[p2p-research] Free flipper! argues scientist

[Ryan Lanham]

On 1/6/10, Michel Bauwens <michelsub2004 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hi Ryan,
>
> with post-secular I mean the effort to direct one's gaze not just at
> external matter, but to the lived reality of the bodymind, and the many
> wondrous things that can happen with it, if one practices some of the
> spiritual techniques that have historically been mostly developed 'inside'
> religions (yoga, tantra, zen, vipassana, what have you)
>
> it's simply part of human experience, and there is no obligation to go into
> it (like art and music, the life of the spirit is an option), but I do have
> the problem with those that are aggressively against it, and cannot make the
> finer distinctions between religious belief, religious power institutions,
> spiritual experiences, and bodymind technologies,
>
> the kind of atheism that destroys our connection and participation with the
> natural world, is dangerous for the survival of our world (as are
> dominion-based religious attitudes which would have the same effect)
>
> Michel



Michel,

There is nothing you write that I disagree with at all.  I think we are
saying the same thing.

You will see atheists attack quackery quite hard, but I don't think the
intent is to objectify everything.  I think the intent is to reduce the
seemingly overwhelming human tendancy to interject the fantastic into causal
functionality in the world.

Zen writings, etc. are no different to me than the allusions and imagery of
poetry unless someone starts praying to Buddha or trying to ask Ganesha to
have an intervention in their cancer.  Atheists tend to find that
counter-productive for the human condition.  Of course it is a big category
now and significant variances apply.

To me, the a- prefix on atheist does not so much mean against as it does
"without."  a-moral...without morality.  a-theism...without gods.

When I say that P2P must be a-theist--I mean it must be without theism in
its core ethos.  No one can be a a-theistic Christian or an
a-theistic Mormon.  I agree there is some debate on Buddhism...I know
several people who profess a Buddhism (or for that matter Shinto-ism or
Wickenism) that is a-theist...whether that is legitimate is far afield from
anything I stake as my area of legitimate knowledge.  I simply have seen the
claim before.

In the future, I think ethics will continue to develop without gods, and P2P
will be a core element of the political/social/economic portion of that
discussion.  Much of this comes from P2P's anti-institutionalism and the
fact that institutions exist to transfer memes through time.

Ryan
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