FallentoReason 2.0

[FallentoReason]

Hey everyone, I've finished my exams and are now on summer holidays, so I thought I would quickly pop by and share my thoughts about something. I'm interested in hearing the arguments from both sides.

Basically, I've been toying with the idea of Deism. This all came about one day when I was driving home from work. The sunset was in front of me and out of nowhere it just struck me as to how bizarre the sun (and other stars) really is. We have this thing exploding and creating a huge amount of energy that is vital for life, all the while having these rocks that--thanks to gravity--stay close to this source of energy at all times. Thus, we are able to live. So yeah.. out of nowhere I just had this sudden appreciation for the ingenuity of the solar system and each of its components.

I guess you could call the above an Intelligent Design argument, which I actually find has one primary problem with it: am I projecting my understand of the everyday world I live in to things greater than the everyday world I live in (i.e. the solar system)? When I see a tv or a guitar I presuppose that there was a designer, but maybe this isn't true of things in nature. Maybe it's just my cognitive functions toying with me and leading me to rationally believe there is a Creator.

I would say that I only actually have maybe 5% of me invested into Deism as of two weeks ago, but I don't really know what to make of it. For all we know, this "God" thing is just a process that doesn't have anything we could identify as "intelligence", but it was rather a "higher order" natural process that created our universe. Well, maybe that would be called a "supernatural" process, but my point is that maybe it's not the typical supernatural stuff that comes from a deity. Maybe it's just a process in a higher dimension. Whatever it might be, I'm inclined to call it the "Creator" or "God" and I think there's good reason to think there's something more than just our universe.

I guess what I'm wondering is this: why not Deism? As far as I can tell, Deism is led primarily by science and through science and the universe around us we can come to an appreciation of the Creator. But like I said, I personally think it could be anything from a process to an actual Creator. Maybe subconsciously I like the idea of Deism because it gives me room to place my thankfulness for life somewhere. It's a sort of placebo that brings my rational side and my emotional side together. I don't really know...

If this is what you mean by "supernatural" or "god" or "creator", then even I would be classified as a Deist or a Theist.

Do I believe there is a higher order of natural processes which are currently beyond the our understanding? Yes, I do.

Would I refer to these as "supernatural"? No, because that would require me to put these processes perpetually beyond nature and therefore our understanding.

Do I believe these processes were the driving force behind creation of universe and/or that of life? Yes, I do.

Would I then refer to them as "Creator" or "God"? No, I wouldn't. Because those words assume intelligence or a consciousness. The implication is contained within their meaning.

The reason why this idea is attractive is because it gives you the illusion of reconciliation between your desire to believe in god and your desire to retain intellectual integrity. The reason I call it an illusion is because it makes you intellectually dishonest in a completely different way. And in this case it may be even more dangerous because here you are being dishonest to yourself.

You have been associating the words "God" and "creator" with an intelligent being your whole life. That characteristic is a part of the definition. The words "god" and "creator" are simply labels we attach to specific concepts and by using those words we are calling up those specific concepts in our minds. What you are trying to do here is use the same label for two different concepts - one implying an intelligence and the other not - so that you can rationally justify your belief by convincing yourself that you are only referring to the "non-intelligent" concept, while subconsciously you invoke the other one as well thereby getting emotional comfort you desire. This is a form of self-deception.

On the other hand, I wouldn't expect the illusion to last. If you continue referring the new concept with the word "god" or "creator", the emotional comfort you used to gain from the previous one would gradually fade away. Eventually, your mind would replace the previous concept entirely with the new one and the emotional significance you attached to the word would disappear.

I think you're absolutely right! My whole intention of defining "God" as being anywhere from a "supernatural" process outside of nature to a somewhat intelligent being was so that I could keep an open mind about the topic, because obviously no one can know for sure what the answer is. But all I've done is subconsciously fuse together two different things in order to find a satisfying answer.