May 2011
The Archetypal Book(s)
When gods were men, and men wrote books, some of their books were not meant to remain on earth. Some were to ascend beyond the grave to be translated, sealed, and shelved within the innumerable libraries of heaven. These were books of a divine origin, for only the gods could penetrate their depths; mortals were left confused. On occasion one of these books was left behind by accident, or, as...
What I Believe
Using Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Chart, I have constructed rather broadly my own life philosophy/religion according to which I believe all men might give adherence to; provided, of course, that my thoughts are reasonable enough to inspire a change in anyone who desires betterment. You decide.
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“Man is of limited power; whatever he cannot understand or duplicate may be...”
– John A. Widtsoe (On Miracles and Investigation)
Fiction-to-Fact Paradigm Shifts
“The telephone has too many shortcoming to be seriously considered as a means of communication.”
—Western Union executive, 1876
“Heavier-than-air flying machines are not possible.”
—Lord Kelvin, 1895
“The most important fundamental laws and facts of physical science have all been discovered, and these are now so firmly established that the possibility...
Squashed: Theodicy →
squashed:
I have come to the last of Greater than Lapsed’s questions. Because it’s the mother of all theological questions, I’ve let my answer simmer for a few days.
How does your religion and/or how do you personally address the problem of evil?
We address this problem in the traditional way…We get Gottfried Leibniz to give it a fancy name (“theodicy!”) when he’s not busy inventing...
Irrational Optimism
How does one reassure a depressed person that “everything is all right” when her life really is terrible?
This problem puts therapists in the curious position of teaching patients to develop irrational patterns of thinking—patterns that help them view the world as a rosier place than it really is. Counterintuitive as it sounds, it is justified, because what defines a mental...
Squashed: Confronting contradictions →
squashed:
Greater than Lapsed asks: How do you make sense of moral and ethical contradictions in your holy book(s) or religious dogma?
Making sense of (apparent) contradictions in the Bible and resolving apparent contradictions isn’t much different than making sense of apparent contradictions anywhere else. Unfortunately, that means the answer to this question is boring.
First, is it...
The greatness (and goodness) of God
squashed:
Greater than Lapsed raises this question:
What qualities would you say make a god worthy of worship? To what extent does your god embody those qualities, and how? I will ask for examples here, and I am likely to point out contradictions if I am familiar enough with your religion to do so.
I’m afraid my answer to this question won’t be terribly satisfying. My views on what makes God...
Appearance & Reality: Reflections on Relativity...
It is wrong to think that the task of physics is to find out how Nature is. Physics concerns what we say about Nature.
—Niels Bohr
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I am interested in whether Bohr’s claim[1] is in any way supported by the details of...
Scientific Unification: Encompassing, Not...
The most cherished goal in physics is unification. To bring together two previously understood but distinct worldviews and see them as a single entity is one of the most thrilling aspects of science itself. One might even argue that science deals with the atonement of myths, to bring all things into a unified whole. One way that science atones for things that appear different is to show that the...
“I used to be an atheist until I realized that I was God.”
– Deepak Chopra (via disconnectedreality)
Newtonian Gloom: Reflections on Volition versus...
Newtonian mechanics entails a universe which exhibits profound regularity, where such regularities are a matter of physical necessity – or what Newton calls “mechanical necessity.” The descriptions of universal regularities that physical sciences seek to uncover take the form of natural laws, stating that “things […] act in definite ways and only in these ways.” This represents implicitly the...
Robots Say the Damnedest Things →
We’ve been hearing a lot about talking robots lately: They emote! They banter! They’re on the cusp of consciousness! So we asked Jon Ronson to chat up a few. Conclusion: The future will be mildly confusing, occasionally profound, and frequently hilarious.
Heart Spirit Mind: The Art of Not Being Offended →
heartmindspirit:
“There is an ancient and well-kept secret to happiness which the Great Ones have known for centuries. They rarely talk about it, but they use it all the time, and it is fundamental to good mental health. This secret is called The Fine Art of Not Being Offended. In order to truly be a master of this art, one must be able to see that every statement, action and reaction of...
