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how is this a humble stance?

S

Straw Dog

Well-Known Member
Willamena said:
It takes as much hubris to believe that we are insignificant as that we are significant. What is humble is recognizing no "us," only "god."
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My thinking has come to this kind of realization as well. It's impossible to adequately gauge our "significance" just based on our relative size to the rest of the cosmos. Just because something is incredibly small doesn't mean it has no significance nor does something being incredibly large mean that it holds much more significance. Perhaps it's not a matter of significance since that's in the eye of the beholder, but rather narrow-mindedness which views humanity as separate from the cosmos or better than it in a dominating fashion. It may also be wrong to think the universe is better than us. We are in the universe and the universe is within us. I mean after all, we tend to hold a lot of significance towards one another.
 
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Alex_G

Alex_G

Enlightner of the Senses
waitasec said:
to actually believe that this universe was created with us in mind?

doesn't it take a fair amount of hubris to believe such a thing?


Unbelievable Pictures Showing How Small Earth Really Is!
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I think it’s probably virtuous and healthy to have a reasonable amount of humbleness, but also a degree of self-interest and self-importance, to feel empowered and authentic as an individual in life. I do agree that a belief that we have some cosmic importance, with specific design and care for our day to day life by an all-powerful being is not exactly humble. But I’m sure many people who hold such a belief might very well be humble in other aspects of their life, or maybe not.

There is some fuzziness i find surrounding religion, religious belief and humbleness. It’s almost like a confusion of term definition and the emotions/states of mind aimed at being described, such that the religious 'follower' is in awe of God, his grandeur and power, recognises the insignificance and un-importance of themselves in comparison and echoes humbleness in that sense. But at the same time, as i mentioned, the belief itself holds many aspects that seem so completely not humble.

Alex
 
ChristineES

ChristineES

Tiggerism
Premium Member
I apologize, waitasec, for putting a silly comment in the middle of a serious discussion. I am feeling a little silly today. It was out of place. :)

Edit: Even I, as a theist and a Christian, don't believe that the entire universe was made just for us.
 
Willamena

Willamena

Just me
Premium Member
waitasec said:
.

can you explain that please?
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"I am significant," is pride. It can be healthy ego if it elevates right thinking, right action or right being, or it can be hubris, elevating and inflated its own worth. "I am insignificant compared to the greatness of (insert something else here)," is pride that is warped: it inflates the other, and in doing so deflates itself. "Deflation" is not in itself "humbling." It can even be damaging to a healthy ego.

"I am" is ego, contained in both pride and hubris. "God is" is mirrored ego; "I am," mirrored as the world. If the ego is healthy, and if it holds a healthy image of the mirror, the two can merge. Ego can vanish into the mirrored being til there is nothing left that is not god. That is the ego humbled.
 
Sleeppy

Sleeppy

Fatalist. Christian. Pacifist.
Hmm.. Is hubris your favorite word? :)

If we believe in an all-knowing Creator, we sort of have to believe the universe was created with us in mind.. because we're apart of the creation, and are the most advanced species around.
 
S

Straw Dog

Well-Known Member
Sleeppy said:
Hmm.. Is hubris your favorite word? :)

If we believe in an all-knowing Creator, we sort of have to believe the universe was created with us in mind.. because we're apart of the creation, and are the most advanced species around.
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What do you mean by "advanced"? Do you just mean the most "intelligent" or "complicated"? Even if that were the case, then we're only the most advanced species that we happen to be aware of, and that's not saying much since we're only now being capable of discovering other earth-like planets that may also harbor life, if not intelligent life. I don't necessarily see our common traits relative to other species as automatically better either. Consider how dependent we really are on the greater ecosystem we are a part of. Without bees, for example, things would become pretty difficult all around.

Bees are the most invaluable species on Earth, and why // Current TV
 
Sleeppy

Sleeppy

Fatalist. Christian. Pacifist.
Straw Dog said:
What do you mean by "advanced"? Do you just mean the most "intelligent" or "complicated"? Even if that were the case, then we're only the most advanced species that we happen to be aware of, and that's not saying much since we're only now being capable of discovering other earth-like planets that may also harbor life, if not intelligent life. I don't necessarily see our common traits relative to other species as automatically better either. Consider how dependent we really are on the greater ecosystem we are a part of. Without bees, for example, things would become pretty difficult all around.

Bees are the most invaluable species on Earth, and why // Current TV
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Intelligence, capability, among other things. You're right, I don't presume we're the pinnacle of creation within the entire universe. We are the rulers of our domain, however. I believe in angels, demons, and God. I'm sure there are even more beings than these. As far as the bees, I don't value them over humans, but I understand the point that they are an essential part of our earthly existence at this point.
 
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