tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1228544473034487906.post1221874744197245480..comments2016-05-22T16:15:24.448-07:00Comments on The Atheist's Way: My Daily Encounters With "God"Eric Maiselhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03616912091956978071noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1228544473034487906.post-18406342757969912132008-09-02T15:14:00.000-07:002008-09-02T15:14:00.000-07:00Pascal's Paradox aside, a very wise Bahai elder sa...Pascal's Paradox aside, a very wise Bahai elder said to me once, as I described myself as an atheist/agnostic, "Your problem is you think of god as some old guy 'up there' with flowing white robes and beard." Indeed, it was true - and why I couldn't relate to the concept of god. He then told me he believed god was the force of CREATIVITY in the Universe. Being an artist, I can live with that! And maybe other creatives out there can, too. ;-)<BR/><BR/>Cheers!Keenahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05803702087236434572noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1228544473034487906.post-62364027359084471162008-08-21T03:54:00.000-07:002008-08-21T03:54:00.000-07:00Excellent question. "Is there anything else like ...Excellent question. <BR/><BR/>"Is there anything else like this which has a pervasive presence in our lives, yet may or may not exist?"<BR/><BR/>Free will. Belief in its existence (for the moment) completely hangs on a person's definition and desire to believe it exists. It bears on everything we do - every choice we make, every action we take. And yet it may not, in fact, exist as we understand it.<BR/><BR/>But, just like the theist who decides to live as though a god exists, despite the uncertainty, I choose to live as though free will exists (until the evidence persuades me otherwise).Timothy Millshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00373801153623991221noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1228544473034487906.post-58292811460296647712008-08-20T08:06:00.000-07:002008-08-20T08:06:00.000-07:00Dear Denise - You make some good points about doub...Dear Denise - You make some good points about doubts and confusion that most people can relate to unless they've been totally brain-washed and tune out everything but their own belief system. However, I think that not all manifestations of "God" are man-made, for example; the time in Keoka Lake when I stepped into a kayak and the Great Spirit reached up a hand and rolled me like a cannoli. Having been dipped 360, I was completely soaked and had a sudden, humbling revelation that Mother Nature had just baptised her child.<BR/>Forward this to 3 people in 3 seconds or a squadron of gnats will swarm your fruit cup. <BR/><BR/>-Pamela RainbirdAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1228544473034487906.post-73490921268753546022008-08-20T05:12:00.000-07:002008-08-20T05:12:00.000-07:00Interesting blog, Denise. I feel intellectually an...Interesting blog, Denise. I feel intellectually and emotionally I am an agnostic, but I can easily see the atheist position.<BR/> I've decided to stop worrying about it. And to spend every minute, even doing loathsome insurance work in my therapy practice, that I am glad to be alive, glad to have the benefits I do, able to cope with the problems I have, and going to ocean and feeling it's just all going to be ok, realizing I'm not afraid of dying (only ceasing to be me, ha), and digging deeper and deeper into the good things in my life and trying to meet political and work challenges even though they are taxing and I resent the time taken away from more pacific moments. Ha. I guess this comment just reflexs the complexity of subject. Glad you raised it. Claire HolcombAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com