Who was the philosopher who said that religion/belief in God

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GonzoGeo
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Who was the philosopher who said that religion/belief in God

Post by GonzoGeo »

Hello,

Longtime user and new member here.

Just curious if anyone knows the name of the philosopher(s) who said that religion or the belief in God takes our focus away from this life?

Furthermore, doesn't religion also mean that believers will spend their life doing "God's work" in order to get into heaven because they fear hell? So do these two concepts counterbalance each other? What are your thoughts?

GonzoG
Eduk
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Re: Who was the philosopher who said that religion/belief in

Post by Eduk »

Well a few things here. Not every religious person spends their whole life in total dedication to their religion. Like most things a lot of people do the bare minimum.
Also spending your life doing god's work is taking focus away from this life. Or at least that is my interpretation. I assume the philosopher is an atheist.
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Felix
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Re: Who was the philosopher who said that religion/belief in

Post by Felix »

Just curious if anyone knows the name of the philosopher(s) who said that religion or the belief in God takes our focus away from this life?
Buddha said that, among others. But all beliefs distract us from direct experience - not just religious beliefs.
"We do not see things as they are; we see things as we are." - Anaïs Nin
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Renee
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Re: Who was the philosopher who said that religion/belief in

Post by Renee »

"Many know, manier don’t, That to believe is stronger than to know."

Your entire knowledge base and all your empirical knowledge is based on belief. (Except the knowledge of your self's being. And the knowledge that space exists.)

One day we'll have creatures that can experience reality directly. We, human philosophers, must resign to the ugly reality that we must compute everything and interpolate and then extrapolate -- and when we do this latest, is when we create differences in opinion and insight.
Ignorance is power.
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Ormond
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Re: Who was the philosopher who said that religion/belief in

Post by Ormond »

Felix wrote:But all beliefs distract us from direct experience - not just religious beliefs.
I cast my vote for President Felix.
If the things we want to hear could take us where we want to go, we'd already be there.
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Present awareness
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Re: Who was the philosopher who said that religion/belief in

Post by Present awareness »

Mindfulness, is the focus of attention on what is happening right here and right now. Conceptual thinking, focussing attention on thoughts of money, sex or religion, at the expense of present moment awareness, is at the root of the problem, regardless of the subject matter one is thinking about.
Even though you can see me, I might not be here.
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Renee
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Re: Who was the philosopher who said that religion/belief in

Post by Renee »

Ormond wrote:
Felix wrote:But all beliefs distract us from direct experience - not just religious beliefs.
I cast my vote for President Felix.
The prez is oblivious to the fact that direct experience by humans is indistinguishable form being merely a mirage. A little reading of Plato would have alerted him to that.

Those who voted for him and into a majority will have us all pay the back taxes to offset the catastrophic decline in reason.

-- Updated December 30th, 2016, 10:17 pm to add the following --
Present awareness wrote:Mindfulness, is the focus of attention on what is happening right here and right now. Conceptual thinking, focussing attention on thoughts of money, sex or religion, at the expense of present moment awareness, is at the root of the problem, regardless of the subject matter one is thinking about.
What's happening right HERE and right NOW is some sex and money. An exchange, in fact.

So how do I not think of sex and money when they are the things happening right here and right now?

You also mentioned a problem. What is your problem?
Ignorance is power.
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Felix
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Re: Who was the philosopher who said that religion/belief in

Post by Felix »

I cast my vote for President Felix.
Why thank you, concerned citizen. Nobody asked me to run in his place this year but I declined. How could I possibly replace Nobody?

Surely you remember Nobody? - https://goo.gl/TFEKGo

Nobody knows everything, Nobody tells the truth, Nobody really cares about you, Nobody loves you when you're down and out....

,
"We do not see things as they are; we see things as we are." - Anaïs Nin
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Present awareness
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Re: Who was the philosopher who said that religion/belief in

Post by Present awareness »

The problem, which gonzo points out, is "what takes our focus away from life"? It's funny that you should mention sex Renee, as I read that a survey discovered, only 10% of people think of something else while having sex.
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Renee
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Re: Who was the philosopher who said that religion/belief in

Post by Renee »

Present awareness wrote:The problem is "what takes our focus away from life"?
The answer is Death, I'd suppose. Because when you are alive, you are constantly focussing on one or another aspect of life. Life with a capital L is made up of life, with a lower-case L. One can't say that "this life is not part of Life, so you oughtn't to focus on it." Also, it's hard to focus on Life if Life is all of the instances of life. Focus means directed attention to a minute part. A whole can't be focused on, per definition.

So this Buddha thing is really the pits. I hate the Buddha. He was a moron. A smart, and eloquent, glib moron. A moron of the ilk of Deak Chupra. Except not as good as Deak.

Buddha... gimme a break. You can give me any quote from the Buddha and I'll validly refute it like the one with the focus thing. He was a idiot. A complete imbecile. People fall for him because people like poetry more than philosophy, and they fall for poetry when it declares itself as philosophy.

-- Updated December 31st, 2016, 2:36 pm to add the following --

Sorry about the hot spice of my rant. I really hate the Buddha. He is one of the most overrated morons in human history. There was a cat that really was gone, to quote Boney M.
Ignorance is power.
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Present awareness
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Re: Who was the philosopher who said that religion/belief in

Post by Present awareness »

It matters not whether one loves the Buddha or hates the Buddha, loves the Christ or hates the Christ, these are all a matter of personal preference. Opinions vary and who's to say which is right and which is wrong? Regardless of any cherished opinions, one fact remains, and that is we are here, and it is now! Other then that, the rest is just concept and conjecture.
Even though you can see me, I might not be here.
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Villion
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Re: Who was the philosopher who said that religion/belief in

Post by Villion »

Present awareness wrote:It matters not whether one loves the Buddha or hates the Buddha, loves the Christ or hates the Christ, these are all a matter of personal preference. Opinions vary and who's to say which is right and which is wrong? Regardless of any cherished opinions, one fact remains, and that is we are here, and it is now! Other then that, the rest is just concept and conjecture.
Sorry, but it matters much. For one may have established a personal contact with the person in question. Saying that it doesn't matter whether you love Buudha or not may amount to the same as in real life to say whether you love someone who is near you or hate him.
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Present awareness
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Re: Who was the philosopher who said that religion/belief in

Post by Present awareness »

I agree that a person's beliefs, matter to that person, Villion. However, why should it matter to anyone else, other then perhaps the object of their love or hate? There are well over 7 billion people on the planet today, whom I know nothing about, people being born and dying constantly. Not knowing whom they are or what they believe in, makes no difference at all in my own personal life.
Even though you can see me, I might not be here.
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Villion
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Re: Who was the philosopher who said that religion/belief in

Post by Villion »

Present awareness wrote:I agree that a person's beliefs, matter to that person, Villion. However, why should it matter to anyone else, other then perhaps the object of their love or hate? There are well over 7 billion people on the planet today, whom I know nothing about, people being born and dying constantly. Not knowing whom they are or what they believe in, makes no difference at all in my own personal life.
If a person matters to me his likes and dislikes matter to me also. It is sometimes more interesting to know whom the person likes than what opinion he holds to. As to there being 7 billion people on the planet today let us make a mental experiment. Suppose one had been in a desert island for some time, the time being enough to make one long for human being. And then one day a himan being taken at random from those 7 billion came to the island. What feeling should one have then. I suppose that the human being taken at random from 7 billon would matter to one.
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Renee
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Re: Who was the philosopher who said that religion/belief in

Post by Renee »

Present awareness wrote:It matters not whether one loves the Buddha or hates the Buddha, loves the Christ or hates the Christ, these are all a matter of personal preference. Opinions vary and who's to say which is right and which is wrong? Regardless of any cherished opinions, one fact remains, and that is we are here, and it is now! Other then that, the rest is just concept and conjecture.
I agree with you to the point where it starts to employ reason why one loves or hates the Buddha or the Christ. Just stating "I hate both" is fine, but not a matter of interest to others. However, I do believe, and have seen it in action over and over again, that qualifying, and successfully qualifying, why you hate or love them or love or hate anything else, can and will change the world.

Which is nothing to sneeze at.

At the point of reasoning it out, it becomes a public matter, it is no longer a private matter.

Other than that, you may be right.
Ignorance is power.
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