Comments on It's All About We...: God

I finally got round to noticing you'd taken the ti...

2009-07-22T17:08:44.542-04:00

I finally got round to noticing you'd taken the time to answer this question - so thank you.

When I was 11, I wrote and illustrated a school essay in which "god" was an octopus, each tentacle controlling a different tv monitor. I concluded that people liked to believe in god because it made them feel better, but that in my opinion, he/she/it did not exist. Since then, apart from one wobbly period age 15 when I was being bullied, I have never turned to religion in difficult times, but I know people whose discovery of "god" coincided with a time in their lives when they desperately needed to find solutions to major problems, or a way to get past a traumatic experience.

What you've anticipated (about someone of atheist persuasion interpreting the strength/willpower as coming from within) is absolutely right, in my case. I am reassured to read that your understanding of god is not that of the power-crazed monstrosity of Biblical myth, but more of a sort of power socket - a continuing source of emotional (and therefore, also moral) power. But I remain unconvinced that a concept that is necessarily understood/interpreted so very differently by each individual among the millions who claim to know it intimately can ultimately represent anything identifiably, cohesively real.

Feelings are hugely powerful, I know. I guess I'm still just unclear as to why you would refer to this particular kind of emotional experience as "god".

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

I agree with this poast. I agree with Don, too. ...

2009-07-18T14:13:08.841-04:00

I agree with this poast.

I agree with Don, too. Well-written.

I love that you are strong in your belief and rema...

2009-07-18T12:00:21.177-04:00

I love that you are strong in your belief and remain respectful that others are equally strong in theirs.

My understanding of god isn't so far off. I definitely believe in belief as a motivating and often saving factor. Belief in belief is quite different from belief in something supernatural. However if we define the non-understood as supernatural then there is a bit of that going around as well.

Nice, long, well-written explication.

I have a fairly hard-core physics and rationality ...

2009-07-18T11:51:07.846-04:00

I have a fairly hard-core physics and rationality background, so my concept of God is complex beyond belief. Would know where to start, but it makes perfect sense to me...as does yours, actually, with some tweaking...:)