Thy Plague Doctor

Simon Paynton wrote:
I’ve named two metaphors which as far as I know are unique to Christianity – the living waters, and the mustard seed.

A concept can be expressed through an infinite amount of metaphors. Perhaps Jesus was the first to express the concept of the pressure to flourish with a mustard seed…but the only unique part of it was the…[Read more]

@simonpaynton You’re saying that we are fools to discard two petty metaphors that are actually irrelevant to the religion?  I’m still trying to understand where foolishness comes in and what I would lose, to my detriment, by discarding all religious speech as spouting nonsense.

You said we would be fools to ignore certain religious content.  Wha…[Read more]

1. Indeed @Robert . The concept of a lack of something as still somehow a kind of that something…isn’t hard to understand in just about any life example except with religion. Because…you know…religion…so they say…apparently.

1. I have a blue napkin

2. I have a red napkin

3. I have no napkin

1. Wait there a minute. Take it easy. What…[Read more]

@simonpaynton I am still waiting to hear what it is in religion that is so special and useful that I’d be a fool to throw it away.  That some religions mirror some aspects of morality is not a surprise, because humans carry that morality within them, and it will inevitably spill out into any religion they come up with.  But you have stated tha…[Read more]

Unseen wrote:
How do you apply The Golden Rule if you’re a masochist?

Well…you reincarnate yourself as a human…wait until you are 33…set yourself up for a thrashing fest and crucifixion festival…and then offer the same experience to anyone else who asks for it. i guess the consent part is important. You don’t want to reincarnate so…[Read more]

Simon Paynton wrote:
I’ve used the metaphor of the living waters and the mustard seed from Jesus, and the rock and the water from Daoism; “love God, and love your neighbour as yourself” from Jesus, “He is not a believer who eats his fill while his neighbour remains hungry by his side.” from the Prophet Mohammed.  I’m sure there are a lot of other…

[Read more]

So if I don’t know about a mustard seed as an analogy for something, that makes me a fool?  That I cannot be wise without a rock in some water?  I’ve already told you the Golden rule has nothing to do with religion, other than being claimed by an assortment of them.

Love god?  What the fuck has that got to do with wisdom?

Again, @simonpaynton, wh…[Read more]

@simonpaynton what exactly would I be throwing away when I throw away everything religion related?  “Some stuff” doesn’t really enlighten me.

Simon Paynton wrote:
in doing moral philosophy, my source materials are pretty much evolution and psychology, with some religious knowledge in there as well.

This discourse has all become so painful its like rust-paper sanding my brain. Simon…you’ve defined philosophy now in like ten different ways over the last few days and none of them…[Read more]

@simonpaynton You said  “if we abandon all religion as having zero value, we are fools”.  What in religion, should we abandon religion altogether, would we not have?  Why would we be fools?  What would we lose that is otherwise unavailable?

The Golden rule has nothing to do with religion, other than occasionally being co-opted by a religio…[Read more]

Thanks, Reg, I will indeed and yes we are

As for your philosophy of life @Simon …the moment you mention “wisdom through the ages” I am extremely skeptical. Folk wisdom and advice is usually not philosophy. There is no DNA of morality. Morality is a human construct which relies less on human instinct and way more on the setting. Morality depending on a DNA molecule doesn’t make sense. Do…[Read more]

That’s pretty much what mine says.

“Philosophy of life” is a non-existent thing. It’s one thing to say you have an ethical code or a theory on the meaning of life but “philosophy of life” is almost invariably followed by a series of folk wisdom, badly worked out arguments with lousy premises, badly fitting logic, unclear and inufficient c…[Read more]

Are you guys reading Boghossian??? His book “Fear of knowledge” is my absolute favorite critique of post-modernists, knowledge deniers, cultural relativists, religion truth butchers etc. Even better than “Fashionable Nonsense”. I imagine you’ve seen his videos? His books are even better. He seems to write in an effortless way, brief, brutal and…[Read more]

@belen You’re telling me you learned something mind blowing but you can’t tell me what it is? That’s not very reassuring.

Bellen wrote:

Can there be an atheistic religion?

No.

Agree.  No.