Steve Kurtz wrote:
[snip]
> Brad,
>
> I am in agreement with your explanation re agnostic. However, the notion
> of 'supreme being' is harder for me to fathom than a 'unicorn', which
> might be genetically created from a mountain goat! With a lack of hard
> evidence, one needs at least some plausable reasons to posit the
> existence of something. Teleology is not easy to justify, let alone a
> director. Wholesystem interconnectedness & infinite possibilities in
> boundless (spacetimeenergymatter) multiverses allow for anything
> possible to exist someplacetime. And here we are. (so much for the
> Anthropic Principle :-) )
"Teleology is not easy to justify" --> One way of reading that
sentence destroys teleology, since teleology is supposed to
be how we find justification for our[-]selves, rather than
the other way around. Abraham did not anguishedly debate
with himself whether to take Isaac up onto the mountain.
>
> Uncertainty is uncomfortable; but existential angst is the result of the
> realization that we are responsible for giving meaning to life . The
> desire to pick it off of a skyhook seems a desire for an escape from the
> responsibility of choosing it ourselves. We can't stand the burden of
> that freedom. Most accept the values given by their parents and their
> 'tribe', avoiding this responsibility.
>
> Enough of this tangent, which is a stretch to list purpose.
[snip]
Not necessarily: I would argue that the best conditions for
human creativity and for seeing things clearly are to be
socially securely supported to follow one's authchonous
faculty of judgment. Parents can do for children, teachers
for students, and managers for employees, if I may
once again quote something a friend of mine's
parents told him as a child -- parents who were
uneducated dirt farmers who knew thay could not
really understand their highly gifted son:
Tom, do what you believe is right.
You will make mistakes.
We stand behind you.
I think that "facing existential aloneness" is a lot
harder if one is empirically insecure than if one
is securely supported in the satisfaction of one's
practical and social needs. This may not be
"romantic" or socially acceptable to say, but I
believe it is well worth trying.
\brad mccormick
--
Let your light so shine before men,
that they may see your good works.... (Matt 5:16)
Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. (1 Thes 5:21)
<![%THINK;[SGML+APL]]> Brad McCormick, Ed.D. / [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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