X-Message-Number: 20134
Date: Sun, 22 Sep 2002 11:11:48 -0400
From: Francois <>
Subject: Re: Cryonet 20130

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>>>><< >LaTorra<<What this all comes down to, in my opinion, is that mystical

>>>>experiences can be induced technologically. While this does not disprove the

>>>>independent existence of a deity (that's a different philosophical problem),
>>>>it brings into question millennia of reports from "god-experiencers" about 
>>>>what they were "told" to  reveal to the rest of us.>>

>>>d:  do synthetic rubies bring into question the existence of "natural" 
>>>rubies?

>>Mark Plus:  Bad analogy. No one disputes the existence of rubies.

>d:  the number of disputants on either side of an argument is irrelevant to 
>the validity of either side of the argument.  you misunderstand the nature of 
>analogy.


In the past, people had "mystical experiences" brought about by drugs, sleep 
deprivation, sustained meditation, suitably located brain tumors, accidental 
exposure to natural electric fields, neuro-transmiter imbalances, etc,. These 
experiences, by the very nature of the affected brain regions, were emotionally 
very intense and seemed completely real to those experiencing them. They had no 
knowledge of how the brain works or, until fairly recently, that the brain was 
the organ producing the mind. But being human, they needed an explanation and 
they came up with one that was compatible with their limited and inacurate 
kwowedge, and the nature of the experience: God was talking to them.


This is exactly, and ONLY what God is, a way to explain what temporarely can't 
be explained and to bring peace of mind to those who need it. Where does the 
Earth come from? God created it. How did all these creatures living on it come 
about? God made them. How could my very sick friend suddenly get better for no 
apparent reason? God made a miracle. Where are those voices in my head telling 
me the secrets of the Universe coming from? God is talking to me. And so on, and
so on, and so on.


There is no God, there never was. We are now exploring the mysteries that made 
us invent the God concept and finding out how these things REALLY work. It is 
time to take the God hypothesis and put it where it belongs, in the trash bin of
obsolete ideas, and then get on with our lives.


Francois 
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No lifespan shorter than eternity
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