Thoughts on Belief
Beliefs must be real because they can affect reality. Anything that can change the future exists.
Which brings me back to a paradox, one I often cite, a true moral dilemma for one who searches for truth.
What if it were True that the effect of a false belief was more beneficial than the effect of Truth itself? Or another way, is the premise "Mankind can handle the Truth", False.
A placebo, once truthfully labeled, no longer works. Another example of a false belief that is...better...than reality. Which highlights even more clearly my dilemma: is belief in God a necessary placebo? What is it that we gain, what would be lost?
Only slightly flippantly: would Mankind be able to survive a session in the Total Perspective Vortex?
Nietzsche spoke of "What comes after Man" and called it terrible indeed. Maybe it is Truth that awaits in the darkness to terrorize our people.
Which brings me back to a paradox, one I often cite, a true moral dilemma for one who searches for truth.
What if it were True that the effect of a false belief was more beneficial than the effect of Truth itself? Or another way, is the premise "Mankind can handle the Truth", False.
A placebo, once truthfully labeled, no longer works. Another example of a false belief that is...better...than reality. Which highlights even more clearly my dilemma: is belief in God a necessary placebo? What is it that we gain, what would be lost?
Only slightly flippantly: would Mankind be able to survive a session in the Total Perspective Vortex?
Nietzsche spoke of "What comes after Man" and called it terrible indeed. Maybe it is Truth that awaits in the darkness to terrorize our people.
posted by John Aristides at 1:39 PM
3 Comments:
Aristides,
Re: your 11:19 AM
"Which highlights even more clearly my dilemma: is belief in God a necessary placebo? What is it that we gain, what would be lost?
Only slightly flippantly: would Mankind be able to survive a session in the Total Perspective Vortex?
11:19 AM"
After posting this response on Belmont Club, i noted your blog. This doesn't answer the first question, but it does address the second.
Not a flippant answer:
Last year, flying from San Jose, as the plane lifted off, I had a vision of just how dangerous the universe was. I knew I was just the tiniest speck of cosmic dust. In 99.99999999 etc.% of the universe it was deadly. I felt/saw/understood how the entire universe is actively hostile to life. This was not mere intellectual fluff, but full bore sensory knowing/feeling.
Scary.
With hobbies of astronomy, geology, quantum mechanics, I am more aware of the truth of that reality than most. So I caught a glimpse of that total vortex.
Not the best thing to see/know/grok as your plane takes off, to realize:
How slender the thread connecting you to life.
How tiny the plane.
How fragile the wings, mere gossamer illusions.
At the same time, a realization & blessing came, a sense of peace.
The creator of all this & more, loved me.
How is that for a vortex visit?
Perhaps that sums up the union of religion and science. To understand and know.
You can hear God's take on disaster at my blog. Today's poem is "You Ask Why?" (from God's perspective, or at least what was heard). Posted before reading all these interesting comments.
That is what i enjoy about Belmont Club, we even use the twisted snarls of a near blind troll to help us on the way toward infinite truth.
I know God appreciates an honest agnostic over a "faithful" christian who goes to church, but never listens. Remember, sinners loved to hear Jesus, not the righteous. Just ask the rich young ruler about his encounter with Jesus. He went away sorrowful. (Luke 18:18-27)
My daily question:
What don't I know I don't know?
I will address your first question on my blog. I do have an answer, or at least, my story. It would make this response too long. I appreciate your honest questions.
Excellent post, and moving. I too have felt the vacuum, but no comfort was forthcoming.
Perhaps it will, someday.
If you haven't seen the September 4, 2005 Sunday comics, look at Opus by Berkeley Breathed. The penguin is also struck/terrified by the view of the vortex. There doesn't seem to be an online version.
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