Thank you for a really thought provoking comment Pauline 😊
Religions attempt to connect us to a spiritual reality that is beneath/beyond or the source of what we experience as a material reality. I think atheism attempts to connect us to reality too but based on different assumptions/beliefs as to what constitutes that reality - both are narrative structures that give a framework to abstract meaning from experience.
It's the framework that we build our collaborative behaviour on top of.
As an atheist, I find the concept of religion and its storytelling incomprehensible, as it defies my autistic brain's ability to process or manage it within my cognitive framework. It remains one of life's greatest mysteries, requiring hope and faith to believe, a virtue that is always commendable in various contexts.
I do believe it is one of the most powerful storytelling tools ever, with the power to destory humanity alongside our man-made ecocide.
As I age, I mature more spiritually, valuing my cognition and how it arrives at the ultimate context of what I perceive as right and wrong, aside from religion.
On humanity and us naked apes, Ronald Wright put it brilliantly in his book A Short History of Progress: 'letting apes run the laboratory was fun for a while, but in the end, it was a bad idea.”
We are definitely a bunch of naked apes playing with fire and have gotten burned by so much. And there is much more ignition to follow because humanity keeps it all lit.
I like the Ronald Wright quote xxx however, absent of anyone else to run the lab I think it is our duty to find ways to run it better... I'm a serial optimist btw lol
Thank you for sharing these perspectives, they are ones I have not seen or considered before, though I find myself agreeing with most of them. I wasn't sure what to expect from the title, but I was not disappointed!
This quote stood out to me: "The internet is the great modern cave painting."
You may not remember me, but this is Third Factor Margo Margan. Glad to see I could find a familiar face over on Substack! Keep up the good work here :)
Thank you for a really thought provoking comment Pauline 😊
Religions attempt to connect us to a spiritual reality that is beneath/beyond or the source of what we experience as a material reality. I think atheism attempts to connect us to reality too but based on different assumptions/beliefs as to what constitutes that reality - both are narrative structures that give a framework to abstract meaning from experience.
It's the framework that we build our collaborative behaviour on top of.
As an atheist, I find the concept of religion and its storytelling incomprehensible, as it defies my autistic brain's ability to process or manage it within my cognitive framework. It remains one of life's greatest mysteries, requiring hope and faith to believe, a virtue that is always commendable in various contexts.
I do believe it is one of the most powerful storytelling tools ever, with the power to destory humanity alongside our man-made ecocide.
As I age, I mature more spiritually, valuing my cognition and how it arrives at the ultimate context of what I perceive as right and wrong, aside from religion.
On humanity and us naked apes, Ronald Wright put it brilliantly in his book A Short History of Progress: 'letting apes run the laboratory was fun for a while, but in the end, it was a bad idea.”
We are definitely a bunch of naked apes playing with fire and have gotten burned by so much. And there is much more ignition to follow because humanity keeps it all lit.
I like the Ronald Wright quote xxx however, absent of anyone else to run the lab I think it is our duty to find ways to run it better... I'm a serial optimist btw lol
Thank you for sharing these perspectives, they are ones I have not seen or considered before, though I find myself agreeing with most of them. I wasn't sure what to expect from the title, but I was not disappointed!
This quote stood out to me: "The internet is the great modern cave painting."
You may not remember me, but this is Third Factor Margo Margan. Glad to see I could find a familiar face over on Substack! Keep up the good work here :)