"Agnostic Buddhism"

[fudgefactorfive]

thats drawing a conclusion before all the evidence is in.

*shrug* better than saying there will *never* be enough evidence.

when the evidence comes in of a white man with a beard, or a spoooooky jelly monster, who predates the universe, i'll have to change my model, won't i?

 

[Jazzz]

"Most religions encapsulate nuggets of truth / wisdom."

i think any truth tends to be emotional truths, emotional resonance etc. i'm not sure if many stricly theistic inventions (what are these, 'omnipotence' - garbage, surely) are truthful, though of course some of the other work of the church may have elements of truth - but are these really "religious" truths?

If you can fully understand your emotions, what question is going to trouble you?

 

[Jazzz]

when the evidence comes in of a white man with a beard, or a spoooooky jelly monster, who predates the universe, i'll have to change my model, won't i?

Something predating all that is makes no sense does it? But maybe you can change your model in spite of that.

 

[ska invita]

I think it is worth asking - the implications of the answer are huge in terms of "the meaning of life" - (if it has any!).

no cause, no reason - no meaning
that's freedom

thats drawing a conclusion before all the evidence is in.

*shrug* better than saying there will *never* be enough evidence.
when the evidence comes in of a white man with a beard, or a spoooooky jelly monster, who predates the universe, i'll have to change my model, won't i?

Thats a fair argument - I respect that. I think across these two threads we've whitled it down to this. But there is one last point I want to make on this whole subject before I sign off:

By buying into the model of the day wholeheartedly, even though you know that not only will it be outmoded in the future (perhaps after your death), but also that an alternative answer may exist that may well be beyond the reach of human reasoning, you willingly tie yourself to an uncertain outlook that has a huge effect on the way you perceive life - thereby perhaps living your life under a false doctrine, and choosing to do so.

We only have one life to lead and in yours you make a commited choice to go along with the outlook that says "no cause, no reason - no meaning: that's freedom". This is not a problem per se - but what I suggest is that by keeping on open mind and grappling with the uncertainty you can still contemplate "no cause, no reason,no meaning" as well as enjoy the colouring of other possibilities.

I think the very act of considering these other possibilities adds something very worth while to life. In fact as this thread is meant to be about agnostic Buddhism, so this act of contemplating that which goes beyond the human capability to contemplate is much like a Buddhist Koan - perhaps the ultimate Koan!

What time was it before time began?
What was there before there was anything?
What are concepts that might exist beyond the realm of human experience?
What is the sound of one hand clapping?

That fact is there may well be answers to these questions. One of the uses of Koans was to try and overcome dualism in thinking - truly thinking outside the box - in this case the box is very much the known universe.