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...
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...
"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it" ~ Aristotle
