"'Demeter, only live planet we've reached, yes, but primitive and doomed and all it does is make me wonder what everything means if life is so rare an accident.'" (p. 195)
Why should everything mean anything? How can it? What a word means is what it refers to or how it is used. What does "man" refer to? How is "if" used? Everything cannot refer to anything other than itself and cannot be used linguistically. Would everything mean something if life were abundant?
Another meaning of "meaning" is value. I think that we value life more if it is rarer? That is enough about the meaning of everything.
9 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I should think it was obvious! Human beings want their world and lives to mean something! Simple blind or the eternal nothingness which is what atheism offers repels most people, whether or not they are able to articulate reasoned objections to either or both. And I too reject both of these options.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
Is consciousness of value? Does it continue after death? Surely these are different questions.
We are not infinitely long or wide or beginningless. There are places and times in which we do not exist. Such places and times are not nothingness but we are not in them.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Yes, but questions about one's consciousness will be of intense interest to most if they think of them. And I believe consciousness is of value and does survive bodily death.
And if we do survive bodily death, then places and times will probably continue to be of interest.
Ad astra! Sean
The fact that most people crave "meaning" is a strong indicator that one should regard all 'reasoned objections" to its lack with extreme skepticism.
Because it is in the nature of human beings to find reasons why that which we desperately wish to be so, to be so. Motivated reasoning and confirmation bias once again.
Meaning does exist, of course, but like morals it exists only and solely in human heads.
Reality just "is". The stories about it are things we make up. They're real, but human-created.
So I find plenty of meaning, I just don't imagine that someone/something else is handing it to me.
If you want meaning, create it.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Well, I do believe God is real, and that He revealed Himself to mankind thru the Jews and their prophets and sages, a revelation culminating with Jesus Christ. I do realize that is not how you think, but things like the cures recorded at Lourdes might make some more hesitant.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
Faith healing is one of many phenomena that require further investigation.
Is ultimate reality personal? Hinduism recognizes that THAT can be understood either as personal or as impersonal. Each of us can meditate and/or pray while recognizing that none of us has the highest understanding.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
And I think the simplest explanation for what happens at Lourdes is God acting thru His saints.
You mean some FORMS of Hindu philosophizing. I think most Hindus are straightforward polytheists. And I would argue with those more philosophic minded Hindus that God is a personal Being.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
God as described by Christian theology is far from simple!
Faith healing can work. I have seen photos demonstrating that a horrible skin condition which had had a physical cause was completely cured by hypnosis alone. The belief that a cure can or will happen can sometimes make it happen.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
I agree Christian philosophy and theology can be subtle, complex, deeply nuanced.
Of course faith healing has to be studied. As in the case you mentioned. What I think happens is that God takes belief and faith into account.
Ad astra! Sean1
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