Robert is a rationalist. He does not believe in God; it's just a load of stories made up to make life more bearable. Robert has never felt the need for a God. When Robert dies, his consciousness extinguishes along with his brain and other parts of his body. Game over, Robert.
Maria is a devout Catholic. She believes in Jesus Christ as the only begotten son of God, and participates in the Eucharist each Sunday. God is an integral part of her life. When Maria dies, her soul will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, and she shall be seated at the right hand of God.
And then, there's me. I have subjective experiences that suggest my consciousness has lived before; that this life is one of many on an eternal road to universal enlightenment. When I die, some future human being will have anomalous yet familiar memories and dreams of a past lived in 20th century London and 21st century Warsaw.
What if all three of us are right? What if you can will the ultimate destiny of your soul/consciousness? What if there are more than just one set of binary outcomes (afterlife/no afterlife, heaven/hell)?
We don't know. I do know that organised religions are not for me; even if one distances oneself from the literal word of God as presented in any holy book, via the metaphorical to the mystical - there's too much highly questionable dogma to take on board.
I also know that I am definitely not an atheist - God, a Divine Purpose, a Universal Unfolding is as real to me as the Baltic Sea, only nearer. I do not feel the need to explain or justify, I believe what I believe on the basis of observed experiences.
To say definitely that "God is this" and "God is that" and not to question, not to seek deeper understanding, is plain wrong, ethically and logically. We spend all our lives learning, honing, fine-tuning, nuancing our knowledge and wisdom; to accept a religion - or indeed to accept atheism - without giving it further intellectual thought is to deny one's own human potential.
David Eagleman's book Sum: Forty Tales from the Afterlives, which I got as a present from my brother, is a good and easy-to-read introduction to Possibilianism. Eagleman, a neuroscientist, steers clear of scientific certainties. From a New Yorker article about him: "We know too little about our own minds and the universe around us to insist on strict atheism, and we know far too much to commit to a particular religious story. Why not revel in the alternatives? Why not imagine ourselves as bits of networked hardware in a cosmic program, or as particles of some celestial organism, or any of a thousand other possibilities, and then test those ideas against the available evidence? Part of the scientific temperament is this tolerance for holding multiple hypotheses in mind at the same time. As Voltaire said, uncertainty is an uncomfortable position. But certainty is an absurd one."
As I wrote yesterday, these Lenten explorations of what I currently hold to be possible, is part of a long journey of discovery, based on my own subjective conscious experiences and beliefs, and seeking explanations.
Two days ago, I came across some stunning colourised footage of New York City in 1941 (below). Not only was I mesmerised by the images, but I felt strong surges of exomnesia in the hours after watching, in particular triggered by the distinctive striped grilles, cutaway front mudguards and Art-Deco headlamp surrounds of the Checker Model A taxis. Instant familiarity and a state of spiritual unity with that time, that place.
Today is 6 March, Dude's Day, so a relaxed one to all Dudeists out there - take it easy! More on Dudeism in the first link below - along with other made-up religions dating back to the early 21st century. A Possibilianist might suggest that all are possible, though without any certainty.
This time last year:
To Dudeists and those who have built their own religions
This time two years ago:
Lent 2019 - Looking for the Wonder of It All
This time three years ago:
That was the winter that was
This four years ago:
Self-discipline, habits and Growth
This time seven years ago:
Putin - tactical genius, strategic failure
This time eight years ago:
Socialist Realist architecture in late winter sun
This time ten years ago:
The Cripple and the Storyteller - part II
This time 11 years ago:
The station with no name
This time 12 years ago:
Lenten thoughts on motoring
This time 13 years ago:
Flowers, spring - already
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