Welcome.
Hume would of course agree with you that the emotion of love doesn't require reason, as would Schopenhauer. Passion and compassion are at least ultimately separate from reason, in their opinions.
That is also my current opinion.
I must admit that I did wonder if you were a Poe when I saw your name and how everything you posted seemed rational to me, until you mentioned how you used to believe you "knew the truth" about religion when you were an atheist, and how when you became christian you felt the sense of an "evil presence" leaving you. Although I could imagine an overly rationalistic view of the world leading to nihilistic beliefs (or lack thereof) that lead you to believing - incorrectly in my current opinion - that this must be the case without embracing theism.
I can imagine that because I've experienced that myself. But I simply focus more on empiricism now, although I of course still don't reject rationalistic completely, I am not rationalistic or overly reductionistic about matters of feelings, emotions, passions, moods and the personality as a whole. I am now far more empirical, phenomenological and experience-based regarding those subjects.
Hume would of course agree with you that the emotion of love doesn't require reason, as would Schopenhauer. Passion and compassion are at least ultimately separate from reason, in their opinions.
That is also my current opinion.
I must admit that I did wonder if you were a Poe when I saw your name and how everything you posted seemed rational to me, until you mentioned how you used to believe you "knew the truth" about religion when you were an atheist, and how when you became christian you felt the sense of an "evil presence" leaving you. Although I could imagine an overly rationalistic view of the world leading to nihilistic beliefs (or lack thereof) that lead you to believing - incorrectly in my current opinion - that this must be the case without embracing theism.
I can imagine that because I've experienced that myself. But I simply focus more on empiricism now, although I of course still don't reject rationalistic completely, I am not rationalistic or overly reductionistic about matters of feelings, emotions, passions, moods and the personality as a whole. I am now far more empirical, phenomenological and experience-based regarding those subjects.
