Spectrum wrote:Chester wrote:I can not prove that God exists anymore than you can prove the Universe is the cause of itself, however God is a natural "by-product" of the concept that the whole of reality is constructed by thought.
The idea that reality is thought dependent is the simplest explanation of reality given that we know for sure that thought exists. Therefore Occam's razor should incline us to believe in God.
I am not a solipsist because I sense that not all ideas are my own.
Yes, 'God' is a "by-product" of the concept that the whole of reality is constructed by thought.
So 'God' is fundamentally a thought and nothing more.
Theist reify this thought when they are driven and subliminally compelled by their own internal psychological impulses re the existential crisis.
Therefore Occam's razor should incline us to believe in God.
Obviously anyone can believe anything by whatever basis and reify it, but the reified idea of a God which MUST be an absolutely perfect God is an impossibility.
If we speculate human-liked [anthropomorphic] aliens exists somewhere in the Universe and is creating the Universe for human in a Reality-TV show, that is a possibility because these elements are empirical-based. Based on current knowledge, such a possibility is 0.00..001%.
Again, but the reified idea of a God which MUST be an absolutely perfect God is an impossibility because it has no empirical & rational basis.
-- Updated Sun Nov 19, 2017 9:17 pm to add the following --
[b]Greta[/b] wrote:
(Nested quote removed.)
Yet stars, planets and moons obviously existed before biology or humans emerged from it. Now, in terms of mentality, as far as we know, reality was black nothingness. Seemingly, in terms of mentality on the Earth, "the lights came on" with the advent of senses.
Taking another angle, it's also possible that the whole notion of the first cause does not make sense. Still, perhaps aspects of the universe are seemingly eternal, and in that case they might fit the criterion for a god, be it dark energy (if it exists) or the "quantum foam" (if it existed), or perhaps something else interesting over which people might superimpose the God meme.
Greta, the quoted is from mine not Chester.
Greta: "Yet stars, planets and moons obviously existed
before biology or humans emerged from it. "
On a finer philosophical analysis;
Who is stating "obviously."
Note the whole statement is made by you [a human] or a group of people [humans] and the above statement cannot exists without humans.
In addition 'before' is a time-based elements which is can only be human-based.
As such there was no absolutely independent moon out there that existed before humans.
This "fact" is always conditioned by human factors and cannot stand alone, but it is real nevertheless. This is what Kant called
Empirical Realism in contrast to
Philosophical Realism.
As far as reality is concern, the moon exists interdependent and spontaneously with human factors, consciousness and all other relevant human based factors.
'First cause' do not make sense because it is vulnerable to infinite regression. It is very rationally to question and expect there is always something before anything.
"Seemingly eternal" which is without end but why do we need to end [reify] such eternity as a God. Why? Again this is due to psychological factors arising to evolutionary customs and habits.
The most realistic philosophical basis is to resist the psychological instinct to speculate or reify something with an ultimate finitude, i.e. God. But the majority cannot resist such an instinct to reify a God out of nothing and there consequences of its good and evil. Since at present it is impending there is the trend cons are outweighing the pros of theism, we need to address the subject of theism with higher philosophical precision.
Note the core principles of Buddhism and other Eastern spirituality, i.e. living in the "Middle Way" of "nothingness" [sunyata] without beginning nor endings within the command and control of an illusory God. Without God's beginning nor the end, the focus is on the reality of the NOW, i.e. a spontaneous emergent reality.
A spontaneous emergent reality is not a matter of beliefs, but one must work at it to maintain it in a healthy state.
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