Atheists more Intelligent

Stretch said:
We don't expect you understand spiritual matters because you don't have the ability.
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Thank you for proving my assertion that fundies believe that they belong to an exclusive club, that does not include atheists, Catholics, LDS, Muslims, or other Xtian faiths.
 
Dutch Uncle said:
That's an area of thought that is interesting to me. What is the next step in our evolution? A lateral move such as just moving as an individual from one plane of existence to another isn't much of a change. Moving from individuality to becoming one with the entire Universe seems to be a much more important step in our growth; to die and lose all individuality. Not a loss of individuality like a bee in a hive, but to become part of an overmind that includes our Universe.

Arthur C. Clarke's "Childhood's End" touched on that idea as well as several other science fiction authors including, to some extent, Douglas Adams. One of his ways was "So long and thanks for all the fish!". :)

https://sites.google.com/site/h2g2theguide/Index/d/919377
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I believe it was in a series of novels by Orson Scott Card that included a fictional world on other planets, and the existence of what they called "the Oversoul." When the body died, in this world, the spirit left it to join and become one with the Oversoul.
 
ThatOwlWoman said:
Again though, atheism is not a belief system or a faith. It's the absence of those things.

I don't know whether or not there is a creator that put this existence into existence. I think this most nearly describes my personal beliefs: "It's like dark matter and dark energy. Neither have been proved to exist yet the results of their existence are documented." I believe -- not KNOW but believe -- that there is more to just our meat space physical existence. Something spiritual transcends and survives the death of the physical corpus, I believe. Do we meet again on "the other side"? If so do we recognize each other? I do not know. I can only go by my own personal experiences with these matters. I also believe that if my beliefs are true, they are true for all living beings, not just homo sapiens and our forebears.
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Science calls it Energy. My belief is that there is so much I do not know, nor will I in my time on Earth. My illness taught me to live in the moment. The Perfect Present. I allow myself moments of “meditation” and this is when delve deeper.
I use to try to search frantically for the answers and now, like Iris DeMint, I let the mystery be. I just marvel at the wonder of it all.
 
ThatOwlWoman said:
I do agree with that last. There are definitely militant, pushy atheists just as there are militant pushy ppl of religious faith.

Otherwise, atheists -- at least the ones I know -- live their lives unconcerned about questions of god, angels, afterlives, souls. They do not worship science or self, but they do understand that science and technology are real aspects of our first-world existences. I would not call that "belief," though. "Belief" insinuates that the believer thinks that something unseen and/or unproven is real. For instance, I know that the planet is a globe, not a flat surface. There is plenty of proof. I know that there is an Eifel tower even though I have not personally seen it. I know that engineering principles keep the bridge up that I drove over going into town, and that the highway is curved and banked on those same principles even though I've never studied them. I don't worship those principles; I merely acknowledge their existence. Although I'm not atheist myself, I can assure you that the vast majority of them are decent ethical people who really don't care what you or I or anyone else chooses to adopt as their faith. They simply prefer to be left out of it.
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Then you know some nice people that probably don't declare themselves as Atheists like many do. Just look at this entire thread premise and tell me it doesn't sound like how Trumpkins react to Muslims, or staunch vegans act towards meat-eaters.
 
ThatOwlWoman said:
I believe it was in a series of novels by Orson Scott Card that included a fictional world on other planets, and the existence of what they called "the Oversoul." When the body died, in this world, the spirit left it to join and become one with the Oversoul.
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Interesting series. Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote an essay in 1841 touching on the same theme and titled "The Over-Soul".

"Meantime within man is the soul of the whole; the wise silence; the universal beauty, to which every part and particle is equally related; the eternal ONE. And this deep power in which we exist, and whose beatitude is all accessible to us, is not only self-sufficing and perfect in every hour, but the act of seeing and the thing seen, the seer and the spectacle, the subject and the object, are one. We see the world piece by piece, as the sun, the moon, the animal, the tree; but the whole, of which these are the shining parts, is the soul."​

One model I use is the cycle of water; how our souls are like water molecules and the ocean is the "Over-Soul".

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ThatOwlWoman said:
Thank you for proving my assertion that fundies believe that they belong to an exclusive club, that does not include atheists, Catholics, LDS, Muslims, or other Xtian faiths.
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Spiritual matters are spiritually discerned no matter what denomination. Simple concept.
 
Crocodile said:
Then you know some nice people that probably don't declare themselves as Atheists like many do. Just look at this entire thread premise and tell me it doesn't sound like how Trumpkins react to Muslims, or staunch vegans act towards meat-eaters.
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This "entire thread" is not a microcosm of America. It's a minor subset of political junkies and nutjobs...except for me. I'm just here for the science. :D
 
PostmodernProphet said:
???......so God is omniscient.......are YOU omniscient?......do YOU know what you're going to do before you do it?........did God whisper in your ear what you are going to do so you don't have to make a choice......... God knew you were going to post the above without thinking about it first but we both agree he didn't make you post it........you can't blame him for the stupidity of your post.......



sure I can........people do stupid things contrary to what he would want them to do.......
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:lolup:

^Illiteracy and stupidity all wrapped into one moronic package.
 
Phantasmal said:
Science calls it Energy. My belief is that there is so much I do not know, nor will I in my time on Earth. My illness taught me to live in the moment. The Perfect Present. I allow myself moments of “meditation” and this is when delve deeper.
I use to try to search frantically for the answers and now, like Iris DeMint, I let the mystery be. I just marvel at the wonder of it all.
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Agreed about living in the present. The "Eternal Now".

Example: https://www.choprafoundation.org/articles/the-mystery-of-the-eternal-now/

Zen is a way of life that emphasizes living in the present. Ask a zen master "Can we get together for coffee some time" and they'd mostly likely say "Let's go right now!" Alan Watts spoke a lot about this. He mentions people spending too much time taking pictures to "preserve the moment" to actually experience and live the moment.

He spoke about the problems people living in the past as speeding through live at 90MPH looking through a rearview mirror. He spoke about those constantly living in the future seeking happiness such as making plans to buy a house, get a promotion, buying a new that they are never happy because they can't attain the future. It doesn't exist. Only the present exists. Live in the present.
 
Crocodile said:
Then you know some nice people that probably don't declare themselves as Atheists like many do. Just look at this entire thread premise and tell me it doesn't sound like how Trumpkins react to Muslims, or staunch vegans act towards meat-eaters.
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This "entire thread" is not a microcosm of America. It's a minor subset of political junkies and nutjobs....except for. I'm just here for the science. :D
 
Wolverine said:
I am not happy that you have chosen the cult of atheism, pray you will see the light some day, just like all the others here who refuse to acknowledge God!
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Why would your god punish a thinking person who leads an admirable life? What kind of insecure and spiteful god is that
 
domer76 said:
Why would your god punish a thinking person who leads an admirable life? What kind of insecure and spiteful god is that
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An all powerful, all merciful God would do no such thing. A manmade god equipped with manmade fears and hates would easily do such a thing.
 
Dutch Uncle said:
An all powerful, all merciful God would do no such thing. A manmade god equipped with manmade fears and hates would easily do such a thing.
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Indeed, hence the people capable of critical thought reject the bible as a fictional work that created a "character" god to explain the unexplainable (and force Jews to cut their dicks and women to know their place).
 
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