(Belated) Happy Diwali
My new colleague at work, a lovely gentle fellow from India who started with me about a month ago, bought in some rather interesting spicy sweet foods today and was in a really happy and relaxed mood for the first time since he began working here. He wished me (with a smile) Happy Diwali as soon as I came in. I certainly don't begrudge the parts of religion that actually bring happiness to people.
Ninae said:
If you've gone from being a seeker to spending most of your time arguing for the atheist viewpoint, I don't know if that's an improvement. I guess I don't really understand your choice, that you'd rather spend your time like that. I've been through some amazing transformations and experiences in my spiritual work, but I guess it's not the same for everyone.
How am I not a "seeker" though? And I think you have revealed a very common assumption and bias found amongst the more theistic folks, and that is assuming that for some reason people with an "atheistic viewpoint" are closed off and no longer seeking answers to reality. I know that you probably didn't intend it to be taken that literally, but it is something I find common in the dismissals I get when I state my opinion and I don't think I'm alone.
I don't know if its an improvement either, but I've certainly been able to appreciate the world in much deeper ways since I began questioning my assumptions. Some of the comforts I derived from them have gone too, but I also now realise that cold comfort is pretty much worthless. You could say that this has been something of a journey to a type of minor enlightenment, if you wanted.
Yes, but what constitues evidence for you? What you can perceive with your own expanded senses or what academia or popular culture has given their approval to? Mystics just look for a different kind of evidence.
Its certainly not the latter. I don't even know what popular culture has approved but I don't really think its rational thinking. It is not unusual to be condemned pretty openly for being sceptical.
Evidence is not as important as the truth that evidence is imparting, and one of the many types of 'truth' that I personally value is something which is immutable and factual for all parties who examine it. It is something which doesn't change according to preferences or biases or desires, and is reproducible for all people. As with my brief excerpt from my working day, I also value the truths that individuals take part in which give their lives meaning. I just happen to not derive meaning from the same things, though my life is no less full of truth AND meaning.
It is perhaps more painful than I would like though, at times.
Not so bad of late though.
