(June 19, 2011 at 11:16 pm)Epimethean Wrote: Aligning the allegory of the cave with religion is more Neo-Platonic than factual. The metaphor of the sun does not presuppose religion but nature and knowledge as the source of illumination. Religion and science are at cross purposes. While there may be religious scientists, these are often hamstrung by allegiances to their churches and so, seldom real seekers of truth. This "essence" of religion you continue to promulgate may once have been prescientific aetiology, but one need only observe the ways in which religion views science as a threat to understand that the two have been enemies for ages.
"Can a believer and non believer be open to the possibility that their supernatural part is yet to be awakened?"
You see, here is where you go off the rails, identifying yourself strictly as a religious person. I am not one, nor am I open to accepting religious premises. The supernatural is bunk. You'd have more success here selling snake oil.
So it is safe to assume that you do not have a supernatural part that is yet to be awakened. Fair enough but have you ever wondered why Plato would write the cave analogy or Buddhism would preach the parable of the Burning House suggesting that we live in dreams? Obviously either they are missing something or you are? How is one to know?
