tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-553799694247296931.post6006622986116761950..comments2023-04-03T05:32:23.561-05:00Comments on DairyStateDad: Michael Dowd's God (Updated)DairyStateDadhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09100373589936758473noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-553799694247296931.post-73367652162790916242009-12-29T13:10:28.392-06:002009-12-29T13:10:28.392-06:00Thank you, Mr. Dowd. For lazy readers like me, her...Thank you, Mr. Dowd. For lazy readers like me, here's a direct link to that podcast: <a href="http://bit.ly/1PppN2" rel="nofollow">http://bit.ly/1PppN2</a>. I think you'll want to right-click on it to open in a new window.DairyStateDadhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09100373589936758473noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-553799694247296931.post-431276497575534642009-12-29T11:51:01.988-06:002009-12-29T11:51:01.988-06:00Thanks for this post, DaryStateDad!
As a minor po...Thanks for this post, DaryStateDad!<br /><br />As a minor point of clarification, I'm really neither a theist nor an atheist; I'm an transtheist - an emergentist. I'm a naturalist, an evolutionary humanist. <br /><br />Theism and atheism, as concepts, both came into being long before we had an evidential understanding of how the world, in fact, came into being. Given what we now know (not just believe) about evolutionary emergence, I see "theism" and "atheism" as outdated, unnecessary, and unnecessarily divisive concepts.<br /><br />When I use the word "God" in my book and public program, I'm always and only meaning a mythic-meaningful (for those who find the word meaninful) personification of reality. Throughout history, humans have always used personal metaphors and analogies when trying to describe and relate to a that which they could neither predict nor control, yet which they were nonetheless inescapably confronted by and bound to deal with on a day-by-day basis, week-by-week, lifetime-by-lifetime basis. Some experienced and thus personified reality as like a Mother, and others as like a Father. Still others personified reality (i.e., circumstances beyond their control) as Lord or King. Today many speak of Reality as a whole as "the Universe" or "Cosmos". <br /><br />It surely didn't take a theological rocket scientist to figure out that if you trusted what was undeniably real (i.e., had "faith in God") your life worked better than if you continually resented or resisted what was fundamentally and inescapably so. Naturally and inevitably, myths and legends about how "God" (i.e. reality) was our side and speaks to us uniquely flourished all over the world.<br /><br />The paradox today, of course, is that some of those who are speaking most "prophetically" (unflinchingly and uncompromisingly) on behalf of reality are the New Atheists, as I discuss on my podcast: The New Atheists as God's Prophets: http://bit.ly/1PppN2<br /><br />In any event, thanks again for the positive mention of some of my ideas. I greatly appreciate it!<br /><br />Co-evolutionarily,<br /><br />~ MichaelMichael Dowdhttp://michaeldowd.orgnoreply@blogger.com