This is the first draft of an introduction. Thought I’d put it out here see if anyone nibbles.
See how it reads to me tomorrow.
Cheers all
Is it time to rebrand “Atheism”?
Why not simply start calling it “Rationalism”?
You see, my problem with “Atheism” is that it’s always about God.
The reality that deserves to be broadcast far and wide is that our human consciousness can best be understood as the internal reflection of our body communicating with itself as it deals with the world around us (both exterior and interior).
Ergo, we create our own “Gods”! Along with all our other thoughts and feelings.
“I am a Rationalist, with an Earth Centrist orientation.”
I like the sound of that.
It’s less divisive, plus it opens the door to discussing the simple, modern scientific understanding that we humans are evolved animals. Products of our Earth’s evolutionary processes. Creatures whose body & brain interacting with the world creates its own thoughts.
This opens the door to explaining that understanding consciousness requires going back to creature origins. Studying the human body, brain, and mind, is about the highest order of physiology, behaviorism and psychology — it is not about consciousness per se. Since all creatures possess an engaged awareness, that evolves with complexity.
Dr. Mark Solms has done the best job of encapsulating the modern state of understanding: “Our consciousness is the inside reflection of our body/brain communicating with itself.”
This leaves Rationalists with the inescapable conclusion that our human Gods are created from within ourselves (individually and collectively).
This humanizes the God issue. Of course there is God, and that God is as important and powerful as any person wants to make it. But God belongs within the realm of meta-physics, and not the realm of the physical biological reality that makes up the world we navigate as the days speed by.
I believe there is a critical need to deeply appreciate our Human Mind ~ Physical Reality divide, if we are to get a handle on ourselves. It is about the most basic observation we can make, with everything else flowing out from there.
This explains why religion tracks so closely with human expectations, almost as if we tailored our own Gods. Which, in physical fact, we do!
The metaphysical space that philosophers and theologians discuss and write about is, in fact, our mental space—our Mind. Or, as I like to think of it, our “Mindscape,” the totality of our thoughts and feelings.
A substantive rational study of consciousness requires tracing it back to its origins: billions of years of molecular interactions.
Why did only one type of fundamental interacting molecule lead to the first functioning cells? Why did they survive to prosper and regenerate with ever-increasing complexity and competence? Surviving long enough to be here and witness this moment in time.
The important good news is that today we have the greatest knowledge base ever available to humans, there to quench our thirst for clearer understanding.
