Darkness of angels -
Sorry it's just that I've explained it already on another thread and for some reason I just assumed you had read it. Ok I'll explain in more detail, if I can.
My intuition :
I feel that the entire universe is not simply just what you see (as in, what you see is what you get). I get the distinct feeling that things / the universe are a symptom of something, they don't just exist of their own accord, they don't exist "for their own sake". I feel that the universe is a manifestation, rather than a cause/effect in itself. And I feel that life has a meaning and a purpose (as opposed to being an "accident"). As for consciousness, when I imagine mself being dead, I imagine myself being dead, and I'm there to imagine it. What I really mean is that I seriously can't conceive of not existing, or at some point not having existed. This leads me to believe that consciousness is indestructible. As for god manifesting rather than creating, if there's a god and it creates, it must create from itself, as there is nothing other than god to create anything. I'm sure, or I assume, that if you were a theist, you may think along the same lines. * After all, if you're god and you proceed to create, where do you go to get what you need to create? Nowhere, as you're the only thing other than whatever you might create. Which is why I see it more as manifesting than actually creating. *
My reasoning :
I know this will frustrate you, but my intuition is my reasoning. I'm sure philosophers use a combination of logic and feelings, and I think I do the same. I don't necessarily separate the two, and I hope you notice that all of the above is a combination of what I feel and the way I use reason to confirm to myself what I feel. For example, the bit inbetween the asterisks. When it comes to things that can't be proven empirically, I think we all make leaps of faith and explain certain things to ourselves in a way that satisfies us. This indicates that we all have certain premises, which very conveniently also happen to fit with our "reasoning".
I feel that the universe couldn't exist without god in the same way that you feel that the universe couldn't exist without itself. To me, they're one and the same (with the addition that god also transcends the universe). My premise is that the universe is god, so for me, with that premise, it's not a case of looking for god within the universe, it's a case of my intuition and my way of "figuring it out" being the evidence, to me, of god's existence. You, as an atheist, if you were to ask yourself does god exist, would go around looking for footprints. Me, with the premise that I have, look at a thing, anything, and see the footprint. And when you say that there's no god to have an impact on the universe, that's from your point of view, whereas from my point of view (that the universe is god), it's not a question of impact as to me they're one and the same. God doesn't "do things to or in" the universe, god IS (active verb <--- very important point) the universe. God "is-es" the universe.
Sorry it's just that I've explained it already on another thread and for some reason I just assumed you had read it. Ok I'll explain in more detail, if I can.
My intuition :
I feel that the entire universe is not simply just what you see (as in, what you see is what you get). I get the distinct feeling that things / the universe are a symptom of something, they don't just exist of their own accord, they don't exist "for their own sake". I feel that the universe is a manifestation, rather than a cause/effect in itself. And I feel that life has a meaning and a purpose (as opposed to being an "accident"). As for consciousness, when I imagine mself being dead, I imagine myself being dead, and I'm there to imagine it. What I really mean is that I seriously can't conceive of not existing, or at some point not having existed. This leads me to believe that consciousness is indestructible. As for god manifesting rather than creating, if there's a god and it creates, it must create from itself, as there is nothing other than god to create anything. I'm sure, or I assume, that if you were a theist, you may think along the same lines. * After all, if you're god and you proceed to create, where do you go to get what you need to create? Nowhere, as you're the only thing other than whatever you might create. Which is why I see it more as manifesting than actually creating. *
My reasoning :
I know this will frustrate you, but my intuition is my reasoning. I'm sure philosophers use a combination of logic and feelings, and I think I do the same. I don't necessarily separate the two, and I hope you notice that all of the above is a combination of what I feel and the way I use reason to confirm to myself what I feel. For example, the bit inbetween the asterisks. When it comes to things that can't be proven empirically, I think we all make leaps of faith and explain certain things to ourselves in a way that satisfies us. This indicates that we all have certain premises, which very conveniently also happen to fit with our "reasoning".
I feel that the universe couldn't exist without god in the same way that you feel that the universe couldn't exist without itself. To me, they're one and the same (with the addition that god also transcends the universe). My premise is that the universe is god, so for me, with that premise, it's not a case of looking for god within the universe, it's a case of my intuition and my way of "figuring it out" being the evidence, to me, of god's existence. You, as an atheist, if you were to ask yourself does god exist, would go around looking for footprints. Me, with the premise that I have, look at a thing, anything, and see the footprint. And when you say that there's no god to have an impact on the universe, that's from your point of view, whereas from my point of view (that the universe is god), it's not a question of impact as to me they're one and the same. God doesn't "do things to or in" the universe, god IS (active verb <--- very important point) the universe. God "is-es" the universe.
