Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnPlace  Yes. Symbolic answers, if not scientific ones. The symbolism is our attempt to grasp the things which cannot quite be grasped, and the answers we ascertain may be just as true as any bit of logic or science. More true in many ways, less true in others. |
Haha if truth is so amorphous it's no surprise the debate over secular versus spiritual beliefs has been going on for so long.
If that's the case then I suspect the terms "question" and "answer" are misleading. The "question" seems more of search for a path, and the "answer" is a signpost pointing in the direction of a path. And the feeling of certainty, or its absence, will determine if the path is suitable, or not. I suppose that's a less-than-concise description of what metaphors and symbols
are. (and here I use a metaphor to describe metaphors. Yes, really helpful
)
Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnPlace Oftentimes the answer and the certainty are viewed as the same thing, coming from the same source.
Answers may, in fact, map quite well to logical arguments. |
I'm having trouble seeing how such ambiguous answers could map to sound logical arguments. But that's probably because I see a logical argument as falsifiable, which the ambiguity of personal experience is not.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnPlace This is a less than generous view of the matter, in my humble opinion -- and it sounds like the view of someone on the outside looking in, or perhaps someone on the inside trying to get out.  |
Ha! Yes, yes it is less than generous. I'm still far from compassionate enough to be generous with people who are unsure of the morality of cheating.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnPlace If a person honestly believes in a God (take the Christian God for example), and he truthfully believes that this one all-knowing God possesses the one and only correct answer, then he may, in fact, be seeking truth, not just attempting to avoid making his own decisions. |
Agreed, but I don't believe this person, and the person unsure about the morality of cheating, are the same... Or at least if they are, he never went to Sunday school and slept through all the readings and homilies.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnPlace The question, then, boils down to which moral system provides the greatest comfort to the individual. |
True, though I'm sure wars have started over individual concern for comfort when it's at the expense of the comfort of other individuals
Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnPlace Without man's nearly universal need for spirituality it's unlikely religion would have ever taken hold to the extent that it has, and it is this very need that will keep it from ever going away. |
I think it's religion and spirituality's past and current satisfaction of that need which will keep it from ever going away, not the need itself. Without spirituality or religion the need would be satisfied some other way, as Michael pointed out.
I should just shut up and let people be satisfied with their methods of satisfying their needs