religion
Posts about religion, skepticism, and how it fits into the scientific world.
Ostara, Eostre and Hewsos
We’re coming up on the time of year where another of the age-old arguments between hard recons and well… everyone else begin once again to crop up. The most frequent argument boils down to the fact that Ostara was included in the Wiccan Wheel of the Year. That in itself, does not say much at all. Wicca is by it’s nature highly eclectic, and borrowed elements from many different cultural traditions, Heathenry included. For the purposes of the remainder of this argument, I’ll once again reiterate my definition of Heathenry (which may nor may not be the same as yours), based on the most widely academically accepted historical etymologies of the word (you can find a fuller explanation of this particular argument in the section ‘What does Heathen Mean’). However, for the purposes of this writing, I’m defining “Heathen” as describing the Pre-Abrahamic religious practices of Indo-European peoples, and their descendant traditions. So that said, let’s get into who and what Ostara actually is.
Erik NorthmanPublished 3 years ago in FuturismWe’re all gods who have forgotten what we used to be.
We’re all gods who have forgotten what we used to be. We spend a lot of our lives trying to remember who we were, to claw our way back there. We’re most ourselves as children. Our memories have been stripped, but our character, is still, relatively pure, god-like in soul but not yet of mind.
Michael J D MartinPublished 3 years ago in FuturismParadise
What do you do when you wake up in a world where everything seems so perfect. My family as well as most of the women who live on this land are descendants of the greek God Posethion. She was and still is the God of nature. Without her, there would be no form of habitat, water, trees, animals and not even the air that we breathe. She is the one who brought our world into existence. Without her we are nothing. We exist because she allowed us to.
Irony and The Mind of God
Confused and Fine with That It has long been my desire to understand the complexities and apparent chaos of the world I see around me. This is impossible. One cannot use logic to explain the illogical. But we can try. This is the central paradox that envelops us all: a desire for a coherent understanding of what appears to defy reason, to obtain a degree of Objectivity. To do this, I offer a simple truism: “The extent to which something is true, the opposite is equally so.” (1) This ironic statement on further examination reveals to us the one truth we can always count on when faced with the confusion and hopelessness of our journey to understand things that happen in our lives; when taken to its extreme, this truism can actually reveal to us a basic understanding of everything, and a complete understanding of nothing. And by embracing the emptiness of understanding nothing, we can start to feel connected to The Mind Of God. (2)
Agent Detection Bias
Let me start by saying that my intention is not to dissuade anyone from their belief system, but to simply give you something to ponder on. Throughout the course of history, there has always been the question and sometimes assertion that an omnipotent being is responsible for creating the earth. There are also claims that this being holds the power to rule over living things. This has been a topic of much debate because these claims have not been demonstrable in the past or present. On top of not being demonstrable these claims are also unfalsifiable. You can’t prove or disprove which is why I am not going to assert anything here. There is no doubt that a large portion of the population truly believes that there is an omnipotent and omnipresent being, but there is also growing number of people that do not believe this. I recently took a couple of online courses provided by the University of Edinburgh on Science, Philosophy and Religion that touched on some things I found very interesting when it comes to unpacking these beliefs. In these courses, I learned a term that was foreign to me at the time and it is possibly foreign to many others so I decided to look into it a little more. The term I’m referring to is agent detection or “agent detection bias”. The definition of agent detection is the inclination for animals, including humans, to presume the purposeful intervention of a sentient or intelligent agent in situations that may or may not involve one. Some scientists say that the belief in a creator as some spiritual beimg is due to this bias. So how did this theory come about? Well first, let’s define science. Science, meaning knowledge in Latin, builds and organizes knowledge in the form of demonstrable explanations about the universe. In using this method, observations over time suggest that agent detection is not inherent but is actually an evolutionary byproduct and that it’s related to the natural inclination to preserve life. For example, if you hear a door creak in a house you were supposedly alone in, your immediate response may be alarm due to a force or “agent” being behind it that could cause you harm. So in an act of self-preservation, we either act and/or we suddenly become on guard, which is otherwise known as being in “fight or flight” mode as opposed to “rest and digest” mode. Even if the reason for the door creaking turned out to be a draft from a cracked window or a gush of air from the heating/cooling system turning on, at the moment the door creaked there was no visible explanation as to why that happened. As humans we’ll often default to agent detection bias even though there was no visible agent there. Some scientists believe that this trait manifests in other ways in humans as well and is possibly the foundation for the belief in a god. Take note that these scientists are not claiming that agent detection is the ONLY reason for belief in a god because there are other factors involved such as indoctrination which can be powerful. So will we ever know the truth? Maybe and maybe not. Personally, I’ve learned that it’s better to have more questions than answers so at least you’re open to the truth instead of being forced to do mental gymnastics just to support a claim that you already perceived as the truth. Now while many historians of science and religion, scientists of various fields, theologians, philosophers etc., have regarded science and religion as separate forms of knowledge, others believe they are interconnected or even parallel each other. No one seems to have a definite answer with concrete evidence, only theories. Perhaps in the future the mystery of life and it’s origination will be clearly defined by either science or religion. The question is, which one will it be? Will it be one or the other or both? I can’t answer that question but if someone were to ask me this question, my bet would be on science. Science does not claim to be the “truth”, but merely a means on getting to the truth in an evidence based fashion as opposed to mysticism which is faith based. With faith, there is not demonstrable evidence there so you really take a gamble with that. At least science will change its stance and evolve based on new evidence and information but I have yet to see religion do the same. This is just something to ponder on and maybe look into a little deeper because it’s important to be able to look at different perspectives. Critical thinking is crucial when it comes to the evolving of society.
Toccara BensonPublished 3 years ago in Futurism10 Heartwarming Gifts For Your Little One’s Christening
Christenings are held as a symbol of a journey of the newborn baby into this world as a Christian. Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist as stated in the bible, due to which it has become a tradition for the Christians. The baby is blessed with the holy water which is sprinkled on the head of the babies. The parents choose the godfather and godmother of the baby in this ceremony.
Apeksha GoswamiPublished 3 years ago in FuturismLearn The Truth About Ghost Hunter Temple In The Next 2 min.
Maybe you are not aware of the facts of evil spirits, ghost but in this article, you will get more about the facts and mystery of Mehandipur Balaji Temple situated in Rajasthan, India.
Rahul VermaPublished 3 years ago in FuturismThe Understanding of Christianity
I always hear a saying that kind of goes like “You’re a Christian, Aren’t you supposed to be kind.” That is true but… If someone over steps your beliefs, we must take action! It would be like, if you had a child and someone hurt them really bad, what are you going to do? Stand by and let it go like it never happened? Or face the problem on hand take action?
Kristina SteffyPublished 3 years ago in FuturismSkeptical of everything
I pose the question to everyone, even myself: “What if you’re wrong? Would you be ok with that? Are you open to that idea?”
Chronically MegPublished 3 years ago in FuturismFind a compatible partner with free marriage horoscope
Marriage is a beautiful and sacred bond that is formed between two people. But due to many situations and hardships everything gets disturbed and they get separated. There may be many reasons for separation but many people face it due to quick steps they take without their parent’s concern, one of the most suggested point of view that every parent suggest is marriage prediction that is done by astrologers by getting a correct matched marriage horoscope which gives you all the information regarding marriage and solutions too that may disturb you in coming future. For now no need to visit any astrologer just by a click in our marriage horoscope by date of birth service you can get it through call or by message.
Genuine AstrologerPublished 3 years ago in FuturismGet Best kundali prediction with free janam kundali analysis
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vedic astrologerPublished 3 years ago in FuturismMy 40's Life
My 40’s Life I have written about this briefly at an open mic for the Saskatoon Writers collective but with all the computers I have gone through in the eight years I have been in Saskatoon that piece is gone for good.
Dale SandsPublished 3 years ago in Futurism