Moving back to God

[charlou]

I've realised lately that I now miss the ritual, spectacle, comfort, and warmth of religion. I don't know how, but in the years to come I'm going to try to rediscover blind faith.

Why?

[hiyymer]

I've realised lately that I now miss the ritual, spectacle, comfort, and warmth of religion. I don't know how, but in the years to come I'm going to try to rediscover blind faith.

Why?

Why not?

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Well, there's always prostitutes.

Dr. House, you're needed in Family Practice.

[charlou]

I've realised lately that I now miss the ritual, spectacle, comfort, and warmth of religion. I don't know how, but in the years to come I'm going to try to rediscover blind faith.

Why?

Why not?

I'm not objecting (he can do as he pleases with his own mind ... or try to, as he says), I'm curious.

[hiyymer]

I've realised lately that I now miss the ritual, spectacle, comfort, and warmth of religion. I don't know how, but in the years to come I'm going to try to rediscover blind faith.

I used to chat with a fellow who's theory was that the churches are full of people who actually have no blind faith at all. Just there for the ritual, comfort, and warmth. Blind faith is not like a requirement. Why set such a high standard for yourself.

[Robert_S]

I've realised lately that I now miss the ritual, spectacle, comfort, and warmth of religion. I don't know how, but in the years to come I'm going to try to rediscover blind faith.

I used to chat with a fellow who's theory was that the churches are full of people who actually have no blind faith at all. Just there for the ritual, comfort, and warmth. Blind faith is not like a requirement. Why set such a high standard for yourself.

Are 90% of them just humoring the priests, preachers, friends and family because they don't want to hurt their feelings or cause awkwardness? Could be, I suppose.

[Xamonas Chegwé]

Nobody has blind faith in god unless they are so low in intelligence as to have blind faith in whoever first told them about god. Anyone that pretends otherwise is a liar (to themselves primarily.) Religion (or, indeed, any dogmatic belief system) is an exercise in doubt-management. It's far more about wanting than believing.

[Atheist-Lite]

Being a nihilist I wouldn't say blind faith and stupidity is unique to theists. I see it in myself somedays - but then I just shrug my shoulders and laugh at my idiocy. If there is a God, and it wouldn't matter to me - I'm dumb enough to say that, then that God is a messy one, and ain't playing a fair game down here?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Chmuw1ya ... r_embedded[/youtube]

[JimC]

Misleading title, really...

I suspect what Dev means is moving back to the warm, predictable environment of a religious community.

[devogue]

Nobody has blind faith in god unless they are so low in intelligence as to have blind faith in whoever first told them about god. Anyone that pretends otherwise is a liar (to themselves primarily.) Religion (or, indeed, any dogmatic belief system) is an exercise in doubt-management. It's far more about wanting than believing.

Hmmm. That reminds me of that irritating assertion made by some theists - that atheists know deep down there is a god and they are wilfully denying him.

I couldn't disagree with you more about your entire post. My grandmother, for instance, was a very intelligent and articulate woman, but her faith was "blind" in that it was as natural to her as breathing. It wasn't "wanting" rather than believing - it was all one package: a very personal set of beliefs that, while open to criticism and ridicule, weren't really open to questioning of their motivation.

[devogue]

I've realised lately that I now miss the ritual, spectacle, comfort, and warmth of religion. I don't know how, but in the years to come I'm going to try to rediscover blind faith.

Why?

Why not?

I'm not objecting (he can do as he pleases with his own mind ... or try to, as he says), I'm curious.

I don't honestly know.

After my heart surgery I went through what I now realise were three years of feeling pretty down, empty and lost. It's funny - I was in such a fuzzy place I didn't realise it until I managed to claw myself out. This has involved losing loads of weight, cutting back on drink, chucking in my business, giving up worldly assets (so to speak) and trying to create a new life...

It's interesting how much nostalgia has been involved in creating this "new life" - thinking back to when I first met Mrs Dev, to earlier years when I felt much more in control, the relative peace and calm I enjoyed with my own personal god. Perhaps I am being too greedy, too selfish. My gut instinct tells me that Pandora's Box was opened long ago and that a real belief in god is now impossible for me. I suspect that a leap of imagination rather than faith might be the only way back, but I would always know somewhere that I would be deluding myself.

[Feck]

But it's the assumption that we cannot be good without god ..... or the assumption that there 'must be something else ' . The absolute assertion that one set of unprovable beliefs MUST be true . I s'pose it's maybe comforting to think that you are serving God but it's the other way around really

[devogue]

But it's the assumption that we cannot be good without god ..... or the assumption that there 'must be something else ' . The absolute assertion that one set of unprovable beliefs MUST be true . I s'pose it's maybe comforting to think that you are serving God but it's the other way around really

I disagree - even when I was religious I never saw it as pure servitude, or that pure morality was god-based. I suppose I still subscribe to the theory proposed by Joseph Murphy that "prayer" is a conversation with the subconscious mind, rather than communication with an external entity. The paraphernalia of ritual, dogma and the shared experience of organised religion are "positive aids" to that particular, underlying experience - a comforting setting in which to focus prayer.

I dunno, I'm thinking of going to mass this week.

[klr]

But it's the assumption that we cannot be good without god ..... or the assumption that there 'must be something else ' . The absolute assertion that one set of unprovable beliefs MUST be true . I s'pose it's maybe comforting to think that you are serving God but it's the other way around really

I disagree - even when I was religious I never saw it as pure servitude, or that pure morality was god-based. I suppose I still subscribe to the theory proposed by Joseph Murphy that "prayer" is a conversation with the subconscious mind, rather than communication with an external entity. The paraphernalia of ritual, dogma and the shared experience of organised religion are "positive aids" to that particular, underlying experience - a comforting setting in which to focus prayer.

I dunno, I'm thinking of going to mass this week.

You have a history of barracking priests - I would stay away if I were you.

[Xamonas Chegwé]

Nobody has blind faith in god unless they are so low in intelligence as to have blind faith in whoever first told them about god. Anyone that pretends otherwise is a liar (to themselves primarily.) Religion (or, indeed, any dogmatic belief system) is an exercise in doubt-management. It's far more about wanting than believing.

Hmmm. That reminds me of that irritating assertion made by some theists - that atheists know deep down there is a god and they are wilfully denying him.

I couldn't disagree with you more about your entire post. My grandmother, for instance, was a very intelligent and articulate woman, but her faith was "blind" in that it was as natural to her as breathing. It wasn't "wanting" rather than believing - it was all one package: a very personal set of beliefs that, while open to criticism and ridicule, weren't really open to questioning of their motivation.

I have known many people exactly like that but I don't agree that they in any way invalidate my points. It isn't that their faith is "natural" (whatever that even means - somebody put it there in the first place - it didn't just grow like a wart!) It is rather that their desire for faith is so strong that they consciously refuse to question, lest it opens the door to the doubts that lie just below the surface.

This "natural as breathing" faith of your grandmother was not "personal" at all! It was nothing but the result of a childhood spent having that faith crammed into her by her parents, priests and peers. It is a lie that was told to her so many times, with such dire (for all they were imaginary) consequences for disbelieving, that she was physically terrified to question any aspect of it. People like your grandmother are like swans - on the surface displaying placid, unquestioning faith; underneath, the same roiling mass of doubts and fears as the rest of us.