometimes you need to make assumptions, so you should take the most morally responsible assumption. For example, you can only assume that other humans feel pain; but that's the most responsible assumption.

[inverted_man]

I am not a wise man and have nothing world shattering to tell you, but I can describe my own experience with this matter.

I too have no god.

And there was a point in my life where I realized that internally consistent frames of knowledge, "methods" of knowing, like science or even voodoo, could all, through their descriptions of the world, produce viable knowledge. Whether this knowledge is consistent with the big R is irrelevant to the person experiencing it, because their experience of an event is parasitic on their method of description. Edict vs. Emic explanations of the world are similar in that they are both approximations of R, but dissimilar in that edict explanations offer high resolution descriptions into the mechanics of an event, where emic explanations offer vague, high level descriptions into the results of some mechanical process: "The sun god is angry with us. He has spoiled our crops as punishment.", as opposed to "global warming - caused by runaway pollutants such as...and have ultimately led to droughts...etc

[mshonle]

I think it can be unethical *not* to openly criticize a group for their beliefs. It just depends highly on what that belief is. For example, if there is racism on the level of genocide being carried out, those beliefs are wrong and must be stopped. (Indeed, in genocide, openly criticizing is not even enough.) If it's racism or sexism or heterosexism without killing, then it can and should be criticized. The idea that just because someone believes in nonsense that they should continue to do so is crazy. Cultural relativism is just an excuse to wash your hands of your duty.

[inverted_man]

On a casual note...One thing that has always felt spiritual for me is considering the possibility that we are not alone in the universe. The more I explore this, the more that which has slowly been wrenched from me over the years - that feeling of enormous awe we first felt when someone told us immense religious truths as a child or perhaps even a fairy tail - returns to me. Or when I consider the vastness of the observable universe and its stubborn resistance to providing us with answers about its nature which do not end in paradox, I get that thrill again. That's all I need. As humanity plows deeper and deeper into the mysteries of the universe, considering whether or not our line of inquiry is inherently limited in scope or effect, or considering why the often bizarre conclusions drawn are perfect, THAT is spirituality to me. I search through everything I can. Every piece of religion, history, art, science, etc., provides me with more information and ultimately helps me get closer to drawing the final conclusions I will