Tell me about what you believe

[Carl Cahill]

Hello!

My name is Carl, and I’m a student at a small Christian college. For one of my courses we are instructed to ask individuals of differing belief systems for answers to the following questions and write a paper comparing and contrasting those answers. Mainly, I am looking for individuals of non-Christian religions and belief systems. I would appreciate anyone who takes the time to respond to each question. Thank you!

What is prime reality? (By this I mean, what is the final, uncreated, self-existent reality? An atheist would say the material universe, I would say God)

What is the nature of external reality? (Is the world around us just matter, or are there supernatural aspects to it?)

What is a human being? (For instance, is a human being just an intelligent animal or something more?)

What happens to a person at death?

Why is it possible to know anything at all?

How do we know what is right and wrong (morally speaking)?

What is the meaning of human history? (Is there a meaning, point, or goal to the whole of human history?)

What personal, life orienting core commitments do you have because of your answers to the questions I have asked you (How does your belief system impact your life)?

 

[YmirGF]

Hello!

My name is Carl, and I’m a student at a small Christian college. For one of my courses we are instructed to ask individuals of differing belief systems for answers to the following questions and write a paper comparing and contrasting those answers. Mainly, I am looking for individuals of non-Christian religions and belief systems. I would appreciate anyone who takes the time to respond to each question. Thank you!

Wooooot. Survey questions! I'm so weak, I cannot resist answering...

What is prime reality? (By this I mean, what is the final, uncreated, self-existent reality? An atheist would say the material universe, I would say God)

Interesting question, but one that I do not feel I am in a position to give a definitive answer. In my 20's I probably would have blathered on about reality for several pages. Now, at 62, I'm no longer quite so sure... though I am still a strong atheist.

What is the nature of external reality? (Is the world around us just matter, or are there supernatural aspects to it?)

External reality is that which carries on without our intervention or appears the same (or similar) from several perspectives. (a tree, a flower.. a child's smile...) Technically speaking, the nature of external reality is that it is always in flux or in perpetual change.

What is a human being? (For instance, is a human being just an intelligent animal or something more?)

I am not your average atheist, so strap in for a sec. This might get a bit rocky. The human animal is indeed a clever animal. Our main weapon is our intelligence. Stealth and brute force rank FAR behind.

What happens to a person at death?

In short, psychologically, "Whatever they believe happens, will happen." There is no standard "death experience" per se aside from the rather obvious physical extermination that can take a billion forms.

Why is it possible to know anything at all?

Obviously, otherwise we would be discussing this over a campfire in a cold cave...

How do we know what is right and wrong (morally speaking)?

That is a variable, sadly, and has innumerable factors. Our moral compass is dictated by our life experience.

What is the meaning of human history? (Is there a meaning, point, or goal to the whole of human history?)

I am linguistically skilled enough to insert any meaning I wish into virtually any area I wish. I won't go so far as to say that our lives are meaningless as we are beings of consequence and so our actions DO matter in larger terms. We are just one species muddling though existence doing what we think is right. We didn't come with an owner's manual contrary to popular opinion.

What personal, life orienting core commitments do you have because of your answers to the questions I have asked you (How does your belief system impact your life)?

My beliefs about reality affect my direct experience of said reality. It is for this reason, that the foibles of my own psyche MUST relentlessly check with objective reality lest my insanely creative imagination sweep me away in a heartbeat. I am mindful and compassionate... Living is not an exact science.

 

[Unveiled Artist]

Hello!

My name is Carl, and I’m a student at a small Christian college. For one of my courses we are instructed to ask individuals of differing belief systems for answers to the following questions and write a paper comparing and contrasting those answers. Mainly, I am looking for individuals of non-Christian religions and belief systems. I would appreciate anyone who takes the time to respond to each question. Thank you!

What is prime reality? (By this I mean, what is the final, uncreated, self-existent reality? An atheist would say the material universe, I would say God)

What is the nature of external reality? (Is the world around us just matter, or are there supernatural aspects to it?)

What is a human being? (For instance, is a human being just an intelligent animal or something more?)

What happens to a person at death?

Why is it possible to know anything at all?

How do we know what is right and wrong (morally speaking)?

What is the meaning of human history? (Is there a meaning, point, or goal to the whole of human history?)

What personal, life orienting core commitments do you have because of your answers to the questions I have asked you (How does your belief system impact your life)?

To put the answers in perspective you have to be open to other beliefs that one part may or may not hold and let go of generalizations. For example, I am an atheist and I am a Buddhist. I do not believe deities exist and there are deities in The Dharma.

There are many seemingly contradictions when you already have definitions to words not everyone agrees with. Beliefs and worldviews are highly personal. So, I'd set aside what you think you know to what people actually believe that may or may not align with how you define the word(s)....

Helps with understanding answers without seeing it through bias lenses.

 

[Curious George]

Hello!

My name is Carl, and I’m a student at a small Christian college. For one of my courses we are instructed to ask individuals of differing belief systems for answers to the following questions and write a paper comparing and contrasting those answers. Mainly, I am looking for individuals of non-Christian religions and belief systems. I would appreciate anyone who takes the time to respond to each question. Thank you!

What is prime reality? (By this I mean, what is the final, uncreated, self-existent reality? An atheist would say the material universe, I would say God)

Prime reality is the noumenal. We can agree that our phenomenal experience necessitates a noumenal existence, but we cannot know that noumenal existence separate from our phenomenal experience.

What is the nature of external reality? (Is the world around us just matter, or are there supernatural aspects to it?)

I would say information. No, nothing supernatural.

What is a human being? (For instance, is a human being just an intelligent animal or something more?)

An animal.

What happens to a person at death?

Their body ceases to function.

Why is it possible to know anything at all?

Because, we experience, and we think.

How do we know what is right and wrong (morally speaking)?

Based on our thoughts, our experiences, and our evolution.

What is the meaning of human history? (Is there a meaning, point, or goal to the whole of human history?)

There are many. But this meaning is always subjective. If there is an objective meaning, we would have no way to determine it.

What personal, life orienting core commitments do you have because of your answers to the questions I have asked you (How does your belief system impact your life)?

None. My core commitments are derived from my thoughts, experience, and evolution. The meta analysis of how humans as a group interact with reality in no meaningful way impacts my interaction with reality concerning mu core commitments.
@YmirGF (tagging the other strong atheist so you can group us)

 

[Jainarayan]

Aww what the heck...

1. What is prime reality? (By this I mean, what is the final, uncreated, self-existent reality? An atheist would say the material universe, I would say God)
I am Hindu, so I'd have to say it's Brahman, the ground and basis of all there is. It's actually all there is.

2. What is the nature of external reality? (Is the world around us just matter, or are there supernatural aspects to it?)
Both. I don't think of the world as 'illusion' the way people think illusion is. The world is real enough to our senses, but it's not what reality actually is.

3. What is a human being? (For instance, is a human being just an intelligent animal or something more?)
It's both. Because Brahman is all there is, we are embodied Brahman. Brahman is saccidānanda (Sanskrit for "being, consciousness, bliss") but we don't remember that

4. What happens to a person at death?
We (Hindus) largely, if not universally believe in reincarnation based on our accrued karma from past lives.

5. Why is it possible to know anything at all?
Because we still have a spark of the knowledge of our true selves.

6. How do we know what is right and wrong (morally speaking)?
We have scriptures, books, examples of whom we consider righteous persons and the gods, personal lessons.

7. What is the meaning of human history? (Is there a meaning, point, or goal to the whole of human history?)
To exist. It's the nature of existence to exist.

8. What personal, life orienting core commitments do you have because of your answers to the questions I have asked you (How does your belief system impact your life)?

• I try to personally commit no hurt to other beings (I'm not vegetarian, but I don't hunt or kill my own food... someone else does the dirty work),
• I try to see God in all but sometimes I'm a dismal failure.
• I try to be as honest and loyal as possible, I do what I think is the right thing even if it's not the right thing for me (lessons of Lord Rāma).

 

[sealchan]

Hello!

My name is Carl, and I’m a student at a small Christian college. For one of my courses we are instructed to ask individuals of differing belief systems for answers to the following questions and write a paper comparing and contrasting those answers. Mainly, I am looking for individuals of non-Christian religions and belief systems. I would appreciate anyone who takes the time to respond to each question. Thank you!

I'm a Christian but I appear a lot like an atheist, plus I have a deep appreciation for the world's myths. These questions will be good one's for me to answer for myself in any case.

What is prime reality? (By this I mean, what is the final, uncreated, self-existent reality? An atheist would say the material universe, I would say God)

It can be God who is the God of creation but that is unobservable. What is observable is the material universe. Posing God as an uncreated, final, self-existent reality is a useful psychological idea.

What is the nature of external reality? (Is the world around us just matter, or are there supernatural aspects to it?)

That reality which exists outside of the representation of the mind although it also includes the human mind. So the external is inseparable from the internal.

What is a human being? (For instance, is a human being just an intelligent animal or something more?)

A human being is a biologically evolved species that has the ability to label itself and others (as Adam did in Genesis at God's direction). Consciousness arises as a function of the brain which has evolved to represent the "external" reality.

What happens to a person at death?

Their body dies, their consciousness ends.

Why is it possible to know anything at all?

Complex, adaptive systems such as the brain are able to record and represent in internal states of behavior what occurs outside of the mind-brain.

How do we know what is right and wrong (morally speaking)?

This is an evolutionarily evolved function of the mind-brain that involves "valuation" or what C.G. Jung terms the feeling function. The feeling function evaluates reality in the context of the usefulness ideas or objects or events related to one's and one's group's survivability.

This is on of the functions of myth per Joseph Campbell.

What is the meaning of human history? (Is there a meaning, point, or goal to the whole of human history?)

The meaning of human history is co-created by the universe in which the human story plays out. The story itself is a product of cultural creativity and preferential selection. The various stories thus produced yield different "worlds" in which individuals can loose themselves and find themselves. This is one of the functions of a myth per Joseph Campbell.

What personal, life orienting core commitments do you have because of your answers to the questions I have asked you (How does your belief system impact your life)?

Because of my personal experience of God in dreams and in other psychological experiences, I have motivated to study the world's great epics and to speak to the need for a continued effort to promote new mythic literature for the benefit of people today and to fulfill a need for finding meaning in our individual lives even as our collective reality changes more and more rapidly.

 

[sun rise]

First, welcome to RF. I hope you stick around. To your questions

What is prime reality? (By this I mean, what is the final, uncreated, self-existent reality? An atheist would say the material universe, I would say God)

To me the prime reality is God.

What is the nature of external reality? (Is the world around us just matter, or are there supernatural aspects to it?)

The world as we experience it is an illusion. God alone is real.

What happens to a person at death?

People go to the astral plane and review their past life. If their life was positive, they experience great joy which some call heaven. If their life as on balance negative, the experience the learning that some call hell. Once their learning is complete, they are born on earth again, reincarnated, to take their next step.

Why is it possible to know anything at all?

The answer depends on what you mean by "know". If you are referring to the world of illusion, the world of facts, the answer is the brain. If you are referring to reality, the answer is that God who dwells in our "hearts" knows.

How do we know what is right and wrong (morally speaking)?

People have inside them a "compass" which is the Divine. If they are responsive to that compass then they automatically are drawn in a positive direction. For Christians, Luke 17:21 expresses that idea to me.

What is the meaning of human history? (Is there a meaning, point, or goal to the whole of human history?)

The purpose is to realize God. In Christianity, Matt 5:48 expresses this. The goal is for all souls to have this realization.

What personal, life orienting core commitments do you have because of your answers to the questions I have asked you (How does your belief system impact your life)?

My answer is that my life is oriented around the spiritual path. I have weaknesses and challenges, but my goal is expressed by "God alone is real and the goal of life is to be united with Him through love" This automatically orients my life to try to be of service.

 

[Brickjectivity]

What is prime reality? (By this I mean, what is the final, uncreated, self-existent reality? An atheist would say the material universe, I would say God)

What is the nature of external reality? (Is the world around us just matter, or are there supernatural aspects to it?)

What is a human being? (For instance, is a human being just an intelligent animal or something more?)

What happens to a person at death?

Why is it possible to know anything at all?

How do we know what is right and wrong (morally speaking)?

What is the meaning of human history? (Is there a meaning, point, or goal to the whole of human history?)

What personal, life orienting core commitments do you have because of your answers to the questions I have asked you (How does your belief system impact your life)?

External reality is unknowable, however I think it is one possible set of orderly values. I think it is something like Informational Structural Realism, and I think we exist in what we might call an abstract mathematical relation in which all of our actions and thoughts are contained along with all atoms, particles etc. God is "Spirit" I think is better translated as "God is conceptual," and I view a lot of modern sermons as dissonant, crowd pleasing pandering. There is no material universe at all.

A human being is a person who can determine what is moral or not and who is not murderous. That is, they value other human beings holding the ability to judge morally of high import. A human being is more than an animal for this reason. Therefore it is more honorable to be disciplined, to keep your word, to hold to your decisions and not waver. Animals cannot, but humans can. The day that a machine can choose between right and wrong and value others for this quality I will consider it human and to have a spirit and to be my sibling.

At death several things appear to happen, but it is now known because of Einstein that in fact all points in time are permanent. Therefore death is not real. The person still lives but at an earlier time. They may also have a higher analogue that continues to be in time, but their physical imperatives and desires are over. They are no longer like us or people, and they no longer make choices. Eventually time itself dies, too probably; but that is also merely the appearance of an end. It is as if time is always starting over from every point and also ending at every point.

Why it is possible to know anything? There could be more than one way of knowing things. Our thoughts are bound to time, so we only think as time passes. Thought may not be limited to that. It could be that there is a kind of knowing that equals and surpasses our thoughts. Our thoughts process information. The kind of thought that would exist outside of time would not process information and would simply be one way and unchanging at all. Therefore it seems likely to me that God would have this sort of unchanging thought instead of thoughts like ours which change over time. I think we don't know anything but merely observe what is knowable and in small pieces.

Knowing what is right and wrong is called 'Free will'. You either believe we have it or you don't. There's no proof for some things. I have explained above how it could be, but I think it can not be proven whether it is.

The meaning of human history is a choice about whether life is a good thing. Either you choose life or death. Is it better to be or not? You choose, and that is the meaning of history I think. Most of history seems to boil down to that, and we cannot seem to get any deeper beneath the quick. Its a moral choice, and it has to do with love, compassion and all the other wonderful things that only a moral person can appreciate.

 

[SalixIncendium]

I'll play...

What is prime reality? (By this I mean, what is the final, uncreated, self-existent reality? An atheist would say the material universe, I would say God)

The Absolute, a.k.a. Brahman.

What is the nature of external reality? (Is the world around us just matter, or are there supernatural aspects to it?)

The reality perceived by the ego-self is illusory.

What is a human being? (For instance, is a human being just an intelligent animal or something more?)

A human being is an illusory vehicle whose purpose is to experience temporal existence.

What happens to a person at death?

I was here before birth, and I will survive death of the mind and body. I do not die.

Why is it possible to know anything at all?

I know what I know because I experience.

How do we know what is right and wrong (morally speaking)?

My moral compass is a culmination of my experience and my dharma.

What is the meaning of human history? (Is there a meaning, point, or goal to the whole of human history?)

To experience.

What personal, life orienting core commitments do you have because of your answers to the questions I have asked you (How does your belief system impact your life)?

Understanding that all that I experience is me and that I am all that I experience leads me to love others and everything as I do myself.


**The above it not intended to be presented as a universal truth. My answer are representative of my own worldview.