Re: mystical traditions and the impersonal models of God

From: D. F. Siemens, Jr. (dfsiemensjr@juno.com)
Date: Mon Jun 30 2003 - 19:41:27 EDT

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    Rich,
    You like your sources because they tell you what you want to hear. I note
    Albert Einstein, about as bright as anyone you can name, did not believe
    in a personal God. Orthodox Jews, who you say are the brightest people on
    earth, deny that Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah. Steven Weinberg, Nobel
    laureate, is a militant atheist. The list may be extended indefinitely on
    countless topics. What does it prove? Your "argument" reminds me of the
    wisecrack: "He's got to be brilliant. He agrees with me."

    Of the individuals you cite, I have read only James at length. He is so
    bright that, in various publications, he claimed that "God" is equivalent
    to "the Absolute," "free will," "Spirit," "design in nature," "the
    presence of promise in the world," and "matter." Even process theologians
    will not buy the last. He also defined truth as what works in the long
    run, which requires that there be no current standard for the true. He's
    not always wrong, but he takes a good stab at it.
    Dave

    On Mon, 30 Jun 2003 18:30:22 EDT RFaussette@aol.com writes:
    You criticized what you had evidence for and you had evidence for one
    fact out of what... 8? Not withstanding the fact that these were not
    facts of raw data but a comparative exercise clearly showing that the
    abandonment of ego, the self sacrifice is spoken of widely and is
    definitely a thread running through all the major religions. You objected
    to a translation in one of the quotes. I have John White's essay on the
    shelf. I'm not going to it for corroboration.

    I quoted brilliant people. simone weil passed the orals and was entered
    into the Sorbonne at 15 years of age, literally a genius. Joseph
    Campbell, the great comparative mythologist on mythology's central
    personal theme, the heroic self sacrifice, William James, author of the
    Varieties of Religious Experience, Antonio de Nicolas, an expert on the
    rg veda. It is not me that is not worthy in this company. In this
    company, Dave neither of us are worthy, and that's not my genuflecting to
    authority, that's a fact.

    My argument stands. :)

    rich faussette



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