Shining the light of truth on delusion
Over the years many of my friends have seen the explosive fits and bursts of creativity and passion that have defined my life and its ever-tumultuous trajectory. Music, poetry, love, and the quest for knowledge (both factual and not-so-factual. See my previous post) have been the gasoline for my internal fire. Through different phases of …
I just want to riff a little. The other day I was going back through some of Daniel Dennett's book Breaking The Spell and got back to the passage where he talks about belief in God being an affectation similar to being in love. He begins by quoting William James: There is a state of mind, …
This is going to be a long and detailed post. I am breaking it into smaller sections which should stand on their own. Also included here will be plenty of links if you wish to follow them into the fascinating worlds to which they lead. This will be part one of what I expect to …
Continue reading "The Origin and Meaning of Human Ethics (part 1)"
From apple pie to religion, the road to our ultimate subjectivism is paved with the gravel of the senses.
Conversations about the divine tend to focus on the content of belief, the what, over the purpose and motivation for such understanding, the why. However, there is value in the investigation of the human need for faith in a deity, just as there are in the elements of that belief system. Among the problems I have encountered …
I was involved in a thread the other day about whether higher education and intelligence were markers for people being less religious. Which, of course, implies the opposite must, therefore, be true. Humans are prone to use ‘us vs. them’ as a way to distinguish and elevate themselves above their perceived enemies. This trope, …
Continue reading "Belief and religiosity are not a measure of intelligence"
From the 35,000-year-old cave art at Leang Timpuseng, Indonesia, to the Cuneiform writings of the Sumerians from 3500 years ago, to modernity, Homo sapiens have been on a journey towards self-awareness. Along the way we have asked the questions ‘Who am I?' and ‘Why are we here?' But from where did the need to ask …
Fighting the Myth 