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From: tim@cmu-cs-k.ARPA (Tim Maroney)
Newsgroups: net.religion
Subject: Re: WHY ?!
Message-ID: <252@cmu-cs-k.ARPA>
Date: Sun, 17-Feb-85 15:27:41 EST
Article-I.D.: cmu-cs-k.252
Posted: Sun Feb 17 15:27:41 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 21-Feb-85 03:19:08 EST
References: <209@cmu-cs-gandalf.ARPA>
Organization: Carnegie-Mellon University, CS/RI
Lines: 29

No, no, you're going about this all wrong.  You are starting with an
exoteric view of religion, which requires that a person believe in some real
sentient being or beings.  This is a foolish thing to do unless you have
incontrovertible proof, and no one does.  (It particularly annoys me when
people say, "Well, I speak with Jesus all the time, and that's how I know he
exists", as if a Hindu could not say exactly the same thing about Krishna!)

So my answer is, don't believe.  The idea of divinity and deity is a model
of experiences that are difficult to deal with in other ways.  When a
skilled person invokes (for instance by prayer), certain unusual mental
phenomena occur.  These can be used to change behavior or increase insight.
The fact that one is standing there acting as if there was a real "god" does
not mean that there is; in fact, I feel that the "gods" are probably
psychological in nature.

Now, if you want to know why you should believe that invocations do produce
these phenomena, you will have to do the experiments yourself for a few
years.  Unfortunately, real success will require fastidiously observed daily
invocations, mastery of skills such as acting, visualizing, and speaking,
close study of various religious traditions and scriptures, and various
other difficulties.
-=-
Tim Maroney, Carnegie-Mellon University Computation Center
ARPA:	Tim.Maroney@CMU-CS-K	uucp:	seismo!cmu-cs-k!tim
CompuServe:	74176,1360	audio:	shout "Hey, Tim!"

"Remember all ye that existence is pure joy; that all the sorrows are
but as shadows; they pass & are done; but there is that which remains."
Liber AL, II:9.