did God create the universum (Stephen Hawking)
- Thread starter Morgain
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You brilliant Canadian! Have you been reading Margaret Atwood? (a renowned pantheist-feminist and Canadian author) ?
If not, do it. If you can handle science fiction (or as she calls it speculative fiction) I would recommend "Oryx and Crake."
I have never read anything that she's written before. Perhaps I should change that.
sigh. I've posted now three and a half times on this thread and I either sound condescending or insincere in all my posts. I don't like this. Perhaps I'll go back to the INTP forum and hide in a cave for a while until I can determine whether I am arrogant and insincere or whether I simply appear that way. And then figure out why and how to act.
Yes, I'd recommend it. She's great at writing and her ideas have a way of seeping in and warping your worldview.
That dream bit seems a bit Descartes-esque. "I think therefore I am" and all that. Actually I think that line of thinking lends itself more to solipsism than dualism. I lean towards this but have to struggle against it because they say solipsism is bad.
The part about being "one" have you looked into pantheism? Interesting notion. I think tao and holism and pantheism kind of have a lot in common. I could see Jesus being sort of taoist too, I never really considered that.
I'm not a fan of theism. Collective consciousness is a preferred term.
How can you conclude that all existence is purposeless?
Do you have no ability to believe otherwise?
Nothing in nature points to a grand design. Be that as it may, I create my own purpose, I'm an existentialist. I don't need someone or some thing to make it for me. As to your question, well I see faith as a form of mental illness or extremism.
That sounds like something from the book "The Secret" which I think is a retarded book. What about starving kids in Africa born with AIDS? Can they create their own reality?
I don't know shit about quantum physics which makes me judgmental/skeptical towards Stephen Hawking. Most of the stuff he says sounds like theory but he presents it like it's fact. It can be misleading for people who take what he says and consider it proven science.
I still however love to philosophize about life, cosmetology, quantum physics, and spirituality. So thanks for being the OP it was fun reading peoples ideas. I don't have any beliefs but I sometimes think we live so we can temporarily become aware of ourselves. The opportunity cost of this temporary awareness is a subtle emptiness that never leaves. Our life is a temporary chance to look at ourselves through other people, animals, plants, and experiences. Once our life is over we become one with ourselves again and enter a more peaceful state of consciousness.
Also sometimes I think that planet earth itself might have a consciousness and humans are just a bacteria-like growth. We grow on the surface of the earth in patterns, we damage the earth, and we can't control ourselves. You know how humans fighting bacteria will develop a flu to make themselves uninhabitable to the bacteria???... The earth is essentially doing the same thing with global warming. It senses a harmful presence, so it's heating up to get rid of us. Just food for thought.
You missed my point. I was saying that "The Secret" is bullshit because no matter how positive a starving kid with AIDS thinks, he will still die young and miserable. It is good to practice positive thinking but positive thinking doesn't have magical powers like some of those self-help books suggest.
No I don't think I missed your point at all.
Ultimately all you can do is what you can do. Existentialism isn't really about positive thinking. It's about dealing with the absurdity of life and constructing a moral code that you can live by.
"The Secret" is pretty stupid though.
Yes, that logic is why the secret is bullshit. It's no secret, however, that thoughts are powerful. Tell yourself you're ugly or retarded long enough and you believe it, even if you're really not. I did those things. Thoughts also have the power to heal you (not in the sense of physical injuries suddenly getting better), think positive and get positive results. When you don't go into something thinking you've failed, it ends up a lot better. Self-fulfilling prophecies, and all.
The Secret is like that 100th monkey shit. When the hundredth monkey learned to wash her coconuts, all the others could do the same. Right.
To recap: I agree, positive thinking good, The Secret retarded.
Nothing points to grand design
or
everything points to grand design.
How can ANY purpose be found in a purposeless universe?
Saying that faith is a form of mental illness or extremism is so conveniently dismissive...
But in all honesty, how is your personal view of reality not faith based?
Certainly, we all must choose to believe in something.
Do you truly believe nothing in the universe matters except for what you want to do?
