The unknown is scary. Prophecy fills in that anxiety. Religion, especially the Abrahamic religion, is for the spiritually lazy. The jewish God (YHWH, God, Allah) is a usurper, a thief, and dominator of the material. We’re all spiritual beings and we don’t need lesser gods to connect with each other within this universe. I know it sounds kinda cheesy, but loving kindness should be our spiritual path in this material world.
Hard agree with you on this. YHWH was just a god of war and thunder before the other gods of the Judean pantheon got dropped. YHWH is violent, mean, needlessly cruel, and seems to genuinely relish in death and destruction. Death and destruction is pretty much the only tool YHWH knows how to use for the entire OT, and employs a “chosen people” to simply go about doing YHWH’s killing for him. I have no idea where all the “love and peace” stuff is supposed to come from, it’s a total 180 from YHWH’s entire existence up to Jesus being some grassroots radical hippie. Who is, let’s recall, killed in a needless cruel and terrible way because that’s what suits YHWH’s needs. No other reason.
Soul is a gestalt word that points to various conscious experiences and behaviours. Science still hasn’t been able to find out what consciousness and qualia are. These are things that exist, yet can’t be quantifiable. If you don’t want to use the word “soul”, that’s okay, but to me it’s a beautiful word that sometimes bites off more than it can chew.
I don’t need a soul to understand that everything is connected, and to value a habitable planet. Not knowing exactly how to define consciousness doesn’t imply you or I, or anyone else has a soul. I don’t even find it comforting. In fact, the universe (excluding humans) is a whole lot more interesting without the idea of a soul.
If I wanted to “feel” a connection to the world I’d do drugs, but I’d much rather “understand” things empirically. Ecology is fascinating and important and I don’t need a guru to see how everything is interconnected.
I’m not talking about wishy washy woowoo. I simply mean the connection from the external world to the inner. Even empirical data needs to connect and pass through your “soul/essence” to make any sense of it. You can use different words if you want to, but it’s simply our own personal consciousness and behaviours that interact with existence.
The unknown is scary. Prophecy fills in that anxiety. Religion, especially the Abrahamic religion, is for the spiritually lazy. The jewish God (YHWH, God, Allah) is a usurper, a thief, and dominator of the material. We’re all spiritual beings and we don’t need lesser gods to connect with each other within this universe. I know it sounds kinda cheesy, but loving kindness should be our spiritual path in this material world.
A Gnostic in the wild?
Not quite. I prefer the word “source” than “monad”. I try to practice buddhist-like non-dualism in my meditations.
You sound like my kind of people.
Hard agree with you on this. YHWH was just a god of war and thunder before the other gods of the Judean pantheon got dropped. YHWH is violent, mean, needlessly cruel, and seems to genuinely relish in death and destruction. Death and destruction is pretty much the only tool YHWH knows how to use for the entire OT, and employs a “chosen people” to simply go about doing YHWH’s killing for him. I have no idea where all the “love and peace” stuff is supposed to come from, it’s a total 180 from YHWH’s entire existence up to Jesus being some grassroots radical hippie. Who is, let’s recall, killed in a needless cruel and terrible way because that’s what suits YHWH’s needs. No other reason.
Skill issue tbh
Speak for you damn self, my world view has no place for spirituality and the supernatural.
You don’t have a soul/spirit? Do you not have the ability to develop a feeling of connection with anything of this world?
Nobody has a soul. It’s just a comforting thought. If we had souls science would have found it by now.
Soul is a gestalt word that points to various conscious experiences and behaviours. Science still hasn’t been able to find out what consciousness and qualia are. These are things that exist, yet can’t be quantifiable. If you don’t want to use the word “soul”, that’s okay, but to me it’s a beautiful word that sometimes bites off more than it can chew.
I don’t need a soul to understand that everything is connected, and to value a habitable planet. Not knowing exactly how to define consciousness doesn’t imply you or I, or anyone else has a soul. I don’t even find it comforting. In fact, the universe (excluding humans) is a whole lot more interesting without the idea of a soul.
If I wanted to “feel” a connection to the world I’d do drugs, but I’d much rather “understand” things empirically. Ecology is fascinating and important and I don’t need a guru to see how everything is interconnected.
I’m not talking about wishy washy woowoo. I simply mean the connection from the external world to the inner. Even empirical data needs to connect and pass through your “soul/essence” to make any sense of it. You can use different words if you want to, but it’s simply our own personal consciousness and behaviours that interact with existence.
You are though, there is no soul. The concept of such is wishy washy woowoo. Consciousness is an emergent phenomenon of electrochemistry.
Ah, so you’re a soulless electrochemical robot deluding itself of being? I actually like that idea, it would make for some good writing.