I'm a student of philosophy, cosmology, religion, particle physics, music & songwriting, history, and geography. Being retired after 32 years with the state, I have some time to spend on these delights of study. Although I'm only 60, I'm not making plans for next year. I think of science, philosophy, and religion as three main branches of the field of human understanding. Science is a strict discipline for understanding what can be known and proven by measurement and observation. Philosophy seeks to understand, at least insofar as logic and reason may establish, that which lies beyond the near certainties of fact that science may confirm. Religion is an alternative to philosophy based upon a belief in some form of divinity. Religion is often in conflict with science and philosophy, in addition to the conflicts that exist between diverse bodies of religious belief. But those religions which best agree with the understandings of science and philosophy are, in my opinion, most tenable. Why? Because if there is a deity responsible for the creation or order of our universe, I believe that such deity must be apparent in its work, in the natural world to which it has given origin and order. I do not myself so much believe in a personal deity as I believe that the universe itself is a conscious being with both a mind (we call God) and a body (we call the cosmos). Of course, the nature of such a deity is beyond human comprehension, but we reach for it as it rests within us and all the world around us. The result of our communion with this transcendent deity is the many faces of God that mankind worships and envisions in our lives.
Thu 24 Jun, 2010 09:44 am - Here are some pictures of despair to maybe bring the idea home to you. The song on the first video is "N'Kosi Sikelele Afrika" the unofficial Afrikan national anthem, an old hymn... (view)
Thu 24 Jun, 2010 12:54 am - I like much about Kierkegard and his writings, but I find myself thinking of despair in its simpler context as an absence of hope. But this is just more quibbling over definitions. The fact is... (view)
Thu 8 Apr, 2010 08:01 pm - The difference between Santa existing and the idea or concept of Santa existing is not a matter of dispute if you are a materialist and define existence solely in terms of matter and energy. But... (view)
Mon 29 Mar, 2010 12:42 pm - I have thought of existence in that way too...as at least the ability to have properties and, depending on how properties are defined, perhaps the necessarily having of properties or a... (view)
Mon 29 Mar, 2010 11:14 am - Good work guys! Something either exists or doesn't exist. That's solid, hard to contest. Now, what do you mean by "exists"? Does something exist if it is perceived and only... (view)
Sat 27 Mar, 2010 10:47 am - "...the thing in itself..."
Berkeley spoke of many things, domestic animals included, as soulless and mindless beings whose existence was no different from that of the stone. So it... (view)
Fri 26 Mar, 2010 11:04 pm - Jeeprs, from the astronomical viewpoint, we are still at the center of an infinite universe. All points are the center points of an infinite universe. Of course, most astronomers don't... (view)
Fri 26 Mar, 2010 05:34 pm - [QUOTE=Extrain;144175]...yes, but technically, the way you're forumulating it is not the actual premise the skeptic needs to offer reasons for plausible belief, so the skeptic is going to... (view)
Fri 26 Mar, 2010 01:44 pm - [QUOTE=kennethamy;144061]The question is not how Moore knows he has hands. The question is whether Moore knows he has hands. Moore thought is was far more probable that we know we have hands than... (view)
