Lee Corbin wrote:
>
> John Grigg answered what he meant by "absolutely 100% certain" in
>
> >> Personally, I agree with Samantha that a person in our age does
> >> not yet have enough information to be absolutely 100% certain all
> >> religious/spiritual beliefs are ultimately false and that there
> >> is no God and/or afterlife.
>
> John, I am as certain that there is no God as I am that a
> man walked on the moon, and equally sure that there is no
> non-technological afterlife, as say the proponents of
> reincarnation claim. I am less confident in making any
> blanket statement about all religions, and especially about
> spirituality, as it's still not clear what we should mean
> by those terms. I hope to write something on spirituality
> soon. Thanks for finally getting back.
Ah. Are you as certain that your idea of technology and what it
can and will be into the indefinite future is complete enough
that you can be certain what that future technology (almost
indistinquishable from magic) will and will not enable? Are you
certain that none of that near-magic is not already afoot and
that none of it had a part in our own being here? If there is
an afterlife it will be through technology we can see coming or
through technology that we don't have much clue about that may
or may not already be locally present.
If you can do uploads and downloads then reincarnation or
something that looks very much like it is a piece of cake.
Are you so sure of how Mind will grow and extend and what its
limits will ultimately be as to say there is no such Mind
already present or will not be or that it will not transcend
time itself? Are you so utterly certain that all who claim to
have been touched by such a Mind or have caught a small glimpse
of it or from within it are simply victims of a biochemical
storm and nothing else?
- samantha
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Fri Oct 12 2001 - 14:39:58 MDT