Wu Wei-- Heathen Conference
I have said this a few times, and thought it seems to go against my own point here, it's what I feel I should say. This is directed more towards those who are atheist-agnostics, non-believers, et cetera. It's all the same to me, we don't claim to know everything, just what we can surmise on the best evidence.
And we are, in the SB, I believe, good-intentioned. At least, the very most of us. The good many of us argue against organized religion and the ideas that are so tossed around in these threads that I could only wonder at the amount of brain-sweat that has been expelled.
And, of course, the theists have been hard at work as well, and if they didn't have their thinking caps on concerning their ideas all the time, it is certain you wouldn't still be doing this at the very moment I am typing this post. I have been very impressed with it.
Now, to my point. From an atheist's point of view, religions have a mix of each of these in them, according to our point of view that they are man-made constructs.
-Psycho-Social Stability & Emotional Comfort
-Sense of Externally-Placed Worth
-Tribalist Norms & Values For Symbolic Or Hygenic Effect
Others I'm missing can be addressed, but that is not the main point. Point is, there are benefits. And good science is out there now, educating students all over America about the modern theories of things and not holding them totally to what we might consider more primitive ideas of knowledge. And these are interesting times to live in, to see all of this clashing.
I do not believe in God more than I do as a concept. But at the same time, I feel anger at what this concept can do when it has outlived its usefulness in ways but not in others. People need reassurance. And though it sickens me at times to see people cling to the idea of an ancient world flood and a big boat full of animals just to hold these ideas together, I know that...that's not what they see. They aren't trying to spite me. They just want to get by. They're just in the processes of something started ages ago. And I still hate the thing. But I have to live with knowing I'm in a delusive state when I hate it.
If we have schools getting the proper notion to the children out there, who cares about the Creationist Museum? Religion, fundamentalism, whatever picks at you. I know you want to help people. I do, too. But really, if people cling to it so much, they must not be ready to let go. The older generations fall, and so will we.
Religion is often a conditioning that can be found in many layers of a person. It is the heart of a culture, and picking at it, we sometimes can create a bigger mess, a torn person. That's where Wu Wei comes in. Wu Wei is a Zen Buddhist concept that originated in Taoism. It means to let things go their own path and to know when to act and when not to act.
My main issue here is to debate whether these ZU religious discussions are truly fruitful or not. Whether it is worth the effort we are making, if there is more good done than ill. We keep going over the same things. And though it is strange to say, knowing is not everything. You don't need to know a cup is called a cup to drink from it.
Those who trust the pious Creationists are not going by science to validate their claims.
Those who trust the studious scientists are not going by religion to validate their claims.
These are dualistic opposites as long as the arguments come from these sides. Both sides have simply been conditioned by their ways of thinking, regardless of stimulus, to make the conclusions that they have. There is no Absolute Truth sensory-organ. There is a brain for storing and organizing DATA.
So, really, how futile is it? Is this Wu Wei-or not? I merely ask you to ask yourself what progress has been made as far as you have seen it. And if this is all for fun, for just passing the time, that is fine. I am not trying to judge you all by asking this. I am asking myself now. It is Serious Business about Serious Business.
And with that, I end the post with a quote from the Tao Te Ching:
The Sage is occupied with the unspoken
and acts without effort.
Teaching without verbosity,
producing without possessing,
creating without regard to result,
claiming nothing,
the Sage has nothing to lose.