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This conversation about the definition of atheist got me thinking about exactly what I believe, and I was curious to know if anyone else has a similar POV, since afaict I differ from most atheists. I went into it a bit here but I feel like having another go at describing it. I've used a God-believer/atheist dichotomy here but it applies just as much to other forms of spiritual experience.
So, I think we all have flawed perceptions of the world, and the best we can do is talk to other people and try to reconcile all our POVs into a semi-consistent description and hope we're not too far off the truth. (Thus, science)
The way I perceive the world, it makes no sense, there's no higher power, etc. But the way other, equally intelligent and reasonable, people see the world there is some sort of higher meaning, some Thing they connect with when they pray etc. So I think the most plausible explanation is not they we are interpreting the equivalent inputs in different ways, but that we are working from different perceptions. Since there is no reason to think my perceptions are more accurate than anyone else's or vice versa, any explanation should take both POVs equally seriously.
This negates both of the usual explanations for the difference in perceptions between believers and non-believers. Atheists will say "Religious people are just unwilling to admit the truth to themselves". Religious people will say "Atheists are just denying the self-evident presence of God" etc.
I say: we're both somewhat delusional, and our perceptions do not accurately reflect the underlying reality. All we can say for certain is that any religious doctrine which says that everyone experiences God is wrong..which is most of them :) In general I reject any belief system which says that I'm delusional/sinful etc for not experiencing/"acknowledging" God/spiritiuality or implies that my perceptions are more flawed than religious people's (which cuts out every religious belief system I've encountered)
My personal theory (based on a mixture of Ockham's razor and the fact the only perceptions I feel really secure in are my own) is that there is nothing supernatural going on, but religious people are pattern matching in a different way which implies it is. This does imply I'm more factually correct than theists but I'm willing to admit their POV may be more useful in some contexts. My second choice is that there is something going on beyond the obvious and material, but noone understands it very well, though some people are able to make use of it via religion etc. My third choice is that one of the religions is right, but I don't like that one :)
So, do you all think I'm crazy? :)
So, I think we all have flawed perceptions of the world, and the best we can do is talk to other people and try to reconcile all our POVs into a semi-consistent description and hope we're not too far off the truth. (Thus, science)
The way I perceive the world, it makes no sense, there's no higher power, etc. But the way other, equally intelligent and reasonable, people see the world there is some sort of higher meaning, some Thing they connect with when they pray etc. So I think the most plausible explanation is not they we are interpreting the equivalent inputs in different ways, but that we are working from different perceptions. Since there is no reason to think my perceptions are more accurate than anyone else's or vice versa, any explanation should take both POVs equally seriously.
This negates both of the usual explanations for the difference in perceptions between believers and non-believers. Atheists will say "Religious people are just unwilling to admit the truth to themselves". Religious people will say "Atheists are just denying the self-evident presence of God" etc.
I say: we're both somewhat delusional, and our perceptions do not accurately reflect the underlying reality. All we can say for certain is that any religious doctrine which says that everyone experiences God is wrong..which is most of them :) In general I reject any belief system which says that I'm delusional/sinful etc for not experiencing/"acknowledging" God/spiritiuality or implies that my perceptions are more flawed than religious people's (which cuts out every religious belief system I've encountered)
My personal theory (based on a mixture of Ockham's razor and the fact the only perceptions I feel really secure in are my own) is that there is nothing supernatural going on, but religious people are pattern matching in a different way which implies it is. This does imply I'm more factually correct than theists but I'm willing to admit their POV may be more useful in some contexts. My second choice is that there is something going on beyond the obvious and material, but noone understands it very well, though some people are able to make use of it via religion etc. My third choice is that one of the religions is right, but I don't like that one :)
So, do you all think I'm crazy? :)
Re: It's not paranoia if they really are out to get you?
Oh, me too :D
I'm not sure all religious people see the world the way you describe. A lot certainly do, though, and that link you gave was very interesting. Stuff like that is why I'm very much a skeptic and, deep down, smugly atheist :)
Reducing the argument to "is there some spiritual force beyond our ken or not" and ignoring the specifics, if your "we're both wrong" is correct then we're not both wrong, the spiritual-force argument wins, because there is therefore something beyond our ken, even if they were all wrong about the specifics of it.
If you express it that way, yes, but 99% of non-atheists don't see it that way, and would be even more upset than us by that outcome. If God doesn't exist but ...*random example* some people can tap into the global consciousness, that doesn't change the fact that God doesn't exist. Having one over the atheists really wouldn't come into it. Even people with fairly vague beliefs tend to have certain specific things they think they understand. About the only people who'd really be right would be the agnostics (and they're always "right" :D) and the incredibly vague "I just think there's something out there" people(*). I see atheism as being like quantum mechanics: it's one thing for people to say "I think quantum mechanics is wrong" and another for them to say "Here is my unified theory of everything which disproves quantum mechanics". The first group is (imo) quite possibly right but not very useful, but the second group is almost certainly wrong, and doesn't get to be smug when an improved version of quantum mechanics comes along if it bears no resemblance to their TOE.
Also, I think a middle ground (ish) would be if certain things that people tend to see as either having a supernatural explanation or not being real turned out to have a scientific basis, like scent-based telepathy or something.
But yes, there's a reason that's my second choice :) And I can see how it could be too annoying to even consider, and this is very much just my opinion.
(*)I'm ignoring all the people who believe "There's something out there...and it cares about us/me"