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#11
11-03-2005, 02:12 PM
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Re: Atheists and Agnostics--Would you Change if you could??
If I could choose, I would rather know the truth while being happy and content. Have you tried looking into Zen Buddhism? It's a practice, really... that is a good system for the old addage: "it's not what happens to you, it's how you handle it [that makes you happy]".
I think you very well might be able to brainwash yourself into believing something that you don't right now -- especially given your emotional reasons for wanting to do so. But, I doubt you'd be able to limit the brainwashing to just the belief in God. Before you knew it (which, you wouldn't), you would be making a lot of irrational decisisons based on way of thinking that allowed you to believe in God. I know, I've been there. I can't believe I allowed myself to make some really stupid decisions because I thought it was in "God's Will". If you are interested in reading a bit about Zen Buddhism, just to see if it's something you are interested in, I recommend this very short and easy to read book: Buddhism Plain and Simple. Also, Richard Carlson has some Buddhist-influenced books that are very uplifting: Don't Sweat the Small Stuff--and it's all small stuff You Can Be Happy No Matter What: Five Principles Your Therapist Never Told You What About the Big Stuff? : Finding Strength and Moving Forward When the Stakes Are High 
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#13
11-03-2005, 02:16 PM
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Re: Atheists and Agnostics--Would you Change if you could??
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ] And in spite of the protestations of many on this forum I just don't see how you can nowadays, without a personal miracle, simultaneously think that God is highly likely if you have a world class brain. [/ QUOTE ] I agree, but I also don't understand the people who don't believe that God (or just about anything elese) could exist. With light reading of particle physics and cosmology, you realize how little we know about existence. [/ QUOTE ] I think almost all the atheists here would agree with you.
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#14
11-03-2005, 02:17 PM
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Re: Atheists and Agnostics--Would you Change if you could??
quote]Hence my post regarding a personal experience of god, an ecstatic experience..
[/ QUOTE ] At the stage neuroscience is now you can almost custom order whatever experience you want, whether the 'one with the universe' state, or the feeling of a presence, or an estatic euphoria, or.. each one seeming as ‘real’ as any experience we’ve had. Never mind that philosophers were well aware long ago that this would be possible even though they didn't understand the mechanism. Why, today, people would attach any knowledge to an explainable neurological quirk is fascinating, and in itself tells us a lot about our psychological makeup. "Oh, but it was so real, super real even…" well, yeah, which one would you like again? Luckyme … not upset because the voices only talk to them
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#17
11-03-2005, 02:33 PM
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Re: Atheists and Agnostics--Would you Change if you could??
[ QUOTE ]
I have an apple, an orange, and a grape. I have three pieces of fruit. [/ QUOTE ] The sky is blue. The sky is orange and red polka dot. I have 2 statements about reality.
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#19
11-03-2005, 02:35 PM
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Re: Atheists and Agnostics--Would you Change if you could??
[ QUOTE ]
If it was possible to believe in the Judeo-Christian God without suspending the ability to think well, it could of course be worth it. [/ QUOTE ] Or not. Most atheists whose position is philosophically based rather than derived from versions of "there aren't any facts" find a lot of the Jud/xtian belief morally wanting and very unsatisfying. That, 'could be worth it' , may be true of some agnostic approaches, as well. Just wanted to point out that for lots of people the J/xtian line is very unappealling, and would never be 'ok'.. even if it was true.
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