Posted by SLS on March 11, 2013, at 5:03:36
In reply to Re: Lou' request-mrngsptr, posted by Meatwood_Flack on March 10, 2013, at 11:53:57
> How were you able to set aside doubt in favor of faith?
I don't know that I have "faith" as the word is often used. I guess I prefer "sighted faith" to "blind faith". My feeble logic keeps bringing me to the conclusion that it makes no sense to deny Existence as being a manifestation of something higher. Yet, I don't see God as being an entity. It really doesn't matter to me what God is, actually. For me, contemplating existence is a spiritual endeavor. Sometimes, the closest I can come to experiencing God is to embrace all of existence in the moment, and appreciate the incredible order and beauty of its design.
One of the turning points in my spiritual journey was to question my atheism when I was offered an answer to a very simple query. I had always invited debate, although I felt sure that my beliefs in the Big Bang Theory and biological evolution were sufficient to maintain my atheism, regardless of challenge. I was wrong. The question I asked was, "Why would a god create a universe"? My friend gave it some thought and replied, "Perhaps He wanted a relationship."
> I've read many of your posts and they all seem to carry the common anchor of logic. Our present discussion defies logic in favor of faith.
Perhaps my spirituality helps to fill in the blanks left by the limited knowledge of man. However, it sure feels like it encompasses the entirety of the universe, known and unknown. Spirituality is an easy answer that allows me to find comfort in the face of uncertainty. This does not make me any less voracious in my appetite for knowledge and understanding. It just quells my desperation. I look around and say to myself, "There is no way that this just happened."
For me, duality is the key to conceptualizing many aspects of existence, including God. Duality is integral to the understanding of much of cosmology, including the phenomenon of light. Light has the dual nature of being wave and particle at the same time. I experience God the same way. He exists and doesn't exist at the same time. He is present and absent at the same time. He is not of this universe, yet comprises everything in it. He is the Unity to be found in separateness.
How do you define "faith"?
- ScottSome see things as they are and ask why.
I dream of things that never were and ask why not.- George Bernard Shaw
poster:SLS
thread:1039948
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/faith/20101230/msgs/1040046.html