RE: How may one refute the religious stonewall argument "all is one"?
October 7, 2020 at 2:55 pm
(This post was last modified: October 7, 2020 at 2:56 pm by Simon Moon.)
(October 5, 2020 at 6:07 pm)Osopatata Wrote: This is a tactic that some have used when discussing religion with me: They say they have had a meditative experience and realized all is one, or otherwise postulate that all is one for some other reason. That oneness for no logical reason is extrapolated to be a magical, mystical thing that validates religious views.
It becomes a stone wall when one may try to question the validity of a religious view, but it is explained by something beyond normal understanding like "all is one." So the conversation is blocked off completely unless one can refute this position and demonstrate that it is utterly untenable, and so the opponent must then defend their religious views in terms that do not go into realms of illogical postulations.
Seems to me there are some seriously fatal flaws in the logic of such a position as "all is one". However I am far from a logician. Could anyone offer some refutations that invalidate such a view?
There is no need to refute an unsupported claim. It seems like, they aren't offering any evidence that their claim that, 'all is one' based on their entirely, personal experience, is actually true.
Without evidence, or even valid and sound logic, to support their claim, you have nothing to refute.
Hitchen's razor - What can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence.
Listen, I've been meditating for decades, several times a week. I have had the exact experience of feeling all is one. But here's the thing, I've also had the experience, just as strongly, that I am floating alone in the universe. Strong experiences do not equal truth.
Why should my (or your friend's) experiences while experiencing an altered, non-normal, but completely natural mental state, be accepted as more reliable, than when our normal logical and analytical minds are working at their maximum?
Listen, I've taken large doses of hallucinogenic mushrooms and smoked DMT. Those substances create experiences of oneness that dwarf the ones cause by meditation. Should I put any credence in those experiences?
You'd believe if you just opened your heart" is a terrible argument for religion. It's basically saying, "If you bias yourself enough, you can convince yourself that this is true." If religion were true, people wouldn't need faith to believe it -- it would be supported by good evidence.
