[MD] Metaphysics

[markhsmit]

On Jan 14, 2010, at 6:15:16 AM, "Ham Priday" <hampday1 at verizon.net> wrote:
Is belief in a divinity more absurd than Kurzweil's Singularity or a Big 
Bang that arose from nothing?
You refuse to acknowledge that the universe is intelligently designed 
because it implies a Creator, yet you are a product of this design and all 
of Science thrives on its order and consistency. I would say there's more 
than a little hypocrisy in your disbelief.

Regards,
Ham
Well put Ham.  It is this objection to the concept of the divine that seems so reactive.
The beholden of the intellect as divine.  Is the human intellect an anomaly?  Did it
appear from nowhere?  A mass of communicating nerve cells which respond to the
environment, is an incarnation of what is already there.  When the wind blows, a tree
bends.  When confronted with a problem, we respond.  I do not see any difference.
If it is the complexity, then the complexity of interaction of that on the earth is much
more vast.  Evolution proceeds through trial and error, when it makes a mistake it
corrects it, to make things better.  Sounds pretty intellectual to me.  Nature is extremely
creative, sounds pretty intellectual to me.  There is no separation between man and
nature, we are an expression of such intellect as a sub-intellect (and I don't mean less
than).

Perhaps it is the reaction to a catholic upbringing, being told what to do by a set
of controlling misguided (imo)dogma that is at fault.  The sense of subservience to some higher
authority which results in an equal expression of arrogance.  Forget the whole
subservience thing, it doesn't exist.  The All Knowing is just the sum total interaction
of all that there is.  It is no mystery, we are part of it.

Quality can have connotations of Divinity.  I don't mean that in a negative way,
just in a semantic sense.  There is no problem with this.  It is a guiding force
that is expressed in what we sense.  It is not controlling and not benign.  It just
is.  It is impossible to separate the concept of Quality from the concept of God,
at least by my definitions.  I prefer the concept of Tao for whatever reason,
perhaps only because I have a better feeling for it.

Cheers,
Mark