Indeed the Christian, and even wider Abrahamic experience is absolutely brimming with examples of those people who "found god".
One wonders about this absentee landlord, that the big guy would even have to be found.
From another point of view, hoe does one recognize that they have truly and completely found god, does it come with an official manual? Isn't it equally probable, and certainly possible that they have merely found religion, which is anything but god?
Ultimately, any assertion regarding Abrahamic higher reality arrives with a moral authority, an implicit belief that some baisic goodness has been disposed. Such becomes a value judgement bestowed by others which has been weaponized throughout history, thus bringing into question this moral award.
Regarding Descartes, I could never get a certain image out of my mind, of him dissecting living dogs and exclaiming in surprise why they howled so, since they were mere machines.
The one point I will concede to Descartes is that after long contemplation he concluded the ancients used a different math to his own. In this at least, he was correct.
This is a great piece and you do a good service to Descartes.
For me, cogito ergo sum is not the summit of the mountain, nor the mountain itself.
"I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst." is at the top. It is the beginning and end. Cogito is an assistant along the way.
One need not be a philosopher to "find God".
Indeed the Christian, and even wider Abrahamic experience is absolutely brimming with examples of those people who "found god".
One wonders about this absentee landlord, that the big guy would even have to be found.
From another point of view, hoe does one recognize that they have truly and completely found god, does it come with an official manual? Isn't it equally probable, and certainly possible that they have merely found religion, which is anything but god?
Ultimately, any assertion regarding Abrahamic higher reality arrives with a moral authority, an implicit belief that some baisic goodness has been disposed. Such becomes a value judgement bestowed by others which has been weaponized throughout history, thus bringing into question this moral award.
Regarding Descartes, I could never get a certain image out of my mind, of him dissecting living dogs and exclaiming in surprise why they howled so, since they were mere machines.
The one point I will concede to Descartes is that after long contemplation he concluded the ancients used a different math to his own. In this at least, he was correct.
This is a great piece and you do a good service to Descartes.
For me, cogito ergo sum is not the summit of the mountain, nor the mountain itself.
"I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst." is at the top. It is the beginning and end. Cogito is an assistant along the way.
Where does God fit into this picture for you?
Brilliant, too much for one post. The aside about the perception and education necessary to put philosophy in service of life warrants it's own post.