Dragaera

Damiano's Lute

David Dyer-Bennet dd-b at dd-b.net
Wed Nov 27 15:14:11 PST 2002

Mia McDavid <mia_mcdavid at attbi.com> writes:

> Yeah, but it's still *there*, isn't it?  The differences in our
> feelings, perceptions and personalities exist, whether they are
> material or explicable or quantifiable or not.  DDB would probably
> argue that they are entirely the result of neurochemical activity in
> our brains, and that if they difffer sharply from the norm, we will
> someday be able to "correct" them.  He would then remove from my
> personality the flaw that makes me feel supported by the love of God.
> 
> Maybe, but he's speculating.  He would say I'm speculating, too.  No,
> I can't pick God up in my hands and bring him to you.  And, I can't
> say; "At precisely 6:00 this evening, God will prove that he exists by
> writing "peace on earth" in the sky."  I have experience of God that
> is entirely subjective, immaterial, and illogical, and I find it quite
> convincing.

Sure, but we know quite a lot now about where such feelings come
from.  Brain chemistry gone wrong, basically.

> There's a famous quote that says "Faith is the substance of things
> hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."  DDB has his own
> faith--similar to Asimov or Roddenberry, he seems to believe in the
> future of humankind, ever evolving toward something wiser and more
> rational.  I find his faith quite as repellent as he finds mine.  As
> to whose hopes will be rewarded, we just don't know yet, do we?

I have no such faith, sorry.  I have *hope*, a very different thing.
Faith, for me, is one of the dirtiest of dirty words. 
-- 
David Dyer-Bennet, dd-b at dd-b.net  /  http://www.dd-b.net/dd-b/
 John Dyer-Bennet 1915-2002 Memorial Site http://john.dyer-bennet.net
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