You know, that looks a lot stupider on screen than it did in my head. Nonetheless, I'm rooting for the triumph of compassion. And nowadays, the path of compassion seems to coincide with minimizing superstition and dogmatism to an extent. I myself may be against the practice of black magic even if it worked, but frankly, I can't count on the rest of humanity to be so naive. Fortunately, this age has probably produced more intellectuals and pseudo-intellectuals than the rest of human history combined, and these are among the most skeptical population groups of the lot.rotting ham wrote:I meant swinging back towards supernaturalism of the non-Christian kind, like an infinitesimally slow spring whose tension has been released. (my pet theory)
Don't get me wrong. Living in India, I probably understand what the Buddha (and maybe Jesus) tried to accomplish. I don't equate theism and other schools of idealism to superstition and delusion like Prof. Dawkins does. In fact, if you asked me about religion, I'd reluctantly identify with zen. Why not? If I met God or the Buddha on the road, my first instinct would be to kill him.
Look upon me and know... *slash* Meh, it's usually better than dealing with the whole cult later. Some atheists I know sound alarmingly like disappointed cultists to me, just waiting for a credible enough figurehead to idolize. Not finding any, they have chosen to crown that emptiness as the supreme ideal. Not all atheists of course, no offense to mature atheists out there! I'd hate to sound like I'm making hasty generalizations.
ils wrote:But whatever...
PS. A few more random examples of the weirdness of humanity:
http://www.wasan.jp/english/ (those japanese are crazy)
http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/h/hakluyt ... rubruquis/ / http://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/texts/rubruck.html (the part which amused me the most, even more than the faith healer, the witch hunting part and the religious misunderstandings, was the khan's letter)
http://www.strippingthegurus.com/ (filled with juicy little nuggets of misinformation, slippery slope arguments and misses the point entirely in a hundred places, but overall more or less reasonably presented)
http://www.falundafa.org/book/eng/zfl_45.htm (an example of the inner workings of mystical traditions: this is what tantras are like, similar to alchemical texts)