Saturday, September 15, 2007

This Guy's Blog

Got me to thinkin'...

When no one knew that the earth revolved around the sun, when no one had any evidence to support the theory, and everyone could clearly see the sun moving across the sky every day, did that mean that it was not the truth? My answer would be no. Even though there was no scientific proof of it, and no one could explain it, in my view it was still true that the earth was going around the sun.

We live in a three-dimensional world. Seems like three oughta be plenty, but recently I read that mathematicians have proven the existence, mathematically, of at least 6 other dimensions. They are mathematically proven to exist, and yet we can't yet experience them in any way.

In order to not believe in a god, do you have to not believe in anything that isn't scientifically proven? Does it undermine your belief system (I'm tempted to call it a religion....) if you allow in anything that can't be explained by a peer-reviewed journal?

In my case, I can't look around me and experience life and still believe that reality is limited to that which I can see and understand or even to that which can be seen and understood by the most learned people and institutions. How can we, knowing how much about our world has been discovered and comprehended gradually over hundreds of years, imagine that now we know all there is to know? That what we don't know now can't be known?

Does believing that when you blow the seeds off a dandelion and make a wish, it might come true, preclude one from being an atheist in good standing?

1 comment:

Frank Baron said...

As a practicing Head-Scratching Shrugger, I can't, in good conscience, answer your question about keeping oneself in the Atheist's Good Book (hehehe).

But I believe wishes can come true.