The Deist Miasma Part III -- The Tenacity of Purpose

[peristaltor]

I started writing the Deist Miasma series with high hopes, but little else. I was missing something, a crucial piece of evidence (as opposed to suspicion) that may have finally surfaced. It's a preliminary study that requires some expansion, but it reinforced the niggling thoughts that started this series enough to motivate me to finish it.

Comments

[peristaltor]

I've never found beauty and solace in the god-less viewpoint myself, only (like you) emptiness. I have found, though, intrinsic and sublime beauty in the fact that the viewpoint is probably correct. The emptiness of meaning in our existence doesn't bother me any more than the fact that poop stinks. It's just another fact of life.

But that doesn't wash with the unwashed faithful. They need comfort as they stare into that void the future will bring. Believing the void to be filled with manna for dinner and gold like glass and fluffy clouds on which to recline with their lutes while they play for their long-dead grandparents helps them cope.

In the movie Flight from Death, the producers included some fascinating research. The control group was given a questionaire filled with banal questions. The test group's questionaire was subtly laced with references to the fact that someday, we all die. The two groups were then let alone in a room with just a few objects and given a mundane task. One task involved hanging a picture; the other, to extract as much sand from a bowl of ink as possible. The catch: there were only a few objects in the room to use toward completion of the tasks. In the picture hanging room, there was a large crucifix lying on a table instead of a hammer. In the sand room, the only cloth one could employ as a filter was an American flag.

The control group picked up the cross and pounded the nail in the wall without trouble; the test group for the most part avoided this. Some tried taking off their shoes and banging with the heel, even when they wore sneakers. The control put the flag over the empty bowl and dumped the ink-soaked sand; those in the test group made awful messes, presumably to avoid soiling the flag.

The researchers revealed that even the hint of death drives people unconsciously toward philosophies that promise eternal life, either by offering life after death or a place in a society that will survive them. The icons of these philosophies take on not just a sacred quality, but a subconscious sacred-ness that defies reason itself. It's impossible to listen to reason and logic when the logic centers of the brain are deactivated, isn't it?

(Remember the resurgence of flags after 9/11? One thing I noticed: the more/bigger the flags on a car, the more aggressive/dickish the driver. I've noticed something similar but not as obvious on fish/cross bearing cars.)

Sagan's poetic interpretation of us as the universe's means of discovering the universe is just an attempt to shift the gaze away from the void, to sanctify, if you will, our pursuit of knowledge through science. It's another bit of propaganda, but one of which I approve.

[mothwentbad]

Hmmm. Maybe. I'm still sort of wary of pigeonholing myself as the analogous "evangelist" for atheism. Believing in something because it's nice and has a satisfying beauty to it is a pretty dangerous fallacy, and I'd rather confront it than appeal to it. I'd feel too disingenuous to even attempt an argument like that, since I don't really feel it much myself. But maybe it does have an effect when used by someone who really feels strongly about the legacy and potential of our evolution, since some things may still yet come to pass. It just doesn't have anything to do with why I don't think gods are real.