http://ourblogloo.blogspot.com/ OR take the link somewhere to the right to Andrew and Ali's blog.
Andrew went on at some length about belief and religion and spirituality and the Darwinian atheist scientists and such. Very worthwhile read, if, perhaps, a tad dense. The trigger for Andrew's tirade was The Atheist Tapes from the BBC. However, he and I have been browsing some books over the past couple of years that are related. With Andrew pointing the way, I have devoured The God Delusion and Darwin's Dangerous Idea, not necessarily in that order. If I understand Andrew correctly, an incredible assumption at best, the hard-assed scientist atheists have left no room for spirituality in their discussion. In fact, they seem to deny it any relevance. Not a good thing, in Andrew's view.
What follows is essentially a series of unsupported assertions. You may see where they are going, or may not. In my view, each assertion is supportable. Others may not agree.
Not everything is known. There are many mysteries remaining, and, in all probability, may new mysteries to be discovered.
Mysticism derives from, and is directly related to, mystery: the unknown.
Any technology, sufficiently advanced, is indistinguishable from magic.
All religions are suspect, being essentially about power (control) and money.
Spiritualism is directly related to religion; is the bastard father of religion.
The human condition, if faced rationally, is almost too painful to bear. This is the source of all spiritualism.
Humans, faced with something unknown and unknowable in the current state of knowledge, will make up a story to cover the void. This applies equally to science as to any other methodologies. The differences among methodologies is the realm of acceptable proofs and the possibility of changing the fundamental story (discussion).
Although something believed may or may not be true, belief is not knowledge.
The fundamental proof of god's existence goes something like this: There must be a god; I need there to be a god. Therefore god exists.
The problem with the spiritual experience is its completely personal, unprovable aspect. It is, simply, a belief system, not a form of discussion. This opens gates that pollute all thought. Once belief is established as a form of acceptable truth, anything goes. Harper is proving this daily.
