Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: $Revision: 1.6.2.13 $; site uiucdcs.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!floyd!harpo!ihnp4!inuxc!pur-ee!uiucdcs!liberte From: liberte@uiucdcs.UUCP Newsgroups: net.religion Subject: Re: Converts from Evidence - (nf) Message-ID: <33000039@uiucdcs.UUCP> Date: Sun, 22-Apr-84 21:20:00 EST Article-I.D.: uiucdcs.33000039 Posted: Sun Apr 22 21:20:00 1984 Date-Received: Tue, 24-Apr-84 07:33:19 EST References: <1700018@iuvax.UUCP> Lines: 29 Nf-ID: #R:iuvax:1700018:uiucdcs:33000039:000:1339 Nf-From: uiucdcs!liberte Apr 22 20:20:00 1984 #R:iuvax:1700018:uiucdcs:33000039:000:1339 uiucdcs!liberte Apr 22 20:20:00 1984 /**** uiucdcs:net.religion / pyuxn!rlr / 6:32 pm Apr 17, 1984 ****/ Sorry, but part of being rational involves not "trying out" things because they seem to be the thing to do at the moment. Such tentative "acceptance" involves entering a tautological and self-referential belief system which it is extremely difficult to escape from. Rationality demands that one know the nature of such a system before even tentatively accepting it. /* ---------- */ Admittedly, "trying out" things is ambiguous. On the one hand it may involve dropping everything and moving into a new, captivating mode. On the other hand, it may be as simple as saying "If were true...". In order to do so, you have to entertain the idea of it. There is a broad range of "trying out" between these extremes. I like Marilyn Ferguson's (Aquarian Conspiracy) notion of "experimental belief" in which you try it out to the extent of finding out how it works for you. If it works, that doesnt make it "true" in some objective sense but it is subjectively "true" for you. At the same time, I believe it is possible to gain objective evidence for the existence of God and other mysteries. But you have to be looking for it to find it. Daniel LaLiberte, U of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Computer Science {moderation in all things - including moderation}