Old Project Avalon Forum (ARCHIVE) - View Single Post

trainedobserver · 01-26-2010, 08:52 PM

If something like a god existed would it not be incomprehensible to the human mind? Aren't all concepts of god therefore simply products of the human imagination? Is contemplating the incomprehensible productive?

It is though a person were attempting to describe an object he has never seen performing a function he doesn't understand.

The human species only exists within a tiny sliver of space-time. While we can theoretically comprehend the system to which we belong and the subsystems comprising it we are blind to the super-system in which we constitute the subordinate systems due primarily to the problem of resource limitations. We are resource limited in data and data processing capacity. As a member of the subset we cannot comprehend the superset to which we belong because we do not and can not contain the data necessary to do so.
Example: Describe the entire alphabet only using the first five letters.

So ... it would seem to me that we must as human beings accept our limitations and recognize that we cannot possibly understand or know these things about supreme beings, gods, and the like and that any concepts of them we do hold are wholey products of our imaginations and have no basis in reality. To fail to do so makes us susceptible to our imaginations and the imaginations of others from which we might construct gods and supreme beings to both frighten and console ourselves with.

I was a Christian for over 35 years before I figured out that it all had to be the product of the human imagination fueled by human need. While I found this realization extremely difficult to swallow I nevertheless had to admit to its truth and deal with it. Its just another part of being a human being.

You may argue whether I am an atheist or an agnostic. I say I'm an atheist because I view all human concepts of god as impossible on principle. You however may say I am agnostic in that I recognize the probability that the universe itself is a living being with some sort of consciousness that although not the personal god imagined by many, might fit the bill for a supreme being of some kind although it would still remain incomprehensible.

01-26-2010, 08:52 PM	#90
trainedobserver Avalon Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: USA Posts: 284	Re: Concepts of God If something like a god existed would it not be incomprehensible to the human mind? Aren't all concepts of god therefore simply products of the human imagination? Is contemplating the incomprehensible productive? It is though a person were attempting to describe an object he has never seen performing a function he doesn't understand. The human species only exists within a tiny sliver of space-time. While we can theoretically comprehend the system to which we belong and the subsystems comprising it we are blind to the super-system in which we constitute the subordinate systems due primarily to the problem of resource limitations. We are resource limited in data and data processing capacity. As a member of the subset we cannot comprehend the superset to which we belong because we do not and can not contain the data necessary to do so. Example: Describe the entire alphabet only using the first five letters. So ... it would seem to me that we must as human beings accept our limitations and recognize that we cannot possibly understand or know these things about supreme beings, gods, and the like and that any concepts of them we do hold are wholey products of our imaginations and have no basis in reality. To fail to do so makes us susceptible to our imaginations and the imaginations of others from which we might construct gods and supreme beings to both frighten and console ourselves with. I was a Christian for over 35 years before I figured out that it all had to be the product of the human imagination fueled by human need. While I found this realization extremely difficult to swallow I nevertheless had to admit to its truth and deal with it. Its just another part of being a human being. You may argue whether I am an atheist or an agnostic. I say I'm an atheist because I view all human concepts of god as impossible on principle. You however may say I am agnostic in that I recognize the probability that the universe itself is a living being with some sort of consciousness that although not the personal god imagined by many, might fit the bill for a supreme being of some kind although it would still remain incomprehensible.