tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7154359965221795553.post8102895132161275169..comments2024-03-01T14:27:35.794-08:00Comments on Albion Awakening: Belief in God is a Moral MatterBruce Charltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7154359965221795553.post-10491050299730674462018-02-25T16:44:11.738-08:002018-02-25T16:44:11.738-08:00This post resonates heavily with me, as do much of...This post resonates heavily with me, as do much of what you write. I recognize the kind of "partial intelligence" you point out, and the personality often tied to it. I believe I'm a person of roughly normal intelligence, but heavily tilted to the visionary/artistic side, at the expense of the rigidly analytical one. For example, I think very vividly and almost exclusively in pictures - and always had a very hard time with numbers (to my own detriment). So while I'm inept at that "left-leaning" sort of thing, I suspect I have a heightened aptitude for spiritual perception (which might of course be wishful thinking). This would entail spirit is percieved from the right brain and "spelled out" in the left. I have observed so many stereotypical "math types" with the mechanical intelligence you describe, coupled with emotional immaturity and spiritual ignorance, that there might be something to it. They seem to be able to assess the world very well from a certain mode of operation, yet are not able to assess the bigger picture as a more nuanced mind would be prone to.<br /><br />So for me as a highly aesthetic (but perhaps not conventionally intelligent) person, accepting God/spirit just came naturally. Although, it is a process I am still growing into, as true belief certainly is not as easy as buying a pair of pants and stepping into them the next moment. The downside of being a poetic nature is of course also never being able to quite feel at home in this world.Adilhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12458942641355740167noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7154359965221795553.post-55338832068886278082018-02-23T12:30:16.770-08:002018-02-23T12:30:16.770-08:00One final comment just in case anyone is intereste...One final comment just in case anyone is interested! I would distinguish between a passive atheism and an active, more assertive one and it is only the latter I am talking about here.William Wildbloodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13231219533755925897noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7154359965221795553.post-59872936500472494852018-02-23T08:57:33.876-08:002018-02-23T08:57:33.876-08:00Also I would say that you seem to me to be someone...Also I would say that you seem to me to be someone who is genuinely trying to understand (which I would say is God moving in you) but there are also people who try not to understand and that's what I mean by it being a moral matter. Quite different sets of people.William Wildbloodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13231219533755925897noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7154359965221795553.post-65845933482733540932018-02-23T08:54:53.777-08:002018-02-23T08:54:53.777-08:00What I am talking about here is similar to what St...What I am talking about here is similar to what St Paul talks about<br />in Romans 1:20-22 when he says (basically) that the knowledge of God is inscribed on every human heart.<br /><br />"For since the creation of the world his invisible attributes--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, because they are understood through what has been made. So people are without excuse.<br /><br />For although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or give him thanks, but they became futile in their thoughts and their senseless hearts were darkened.”<br /><br />But actually I’m talking more about anti-theists than atheists so not so much non-believers or people who have genuinely struggled to believe, but are not (for the time being) able to, as people who actively reject God. <br /><br />In the modern world the cards are stacked against belief so I don’t blame anyone for taking an agnostic position but I do think there are people who actively do not want to believe in God for the old non serviam reasons, and it is them I am taking about here. There are people who don’t or can’t believe for genuine reasons (though I think they could if they listened to their heart more) and there are also people who have this spiritual sickness of the will I spoke of in the post. The two are quite different and I may not have differentiated sufficiently between them here though I did say this “Many people in the modern world are non-believers because that is the default position in the world today. They follow the norm, and though they are responsible for their non-belief, they are less at fault than someone like this person who has reacted to the question of spiritual truth not with a mere lack of interest but with an active antipathy.”<br /><br />But I admit that I wrote this in polemical mode and would not be sonconfrontational in conversation!<br />William Wildbloodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13231219533755925897noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7154359965221795553.post-75698388516236484652018-02-23T06:32:49.090-08:002018-02-23T06:32:49.090-08:00I was an atheist for many years, and none of this ...I was an atheist for many years, and none of this really hits home and makes me think, "Yes, that's exactly what I was like!" The idea of "hating truth" doesn't make any sense, nor does the idea of hating a God whom you believe to be a fictional character. My transition from theism to atheism was marked by an overwhelming feeling of sadness and distress; there was certainly no feeling of <i>wanting atheism</i> to be true! Certainly I did (and do) have plenty of character defects, as everyone does, but not (I think) the ones you identify, and not to any unusual degree. <br />I suppose you might assume that, on some subconscious level, I <i>did</i> hate truth and hate God and want him not to exist, and of course there's no way to prove or disprove the hypothesis that people are motivated by Freudian-style subconscious motivations of which they themselves are ignorant.<br /><br />One flaw I do have, which seems relevant to your analysis, is that I'm not a very loving or love-oriented person; deeply attached to a handful of people, casually benevolent towards others, but nothing deeper than that. I suppose that might cause the Christian message to resonate less with me, and that that lack of resonance (rather than any active antipathy) might have subconsciously biased my approach to the evidence.<br /><br />As far as I know, William, you have no direct experience of being an atheist, but are trying to understand, from the outside, something which, as a "natural" theist, you perhaps just <i>cannot</i> understand. I wonder if any other former (or current!) atheists who read this posts see themselves in your description.Wm Jas Tychonievichhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07446790072877463982noreply@blogger.com