How to suck at your religion

[Kidlicious]

What difference does it make if there is such a thing?

A being with a soul is better. If you are only flesh you might as well be dead already.

[DaShi]

If that were true all Asians would be aetheist.

[giblets]

A being with a soul is better. If you are only flesh you might as well be dead already.

So you attach value to this thing and claim that life is pointless without it but you can't actually offer a description of what it does?

[Kidlicious]

So you attach value to this thing and claim that life is pointless without it but you can't actually offer a description of what it does?

Your natural instinct to survive is pointless. You will die. But there is a point to the natural instinct to live in that it allows for the species to produce future generations.

I never said that I can't describe the soul. The soul is that part of you that becomes itself. As you realize how pointless it is to keep trying to survive when you will certainly die you look for meaning, some point to your life. That's when your soul starts to become itself.

[giblets]

So you haven't offered any reason to believe in "souls" other than "human beings often search for a meaning in existence". That fact could easily be explained as a product of human intelligence and self awareness.

[Kidlicious]

So you haven't offered any reason to believe in "souls" other than "human beings often search for a meaning in existence". That fact could easily be explained as a product of human intelligence and self awareness.

That's a very good reason indeed. We know that there is a thing called meaning that exists and that it isn't just a product of our own intelligence. So we are right to search for meaning. Why would it be intelligent to search for meaning if meaning is not a thing that exists.

[giblets]

Because you don't actually know if existence has a purpose? Searching for something that may not exist is not necessarily stupid.

[-Jrabbit]

We know that there is a thing called meaning that exists and that it isn't just a product of our own intelligence.

Please. That could be nothing more than wishful thinking. What if "meaning" is just an artificial construct that serves to keep us striving to survive and improve? Our actions would remain the same, whether or not some higher/meta "meaning" actually exists.

[Kidlicious]

Please. That could be nothing more than wishful thinking. What if "meaning" is just an artificial construct that serves to keep us striving to survive and improve? Our actions would remain the same, whether or not some higher/meta "meaning" actually exists.

What I'm saying is that it's possible to be a being who doesn't simply try to survive and improve in the material sense. Therefore meaning isn't simply a tool that we use for that purpose. I don't believe that we search for meaning just to survive. In fact, we ask ourselves, "is survival in the flesh all there is?"

[Kidlicious]

Because you don't actually know if existence has a purpose? Searching for something that may not exist is not necessarily stupid.

We search for it because of what we see in the world, our experience. Our experience is telling us that there is meaning. I'm talking about science as well as philosophy. Doesn't the scientist ask, "what does this mean?"

[giblets]

I don't see how anything we observe can't be explained by materialist assumptions. If we don't need to invoke any sort of objective "meaning of life" or the concept of souls to explain how the world works, then those concepts are useless.

[Kidlicious]

I don't see how anything we observe can't be explained by materialist assumptions. If we don't need to invoke any sort of objective "meaning of life" or the concept of souls to explain how the world works, then those concepts are useless.

Why are you so concerned with how the world works? What about how you work? This is about you and whether you have a soul or not. What good would it do to look out at the world to see if you have a soul or not. My point is that even if you are a materialist you still understand from your experience that meaning is a real thing.

[giblets]

Why are you so concerned with how the world works? What about how you work? This is about you and whether you have a soul or not. What good would it do to look out at the world to see if you have a soul or not. My point is that even if you are a materialist you still understand from your experience that meaning is a real thing.

I am a part of the universe, so "how do I work" is nothing special. What I know about "meaning" is that it is a word with a definition. Obviously my brain can think about "meaning" but just because there's a word in my head doesn't mean that it corresponds to something that actually exists.

[Tuberski]

42

ACK!

[Kidlicious]

I am a part of the universe, so "how do I work" is nothing special.

You don't know how yourself works but you hope to know how the universe works? You see if you have a soul, but you don't know it, then you don't know yourself. And if you don't know yourself, you don't know jack about the universe. Everything you know is wrong.

What I know about "meaning" is that it is a word with a definition. Obviously my brain can think about "meaning" but just because there's a word in my head doesn't mean that it corresponds to something that actually exists.

blahblahblah. You know that things have meaning but you talk nonsense. How can you know anything if you don't know that meaning is a real thing.