babelfish

Hey, didn't I read almost this exact thing in "Darwin's Dangerous Idea"?

Anyway, this topic reminded me of a discussion with my fundie sister a while back about the purpose of life. She firmly believes that without a god to worship and kowtow to, there would be absolutely no purpose to her life. I wanted to ask her (but didn't, she was getting too hot under the collar already), if God is the only purpose of your life, what is the purpose of God?

Inconnu

Um, I have the simplistic view that "if it happens then its natural", so there can be no supernatural, even if we describe it that way.
To simplistic?

Wyrdsmyth

Some people would argue that you are ruling out the supernatural right out of the gate, and that your worldview is thus a form of presuppositionalism. But, if the supernatural never 'happens' but is only 'talked about' then I guess it's a moot point, isn't it?

See my thread on the difference between the supernatural and the imaginary.

I think when something 'happens' (I mean, not just inside someone's head), then a great many of us 'assume' it has a natural cause that we can detect and find -- even if we are unable to find it right away. Others stamp it SUPERNATURAL at some point, and it varies when that happens and why. In your case, it sounds like you're advocating throwing away the stamps that say SUPERNATURAL on them in big, blocky rubber letters, once and for all -- that we just won't be needing them any more.

A number of religious types will surely object.

"But how do you know for sure?" they'll ask in unison.

MortalWombat

I'm reminded of the oft-quoted verse by Jonathon Swift:

So naturalists observe, a flea
Hath smaller fleas that on him prey;
And these have smaller still to bite 'em;
And so proceed ad infinitum.


Perhaps it can be changed to:

Some theists observe, a deity
Hath greater gods to which he doth pray;
And these have greater still to sanctify 'em;
And so proceed ad infinitum.

Wyrdsmyth

Perhaps it is a misquote, or a colloquial British version, but I can remember Alan Watts' voice clearly... saying:

"Big problems have little problems upon their backs to bite them,
"Little problems have lesser problems, and so ad infinitum."