I don't believe in a god, as in a beardy consciousness in the sky,
But I'm open to many ideas that are beyond our comprehension. Perhaps the universe is just an eternal and cyclical system with no plan? Perhaps it had a begining and will have an end? Perhaps god is chaos? Perhaps the universe is ordered into an intelligence of its own? Perhaps our universe is simply a computer simulation by some consciousness beyond our abilities to percieve?
I don't believe in God or Allah or Jehova, as these are just humanised labels that have been given to things we can't possibly hope to understand. BUT, unlike many of my atheist friends, I am willing to live with cognitive dissonance over this- pretending that you can know 'the truth' is arrogant. It's possible to reject human-based religious traditions without rejecting spirituality. It's also possible to reject the ego-centric/human-centric view of 'God' without claiming that nothing exists beyond our own comprehension (an equally ego/human-centric position).
So I suppose my thoughts about 'god' are confused by the labelling- god is the only word we have for what is beyond our understanding. The core of my belief is that the human mind is a wonderful, but ultimately limited and flawed instrument for attempting to understand the universe. Thus, pretending to know any absolutes is ridiculous.
Having said that, we must learn to explore the nature of the universe within the constraints of our minds. I believe science is the best tool we (currently) have for this, and so I lean much more towards the conventional 'scientific' understanding than I do to a religious one.
So: I suppose I reject the conventional idea of God, but am unwilling to reject the possibility of something beyond ourselves (or 'god'!).
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Fishcat Difficult difficult lemon difficult., Thu 5 Feb 2009, 14:17,
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