I've had a very successful 40+ year career as a physician. Do you think that I do not understand the value of reason? Perhaps there is more to it then you are considering?
You've you repeatedly attacked the value of reason. I'm glad you relied on reason as a physician instead of holding it below superstition. Apply that same integrity here.
The genius of those who came before us was that they figured out the limits of the intellect...although it was probably much easier for them to eliminate the arrogance that seems to go hand-in-hand with "progress." The further man seems to advance, the more ignorant he seems to become in matters of the heart and spirit.
Yet you were fine with doing the same. Good thing you are getting off now that your hypocrisy is in the spotlight.
If you are going to define God as "the universe" then the term God means nothing. I can get behind that. A God that means nothing is really no different than a God that does not exist.
then its a synonym, and either can be used, ie if God is the universe and the universe is the universe then its the same thing either can be brought in. To claim otherwise is faulty logic.
More like consider the existence of one true entity. Obstinance isn't critical thinking. It's the absence of thinking. It may be a safe way to think. But it isn't adventurous.
You may be a fine physician. But, you are failing physics as shown in your OP. Existence certainly does not all exist at the same time. And, this has been explained to you in other threads of yours. Besides, "God did it" isn't an answer to any question. It's just an extension of the hypothesis that there is a god that does all those things we don't yet understand. In fact, it gets used as the answer to some things that we DO understand as natural phenomena. "God did it" has been the knee jerk response to everything mankind hasn't understood at the moment - what stars are, what the sun is, why are there so many kinds of animals, why do humans have a heart and what does it do, etc., etc., etc.
Are you seriously going to claim that recognizing the absence of critical thinking is merely obstinance???
we could debate if we have a spirit that lives on after death.... and was there long before we were born we could be God, all of us together having a collective experience, we created this reality, all of us, that makes much more sense
Fine. But, your "spirituality" is seriously flawed if it can't withstand the observation of what we see around us. What we observe can't be discounted simply by holding the opinion that spirituality is "MUCH more important".
so that I can absorb more of this pseudo intellectual nonsense. that's good if you'll sit here and question existence it's of no value to anyone ever more pseudo intellectual nonsense. look at you what you're doing crazy naval gazing and pointless nonsense. you aren't exploring possibilities you're questioning things that are granted in an attempt to seem postmodern. What you're doing it's useless and if people don't want to participate better just leave them out of it Don't lecture me because I'm not wasting my time thinking about nonsense. I don't your mind is open more than mine because you question things that are observable. If anything that appears that you're more crippled than me philosophically speaking.
God is a term that personifies a being that has intellect and emotion. I am referring to the Universe as being the universe and the observable laws of the universe. Essentially I am proposing my limited understanding of pantheism as described by Spinoza.
What's with all the hostility and anger? This is a discussion, not a war. I am not attempting to do anything other than present different perspectives. It is as if I have asked you for your liver and kidneys. You need to relax. Have a beer. If what I am suggesting seems post-modern to you, I can understand. I rather refer to it in spiritual terms, the relative and the absolute. The relative is that which is knowable and changes constantly. The absolute is unknowable [intellectually] but is unchanging. This does not mean that the intellect is not critical, instead, like every tool, you need to be skilled in its applications and [especially] understand its limitations. And, in the moral arena, it is unyielding. The human mind is a great mystery. Although it is capable of truly amazing things [processing], Reality presents a much larger task that our minds simply cannot handle. Imagine attempting to calculate the amount of information available to the human mind in one moment of time, that is, there is an infinite number of things going on. Multiply this by an infinite number of moments and you begin to understand what we are up against. So, we can interpolate our way through life [as most do] or we can search for a better way [as people have done through history]. This is what the religious quest is about. Finding a way to a place that the intellect simply cannot go.
Let me give you an example [and I'll make it personal]. Have you ever been to a REALLY good doctor? One that seems to "get you?" One that seems to care about you? There's a saying in medicine that goes...if you listen really, really well, the patient will tell you EXACTLY what is wrong with them. Most people don't understand what this means. "Listening" means hearing the patient without discrimination. Probing, not based on what you are thinking, but instead, on what the patient is thinking. A great history takes itself. The key is allowing the diagnosis to present itself instead of giving birth to it through your preconceived notions. Spirituality grounds the intellect, gives it context by making it about others, not self.
Don't respond to me with hostility. If I don't accept your point of view deal with it and move on. Don't lecture me. Most people don't respond politely to arrogance. This isn't hostility it's advice. you aren't really presenting a different perspective you're lecturing people for not sharing it. And as a prospective it's untenable and rather brain dead. If you're going to be this butt hurt over challenges to your statements is probably is not the place to discuss it. You need to not concern yourself with my mood. As much as I'm flattered that you took this kind of interest in me I am already with someone else so I'm not interested in you knowing about my mood or sharing my mood with you this isn't personal. that is what the words postmodern mean if you don't know this maybe you should read a little more and quit asking if you exist or not. I think you need to meet work on meeting people where they are instead of getting butt hurt about people not accepting your point of view on the internet.
I suppose. The way I have always looked at it is that I can use all the help I can get, so why not explore all the possibilities? And although formal religion is not my thing, I can certainly understand why it is for billions of people. Good for them!
Believing in God is in a Christian deity and Christ and salvation and so forth is an absolute this person is arguing that that's not a thing.