interesting... my story is much the same, except that it was emotions that dragged my ass through the mire... my lovely intellect is what saves me. in the end though, you see, we came to much the same conclusions, though i see intellect and passion (not spriit... we can identify emotion, there is no reason to believe in spirit).
Though I didn't mention it because I didn't want to get into details, when I was a kid, it was just as much an emotional thing as it was physical, and my intellect is what protected me. The problem was, that about the time I hit junior high school, the threat had been removed from my life, but I continued letting logic and my intellect dictate my existence because I just didn't know any better. It made my early adult life a complete shambles. I hated myself and I hated life in general, until one night by complete accident, I found that other part of me that I had long forgotten existed. Since then, my life has been good. I wake up every day happy to be here, no matter what life throws me.
One more thing, when I say "spirit" I'm not talking about religion or ghosts, even though that's where religious comes from... and although many of our emotions can emanate there, "emotions" isn't the correct way to label it either.
It's that thing inside all of us, that tells us what logic can't. It's where gut feelings come from, and where that little voice that tells us that something isn't right comes from. I call it our "spiritual" side because it answers questions, solves problems and instills realities, that unlike our logical side (or animal side), aren't derived from what we can see, hear or touch.
AMAZING! again we agree... sorta... i would replace "logic" with "faith" and it rings absolutely true.
It can go both ways, that's why I said there needs to be a balance between the two. People need to acknowledge both sides, rather than letting one side or the other dominate.... I was just pointing out that when people rely too much on their logical side (a better term might be "animal" or "intellectual" side), they are going to make a lot of mistakes and a lot of bad decisions, especially when it come to "people" issues.
Reason, though, explains faith a lot better than faith explains reason... faith condemns reason (especially the Christian faith) and yet cannot explain why we have it. reason often condemns faith... but goes a lot further in explaining why we have it.
and so forth,
You used the word "explain" a lot, which is a term that refers to using logic and intellect to base conclusions upon. When it comes to religion, those who don't embrace it and choose to evaluate it exclusively with their brains by applying logic and intellect, can only come to one possible conclusion... That there is no God, therefore religion isn't real and simply doesn't exist.
When it comes to people like myself who also
don't embrace religion, we evaluate it from both a logical, as well as spiritual perspective, and most (including myself) come to a completely different conclusion. If you ask me:
Do you believe there is a God?
A: There could be, I don't know.
Is religion real or is it an illusion created in the minds of the weak and foolish?
A: It certainly real to believers, and it may well turn out to be an illusion, but I would not call those people either weak or foolish. Anyone who embraces a religion that teaches it's followers to be better human beings, such as the Judea Christian religion, should be respected by society for their faith, not ridiculed.
Also, I don't think religion condemns logic and reason, any more than logic and reason condemns religion. Again, we are talking balance. The overwhelming number of Christians in the world, don't condemn reason, nor do they condemn non-believers. The ones who do, are the ones who rely too heavily on their spiritual side, and reject their animal side (logic).
Thanks for the replies and the kind words.
