Kostabot
I'm a rooster illusion
Originally posted by Lord Lucien
It's from Christopher Hitchens. He said it at the end of an episode of Penn & Teller's Bullshit. I hear people express the concept of 'faith' so often that it's become one of my favorite quotes. I keep it at the top of my profile for quick reference.Without descending in to pedantry, I've never like faith. I'm all for hope and belief, but resorting to a mentality that by definition exists utterly outside observation and empiricism is, as he said, "the sinister thing me."
I get what you're saying, but once again I've never thought of faith as something that cant be practiced without abandonment of reasoning. My faith hasn't yet led me down a path where my reasoning caused me to doubt it. In fact I think having a good sense of reasoning is essential to develop if you are to practice faith in the way I believe it should be practiced.
Also, I don't really see myself as fitting the preconceived stereotype of a person of faith. I don't substitute my reasoning for it, I try to develop a good sense of both, and use them when I intuitively feel they are appropriate. I don't think Faith alone will get me anywhere. It may meet me half way, but I have to prove I'm willing to work for it, and that means using my logic and reasoning to achieve that goal.
You can have faith, but still be a logical, reasonable person who analyzes things instead of blindly accepting them as part of a bigger picture that you just have to believe is for the greater good. Some of the most brilliant minds were men of faith, or identified as spiritual people, and acknowledged that some things are, and may always be outside of the scope typical scientific and empirical observation.
Adopting a rigid and strictly scientific/logical mind set is in my opinion is as narrow sighted as strictly binding your beliefs to religious dogma.
I simply go by my own experiences. I'm not arguing your point, i have to add, just explaining as best as I can how my mind works, and why I believe that's the best way for me.
I hope that post made some sense. I had next to no sleep last night, and that took me ages to write. 😛