God is dead. So help me God.

[gad-fly]

Faulty title. How stupid to ask the dead to help. Apparently: Wrong timing. Should ask earlier, when God was still vibrant and potent.

In February 2020, when I started the post: "God is dying. Will he be dead?", I never expected it to stretch to 20 pages. Am I happy, as if having won the popularity contest? Not really, To be honest with you, many replies I have not read, and I fear joining the discussion now unprepared. No one to blame except myself for not narrowing the scope in the first place.

having learnt, I would like to emphasize that the present topic is not on whether God is Dead or not. "God is Dead" in the present context is taken to mean that, a priori, he is no is no longer present in our mind under any circumstance. You disagree? Fine. Mount your challenging points elsewhere.

The present post is on: So help me, any being, that is not God. Who are you, trying to help me? Would your help be enough, now that God is dead? Should I give up hope? Persuade me, support me, encourage me, and push and pull me forward with confidence, please. You can only philosophize? Still better than nothing. Come on. Isn't that what you are here for?

[JackDaydream]

Faulty title. How stupid to ask the dead to help. Apparently: Wrong timing. Should ask earlier, when God was still vibrant and potent.

In February 2020, when I started the post: "God is dying. Will he be dead?", I never expected it to stretch to 20 pages. Am I happy, as if having won the popularity contest? Not really, To be honest with you, many replies I have not read, and I fear joining the discussion now unprepared. No one to blame except myself for not narrowing the scope in the first place.

having learnt, I would like to emphasize that the present topic is not on whether God is Dead or not. "God is Dead" in the present context is taken to mean that, a priori, he is no is no longer present in our mind under any circumstance. You disagree? Fine. Mount your challenging points elsewhere.

The present post is on: So help me, any being, that is not God. Who are you, trying to help me? Would your help be enough, now that God is dead? Should I give up hope? Persuade me, support me, encourage me, and push and pull me forward with confidence, please. You can only philosophize? Still better than nothing. Come on. Isn't that what you are here for?

I have come across people who don't believe in God any longer who have admitted when they are in a desperate crisis they pray at times. This may be out of habit or even some underlying sense there is some kind of protective providence in the universe. Some Eastern thinkers don't believe in God in the anthropomorphic sense but believe in the idea of an oversoul, which is a means of connecting with some kind of deeper source of mind.

There is also the relationship between prayer and meditation, with prayer being more about some kind of intercession.. In theistic religions there is often the idea of a personal relationship with God, although some philosophers have thought more of a detached prime mover, as in Aristotle's thought. The ideas about powers beyond the conscious mind has been thought thought of in various ways. Some people have considered spirits and some people believe in spirit guides, or even guardian angels. This may be often in connection with religious or spiritual views, but not always. In shamanic models there may be forces beyond the human mind which can be accessed in alternative states of consciousness, even though many people regard such perspectives as superstition or magical thinking..

However, in the search for help in the context of lack of belief in a God, many may be left staring at the void. Many may turn to other human beings, and if they can't find some comfort or understanding may turn to help-lines, crisis services and the medical services, and even take pills to cope.

[AverageBozo]

To Whomever It May Concern:

I need your help. I am trying to live the good life. I want to improve my decision-making and actions.

~ A. Bozo
__________________________________________

Dear Bozo,

I can guide and support you if you are open to my help.

~ Philosophy of Ethics and Morality

[JackDaydream]

To Whomever It May Concern:

I need your help. I am trying to live the good life. I want to improve my decision-making and actions.

~ A. Bozo
__________________________________________

Dear Bozo,

I can guide and support you if you are open to my help.

~ Philosophy of Ethics and Morality

A few weeks ago I logged into something online which offered a free astrological reading. I was sent two different replies from psychics. They were telling me of how they could see special things about me, as well as potential dangers, in my chart and wishing to offer me further reading. They were wishing me to also offer me rituals to prevent bad things happening to me. They were wanting me to pay money and were emailing me for several days. I didn't really believe in what they were saying and had only been playing around on my phone by logging into such sites. However, I decided to look online for reviews of the couple of names of the psychics and I found out that a lot of people had been duped by these sites and paid a lot of money for help which they never received. The sites were digital scams basically and the psychics were people who probably did not exist at all.

[AverageBozo]

To Whomever Else It May Concern:

I need your help. I’m in crisis and I want the strength to get through to a resolution that will bring me peace.

- A. Bozo
_____________________________________

Dear Bozo,

Get a grip on yourself. Man up. Don’t be a crybaby. It’s time to put on your big-boy pants and fix yourself by yourself. No one can help you with your problems and travails.

- A. Bozo

[AverageBozo]

To Whomever It May Concern:

I need your help. I am trying to live the good life. I want to improve my decision-making and actions.

~ A. Bozo
__________________________________________

Dear Bozo,

I can guide and support you if you are open to my help.

~ Philosophy of Ethics and Morality

A few weeks ago I logged into something online which offered a free astrological reading. I was sent two different replies from psychics. They were telling me of how they could see special things about me, as well as potential dangers, in my chart and wishing to offer me further reading. They were wishing me to also offer me rituals to prevent bad things happening to me. They were wanting me to pay money and were emailing me for several days. I didn't really believe in what they were saying and had only been playing around on my phone by logging into such sites. However, I decided to look online for reviews of the couple of names of the psychics and I found out that a lot of people had been duped by these sites and paid a lot of money for help which they never received. The sites were digital scams basically and the psychics were people who probably did not exist at all.

I’m at a loss for words.

[gad-fly]

Faulty title indeed. It should be "God is dead, so help me what (which is not God).

I submiss that we mortals (almost all) some time and somehow need the support of some super being in our struggle through our tortuous life. We pray, we plead, we beg for mercy, and we even strike bargain, like what Faust did with the devil. But what if we no longer believe in there being God and the devil? Where would we seek help which we cannot do without?

But it is much more than that. If we seek help, the very process itself can significantly affect the outcome. Put it this way: a very sick believer would have a better chance of recovery after praying to his God than a non-believer who does nothing. Isn't that a strong strong case for religion. Never mind whether there is God and heaven or not. For heaven's sick, be converted, because it can only be good for you. You will be calm, comfortable, and confident, and you will not regret it. Can we find a replacement for God, something nonreligious, say like the motherland, science or alien from outer space. I don't think so. So far so nothing. agnosticism does not even come close.

Let us pray.

[GrayArea]

Faulty title. How stupid to ask the dead to help. Apparently: Wrong timing. Should ask earlier, when God was still vibrant and potent.

In February 2020, when I started the post: "God is dying. Will he be dead?", I never expected it to stretch to 20 pages. Am I happy, as if having won the popularity contest? Not really, To be honest with you, many replies I have not read, and I fear joining the discussion now unprepared. No one to blame except myself for not narrowing the scope in the first place.

having learnt, I would like to emphasize that the present topic is not on whether God is Dead or not. "God is Dead" in the present context is taken to mean that, a priori, he is no is no longer present in our mind under any circumstance. You disagree? Fine. Mount your challenging points elsewhere.

The present post is on: So help me, any being, that is not God. Who are you, trying to help me? Would your help be enough, now that God is dead? Should I give up hope? Persuade me, support me, encourage me, and push and pull me forward with confidence, please. You can only philosophize? Still better than nothing. Come on. Isn't that what you are here for?

I suppose I can offer a small bit of idea to this discussion: God is dead only when we want him to be. We have control over our own thoughts. If God is "what ought to", then we still have the power to choose from "what ought to" or "what ought not to but what we still want". This whole process isn't what we "ought to do", it's what we "end up doing".

If God stays dead forever, then that fact itself becomes the "new" God.

[Angelo Cannata]

I was a Catholic priest for 22 years before abandoning my faith. Afterwards I felt this need for something comforting, human-like, but more than human, something like a home. I decided that suffering for the lack of this is better than the comfort coming from an actually non existing God, because human experience of what we perceive as reality is always richer than any fantasy, any dream. So, my home now is a permanent work of research, meditation, philosophy, exploration, silence and many other things that I call spirituality. Spirituality is a huge resource for this condition; unfortunately it is still largely unknown, or misunderstood or made commercial with stupid beliefs.

[gad-fly]

I was a Catholic priest for 22 years before abandoning my faith. Afterwards I felt this need for something comforting, human-like, but more than human, something like a home. I decided that suffering for the lack of this is better than the comfort coming from an actually non existing God, because human experience of what we perceive as reality is always richer than any fantasy, any dream. So, my home now is a permanent work of research, meditation, philosophy, exploration, silence and many other things that I call spirituality. Spirituality is a huge resource for this condition; unfortunately it is still largely unknown, or misunderstood or made commercial with stupid beliefs.

Many of us have been functionally well-served by there being God around. In distress, we pray to him for help and miracle, and sometimes our prayer is answered. Is there correlation between prayer and miracle? Hard to say, but I believe there is. Ask, and it will be given, more often than not, even if it makes no difference who is asked, as long as it is someone you can trust.

In this respect, it is essential to have God functionally replaced if he is dead. The replacement must be of substantial bearing and convincing, not vague and woolly. I doubt if spirituality will do. Given a choice, my option will be the party line, whether communist or Chinese, or state socialism to take care of me from cradle to grave.

[Angelo Cannata]

I was quite religious, since my childhood, but, strangely, I can’t remember of ever having asked anything to God, even when I felt in need for important things. Rather, what I expected from him was an experience able to touch my heart. I understand that spirituality can suggest ideas of something vague, indefinite, it depends on the experience of it that you have had, what it means to you. I would compare it to a stranger language: if you can’t understand it, obviously it doesn't tell anything to you. While you start understanding, you start feeling something, like when in a language you become more and more familiar with not only its words, but also with the feeling of its sounds, until that language, finally, becomes able to attract you, and you even like poems in that language. The same happens with music, or painting: they are all languages, with their own special taste, and when they take you, you can’t leave them anymore, they become your life.

[gad-fly]

I suppose I can offer a small bit of idea to this discussion: God is dead only when we want him to be. We have control over our own thoughts. If God is "what ought to", then we still have the power to choose from "what ought to" or "what ought not to but what we still want". This whole process isn't what we "ought to do", it's what we "end up doing".

Good point. As I have said, this post is not about whether God exist, or whether he is dead or not. God is a necessary (or ought to be) institution. I am inclined to believe it will outlast all human institutions, including democracy, capitalism, private property, and income tax. To remove it would leave an empty void which we have no hope of filling, as far as I can see. Who can help to play the replaced role, jointly or singly? I would appreciate reply in this respect.

[stevie]

Faulty title. How stupid to ask the dead to help. Apparently: Wrong timing. Should ask earlier, when God was still vibrant and potent.

In February 2020, when I started the post: "God is dying. Will he be dead?", I never expected it to stretch to 20 pages. Am I happy, as if having won the popularity contest? Not really, To be honest with you, many replies I have not read, and I fear joining the discussion now unprepared. No one to blame except myself for not narrowing the scope in the first place.

having learnt, I would like to emphasize that the present topic is not on whether God is Dead or not. "God is Dead" in the present context is taken to mean that, a priori, he is no is no longer present in our mind under any circumstance. You disagree? Fine. Mount your challenging points elsewhere.

The present post is on: So help me, any being, that is not God. Who are you, trying to help me? Would your help be enough, now that God is dead? Should I give up hope? Persuade me, support me, encourage me, and push and pull me forward with confidence, please. You can only philosophize? Still better than nothing. Come on. Isn't that what you are here for?

My intention is not to help you but to point out that it is pretty nonsensical to spend thoughts on what is non-evident, like "god".

[gad-fly]

My intention is not to help you but to point out that it is pretty nonsensical to spend thoughts on what is non-evident, like "god".

I am afraid you have misunderstood. The post is not about me seeking your help. Sorry if you have been misled.

The post asks for: If God is dead, "So help me God" is asking in vain, where and who should we turn to, philosophically?

"nonsensical to spend thoughts on what is not evident, like God." Why not? Many things in life are not self-evident. We often philosophize because it is not self-evident. Many are converted even if God is not evident.

[stevie]

My intention is not to help you but to point out that it is pretty nonsensical to spend thoughts on what is non-evident, like "god".

I am afraid you have misunderstood. The post is not about me seeking your help. Sorry if you have been misled.

I've not been mslead since my intention hasn't been to help you.

The post asks for: If God is dead, "So help me God" is asking in vain, where and who should we turn to, philosophically?

My answer has been: it is pretty nonsensical to spend thoughts on what is non-evident, like "god".

"nonsensical to spend thoughts on what is not evident, like God." Why not? Many things in life are not self-evident. We often philosophize because it is not self-evident. Many are converted even if God is not evident.

I can point out what is nonsensical but I cannot stop people following their nonsensical thoughts.