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RE: Your position on naturalism
November 20, 2016 at 7:10 am
I don't know.
I would expect that you cannot "get" from one reality to another. Each is self contained. However, a being in one might be able to hold influence over another; consciously or otherwise.
Say for example that my thoughts are manifested somewhere as another reality. I'm totally unaware of this, but I'm altering it all the time by thinking different things.
Or say I write a complex computer simulation, and this also manifests and some of the elements become self aware. I wouldn't know they had become self aware, of course. I can screw around with the simulation if I want, suddenly resetting it or altering parameters. But I can't "go into it", neither can anything from this manifestation materialise in my reality.
That's how I see it, anyway.
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RE: Your position on naturalism
November 20, 2016 at 7:31 am
Well, I think we have to go to the etymology: "natus" from Latin "nasci" to be born. So something natural is created or brought into being by something. In other words, the word "natural" has strong religious connotations. I'd argue that the Universe must necessarily be supernatural, since everything that is created is brought into being by the Universe or something in it, but the Universe itself CANNOT be created by something else-- or the universe and whatever created it are actually joined in a larger context.
So. . . I'm an atheist universal supernaturalist.
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RE: Your position on naturalism
November 20, 2016 at 7:32 am
I don't ignore the supernatural, but I don't claim to know if it exists or not.
When I get into a convo about ghosts, spirits or whatever I say right away that I don't believe in that sort of stuff at all and I doubt that kind of thing exists.
Are you ready for the fire? We are firemen. WE ARE FIREMEN! The heat doesn’t bother us. We live in the heat. We train in the heat. It tells us that we’re ready, we’re at home, we’re where we’re supposed to be. Flames don’t intimidate us. What do we do? We control the flame. We control them. We move the flames where we want to. And then we extinguish them.
Impersonation is treason.
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RE: Your position on naturalism
November 20, 2016 at 8:21 am
Philosophical naturalist.
If "supernatural" is taken to mean "outside of reality" then I absolutely deny the supernatural.
If "supernatural" is taken to mean "an inaccessible part of reality" then I still deny the supernatural I just don't deny it absolutely.
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RE: Your position on naturalism
November 20, 2016 at 8:40 am
Do I have to? I hate labels.
How about naturalphagist?
Being told you're delusional does not necessarily mean you're mental.
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RE: Your position on naturalism
November 20, 2016 at 9:51 am
I'm a philosophical naturalist because I haven't yet heard a useful definition of the supernatural.
The fool hath said in his heart, There is a God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.
Psalm 14, KJV revised edition
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RE: Your position on naturalism
November 20, 2016 at 10:54 am
Philosophical naturalist. When evidence is found of the supernatural it will more than likely wind up being a previously unexplained natural event. If evidence is found of an actual supernatural event I will become a methodological naturalist in regard to that single event. I will remain a philosophical naturalist towards all other supernatural events.
God thinks it's fun to confuse primates. Larsen's God!
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RE: Your position on naturalism
November 20, 2016 at 11:05 am
I actually find the concept of the supernatural to be far more puzzling than the concept of gods. I have no trouble giving 'gods' an alternative meaning in the natural world. But a natural world with limits is incomprehensible. As others have said, our comprehension can be limited but not the world it seeks to comprehend.
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RE: Your position on naturalism
November 20, 2016 at 8:07 pm
Philosophical naturalist.
Muddled and grey definitions aside; there's a good reason for the complete lack of evidence for anything supernatural.
“Life is like a grapefruit. Well, it's sort of orangey-yellow and dimpled on the outside, wet and squidgy in the middle. It's got pips inside, too. Oh, and some people have half a one for breakfast.” - Ford Prefect
