Musings on Faith, and the Existence (or not) of Deity

[wyld_dandelyon]

 bearleyport  asked me, a while ago, "What faith is not blind?"  

And in a world where so many people think their faith, their religion, is a valid reason to ask--nay, to demand--that everyone else should live the way the faithful person believes is The One Right Way, that's a very valid question.  Historically, religion and other unprovable beliefs have inspired people to do a lot of good in the world--and a lot of evil.  So this isn't just a question of what's real, it also touches on right and wrong, on making moral choices.  

My anthropological studies showed that people in all cultures believe in things that fall into the category of what we westerners call, variously, "religion", "superstition", "God (or Gods)", and so on, though their stories and verbal depictions vary from culture to culture and person to person.  Now, I should be clear here--all cultures seem to have beliefs that fall into this category, but the people in the culture do not have the same level of experiences of and belief in those things.

And not so long ago I read that some scientists have been studying mystical experiences, and have come to the conclusion that (whether genetically or for some other reason) some people have them and some people don't.  So, experiencing the holy, the , like seeing the difference between red and green, requires having the physical faculties to do so.  Or, perhaps a better analogy would be the ability to think the person you fell in love with is great, despite their flaws.

We have machines now, after all, that can distinguish between red and green--there's more than the agreement of some people who can perceive them available to convince red-green colorblind people that what they're missing out on is a real phenomenon.  For the mystical, the magical, the deific, we don't have that.

In the meantime, however, I am not willing to discount the evidence of my own senses just because not everyone senses the same things I do.   

Comments

[wyld-dandelyon.livejournal.com]

I have had enough experiences, experiences that were clearer to me than, for instance, whether a musical note that’s almost true is slightly sharp or slightly flat, that I am convinced I’ve seen evidence of Deity. I feel it would be intellectually dishonest for me to claim a lack of belief when I have always believed, though logical evidence caused me to discard the particular description of Deity that was taught to me in childhood.

I went through a period of time when I wondered how I could believe in this “God”, when so many of the things I’d been taught were clearly not accurate. But that inner sense said that Someone was there, even if my elders were completely wrong about who that Someone is.

Also, it is my personal opinion that an essential part of Deity is Mystery. I don’t think Deity is like gravity, easy to prove and applying in the same way equally to everyone. (Deity might be more like an operating system—the same operating system, when interacted with through different programs, can behave very differently, sometimes not working at all.)

But even if the existence of Deity can someday be proved to the scientists and entrenched atheists, so long as the only tools we have to perceive Deity are the human mind/body/spirit system, and so long as people remain as different as they are today, there will be disagreement about who or what Deity is. (But then, even with all the evidence we have, there is disagreement about something as simple as the character of our current President, so that’s no surprise.)

I also think Deity is multiple—though either “multiple in actuality (for instance separate Gods and Goddesses)” or “a single being or force that manifests in multiple aspects/roles” would fit my experiences.

I don’t have scientific evidence; that’s why I say I “believe” in Deity, rather than “I know God exists, and God is (insert particular description)”.

I’m certainly not going to insist that anyone else should believe just on my say-so (not even my own daughter). But I’m also not willing to discount the evidence of my own senses and experiences, whether or not they can be repeated in a laboratory.