You, me, we don't need a scriptural "God" - Knowing Evolution Is Enough!

Humanism
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This actually started as a comment to that other post, but it grew way beyond the few lines I intended so I’m giving it it’s own slot, if Doug doesn’t object. :slight_smile:
Back to the original thought

"When circumstances are terrible, certainly you will suspend your atheism."
Why? For what purpose? Some put all this stock in Holy Books and people's interpretations of those books along with the images we weave in our minds, created out of the desires in our hearts. But that's your/their god, their security blanket, and we all need our security blankets, I'm not knocking that. It's the arrogance and defensive super-natural Faith folks imbibe it with, (exemplified in that bold boast at the start of this essay), that's over the top. There are some who have gone through personal struggles and rebirths, folks who understand Jesus's Passion for what it is, a guide (support and inspiration) for our own personal spiritual journeys - with it's various personal trials and tribulations, for aid and support in transiting through our own live's, from dependent, self-centered, selfish child, into balanced self sufficient adulthood and eventually beyond to wise person and adept societal matriarch or patriarch - according each circumstance. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Once one's spiritual foundation grows beyond our mental images of God and Holy Stories (the Shadow Plays that help us glimpse a greater awareness) that awe gets transferred to the reality of our Mother Earth, the organism that created this world and each of us - And a totally different, much more solid, dare I say mature, type of spiritual foundation is formed. Rooted in a deep understanding of Evolution, both of the material components that are Creation's building blocks. The evolution of atomic particles and elements, gravity and star formation, ah the stars, creation's factories for elements up to Iron. Then the wonder of exploding giant stars (Super Novas), creating all the heavier elements that made future complex worlds possible. Gravity and solar system formation and the wonder of our planet's development, with the early addition of the moon, by way of furious collision, Then the close-in moon's constant gravitational churning... friction and motion forced onto a cooling planet (think birth of tectonics) Early proto continents being rhythmically hammered by massive tidal waves the likes of which we can't imagine. The slow evolution of early life, as basic biological systems were experimented with, developed, discarded, changed, refined always increasing an internal store of information, and always striving for ever more complexity. But it's not just life's development. If you want to appreciate creation you also have to understand that most of today's minerals evolved out of an intimate duet with life forces. We've also learned that the very face of our planet and it's geologic structures are also creations of life forces during their intimate dance with geologic forces. It's incomprehensibly amazing and I'm an intimate part of (and witness to) that flow of time and ceaseless learning and yearning. I feel like I'm one of Creation's appointed witnesses, striving to record all I can as I traverse my few years on this amazing planet. To spiritually grasp the amazing billions year long drive of life towards ever more awareness and manipulatory abilities. To literally, spiritually, viscerally know that I am a part of it - that beat's hell and heaven out of any manmade book and thoughts anyone can wave at me. My solidity is the ground under my feet and my reassurance is the blood coursing through my body that contains star dust along with the vestiges of live's triumphs reaching back to the beginnings of this pageant call Earth. To even partially appreciate Creation's and life's unquenchable quest to view itself and understand itself, to grasp that humanity is one of it's most extraordinary summit stories and I'm one of them. Possessing the profoundest gift of being aware of my part in this passion play of creation, quite beyond human vanities. The knowledge that I'll be gone pretty soon, is met with the knowledge that I will remain and be absorbed back into the pageant as it moves forward. All I need is knowing I've been blessed with a life well lived as witness to the wonders of Creation and humanity and my own short existence. No scriptural storytelling comes close to offering that sort of comfort and security. Bottomline: No scripture, with it's smoke and mirrors imagery (and human conflict), can come close to offering the solidity of purpose (and peace with the thought of death) that a deep evolutionary awareness provides ! :coolsmile:
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If anyone want to visit my place, I’m always looking for an interesting comment.

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Bottomline: No scripture, with it’s smoke and mirrors imagery (and human conflict), can come close to offering the solidity of purpose (and peace with the thought of death) that a deep evolutionary awareness provides !
To me, what you speak of is an acceptance of science. And to accept science is to say that you accept uncertainty and the realization that we do not have all the answers. Science is the unending pursuit of answers. Why the original quotation? To “suspend your atheism" is to fall back upon religion like a dying person calling out for their mother, even though she may have passed away years ago. It is the illusion of returning to safety. The problem is that too many people cannot (or are at least uncomfortable) taking the intellectual journey you took with your essay. They cannot reach your “Bottomline". Rather, they want the illusion of certainty that religion provides. “If I do this or that, I will be rewarded in heaven". “If you don’t do this or that, you will be damned to the walls of hell for all eternity". These are “knowns". It is comforting to descend into this delusion. In much the same way opium or alcohol provide “comfort" and an escape from harsh reality, so too religion provides comfort and escape. To some, thoughts of a limitless universe and that we are not the center of it is frightening. To others, like myself and I daresay you, it is exciting, thought provoking and cause for wonderment.
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To some, thoughts of a limitless universe and that we are not the center of it is frightening. To others, like myself and I daresay you, it is exciting, thought provoking and cause for wonderment.
You know I attended a small Lutheran school Tabor Trinity sixth and seventh grade and after Chicago public schools I loved it and before I knew it boy did I believe in Jesus and my salvation and heaven with all I could muster, even had fantasies about devoting my life to Jesus, fortunately by the time I made it ninth grade in a new state - the hypocrisy and bickering (politics) among the adults and the focus on $ collection undermined all that. The getting away from Church was easier than the getting away from Faith and that longing for a heavenly Daddy figure always watching me and always there to talk to. There were those first joyous feelings of escape from 'home' and freedom (I'm not being watched), woohoo the joy and emancipation of learning to masturbate without feeling guilty about it. But, that came together with moments of crushing loneliness, floating in the void of the universe, no one out there to care or to come home to. Fortunately, at the same time my fascination and love for this physical planet and how all this got here increased in leaps and bounds. I believe it's learning about the truth of evolution's incredible billions year old pageant that totally shifted my Frame of Reference and drained Jesus and God/Heaven thing of all it's emotion and imaginary substance. Decades later in an adventurous roller coaster life and a few true trials and tribulations and losses, I slowly learned to grasp what Jesus' Passion, crucifixion, resurrection was all about. In the end it seems to me, the life of the Faithful is filled with plenty of it's own inner trials and tribulations and leaps of faith* - so why not a few challenges to appreciating that we are alone and no god is there to hold our hand. The more I learned about our planet and evolution the more I realized that though "I'm" alone - I am an integral part of the whole, ergo I am actually not alone. The universe works in mysterious ways. (*but that always demands dependency) ~~~~~ Speaking of mysterious ways, I just remembered Jesus Christ Superstar the rock opera had a huge impact on my views - since it was the first time a Bible story was presented in a way that felt real. Like sure, of course! It wasn't a melodrama with good and bad characters, it was a complex messy all too human thing, with no one actually being a real "hero" and no one a true villain, just people living out their lives and the rolls they were handed as best as they could.