Hmmmmmm... A very complex syhthesis.

At its base you see religion as a symbol laden mechanism that unlocks potential. It is a way to access the divine in a specific way that allows that energy to manifest around a specific agenda or system of belief.

Pretty damn cool and hip, even. Mending fractured faith and severed reason is quite a project in a post modern McWorld versus Jihad environment.

However, the material hazard for all of us is that a clean third of the world would like to slip fingers into the hair of any whoe point out the short comings of their world view and drag a sharp and unpleasant knife across the throat of dissenting opinion.

Of course, science could just be another competing cosmology. One answer might be not to spin a more flexible symbolic system of interpretation out of whole cloth, but rather to see how the war and weave of sprirituality could be spun into science.

Said another way,are faith and reason dualistic, or are they more like energy and mass, flip sides of the same coin.

As a side note, you rock.

This sounds not unlike a modernized Daodejing (Tao Te Ching).

Very well written, but this comes as no surprise. I've nothing to add, other than to say that I'm always happy to learn that there are established hypotheses, schools of thought etc, that are similar to ideas and beliefs that I have had instinctively. You've just given me some great materials to start reading up on. Thanks.

What can the Earth be thinking, if we are its mind? Always wondering about the next world. Dying to get there. As if to prove that this terran body could never be enough. And our sciences have as much to do with its destruction, as our religions do with ours. I'm sure the optimism will pay off, just not in money. I want a ziti pizza, dammit!

"We place no reliance on Virgin or Pigeon. Our method is Science, Our aim is Religion"
-- Astra Margenitum

Thank you, Flux. What a beautiful article. I'm so excited to read more from you.

Oh, how assy of you.

You know, I'm really glad that I overcame my aversion to 'certain' things to read this. It was very enjoyable. Though i am an atheist, those who know me well always describe me as deeply spiritual, and i can attest to a deep sense of connection to the earth, and a deep affection for it, and it's inhabitants.

No matter who much of a rationalist any of us are, I don't think any of us can escape, entirely anyway, those things that bind us to nature.

We are bound; we are married - and divorce is impossible.

Bourdieu makes more sense to a drunk man than your ramblings...

So, I ask you, in a way, doesn't it all boil down to ones view of suffeing. Eastern religions teach us to detach from it, Western religions teach us to embrace it. Science attempts to explain it. I realize these are VERY broad generalizations but, I stand behind my premise that the common thread between science and all religions is an attempt to assuage the human condition.

math and love are the only truths.

fuck the rest.

Careful, there. If he says "I love you for your Mind." he really means "I want to Fuck your Brains out."

in general, i think it's fair to assume that most people are looking for a reason for their hardships, not their joy.

well, i am not trying to convince you, i am merely stating my opinion. i think that people are more prone to revel in life's unexpected pleasures and revisit the unexpected pains. western religion would have us focus on our sins and "repent" while eastern disciplines would caution us not to attach too much importance to either. behavioral science would lead us to an analysis of our prior actions. whatever your school of thought might be, i believe a lot more thought is "spent" on suffering than joy. unless perhaps you are a buddha

It may just be my pessimistic nature speaking, but I believe you have oversimplified a dilemma that has plagued the world since the formation, and rise to dominance, of the Judeo-Christian theologies. The beliefs in one "True" god and eternal life in Heaven or Hell set the ground work for the view that the Earth is not a living entity and we are not animals that share "Her" with other species. And the re-accepting of this "pagan" ideology could plant the seeds of doubt in a person belonging to one of (I like to call) The Big Three religions.

The belief that we, as humans, are connected physically, consciously, and spiritually to the Earth and all her inhabitants is as old as humanity itself. "Heathen" views from all over the world echo this way of thinking with only slight variations in practice. Something must be said for this coincidence of cultures, who have never come into contact with one other, having similar practices other than it being "the work of the Devil". But part of Christianity's campaign to "enlighten" and convert other cultures to their way of thinking also meant the vilification of the pagan beliefs of harmony, gender equality and individuality. Not that their intentions aren't noble because they truly believe this is what is right by Gods words, but the old saying "The road to Hell is paved in good intentions" must be invoked do to the harm that it causes the world.

Though, even at their cores, Judeo-Christian and Pagan beliefs are similar (see, The Golden Rule) the difference in opinion of what happens when one leaves the physical world will keep members of The Big Three from accepting anything that does not coincide with, what they believe, the "Word of God". For theirs is a culture of fear and that fear will always keep them stagnant as the world evolves, and the need for a de-devolution of thought grows.

I think Scientist and Pagans could find a way to co-exist, learn from one another and grow, but they are both hampered by the dominance of Judeo-Christian beliefs. Healthy debates, form the benefits of stem cell research to the avoiding of global warming, cannot be held in a productive forum due to their unwavering views on the corporal world and after life. The world is in a downward spiral of war, poverty, inhumanity, pestilence and greed but the "God will take care of us" mentality keeps any steps to counter them at bay.

As I said in the beginning, I am a pessimist, not by choice, but by conditioning. I admire your optimism and share the thought of the simple fix, but there are to many monkey-wrenches being thrown into the machine. We can pull them out and try to repair the damage, but not till the saboteurs see the error in their thinking will we be able to make any real progress in healing the Earth. And that's not likely to happen anytime soon.