Grand Arrow of God's Debris

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So while my heroes are definately espousing a more Panendeistic view, I seem to be most satisfied with a simple Pandeist notion.

Still, when you consider the scale of all that stuff, I can't see that the differences really matter a bit. I still spend most of my time thinking about what it all means to me in my everyday life. Not the "What?" but the "So what?"

"What" is the pragmatic question asked by Science. "So What?" is the theoretical question asked by Philosophy. Another way to put the question is "why?" And the final answer to that metaphysical conundrum is not restricted to the realm of time and space. That's why we tend to go off the deep end in our search for ultimate answers.

The pragmatic answer to the "so what" question is "not much", if you limit the answer to the here and now. But Deists, and especially Panendeists, are not content to stop the inquiry at the edge of physical reality. Otherwise they would be Atheists or Agnostics.

Helium wrote:

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Still, when you consider the scale of all that stuff, I can't see that the differences really matter a bit. I still spend most of my time thinking about what it all means to me in my everyday life. Not the "What?" but the "So what?"

Yes if you add up all the different hyphenated deisms it would be an interesting excercise as to the significance that the different hyphenated deisms would have when they're distilled down into what it means for our everyday lives.
My theory, unsupported though it may be, is that there are probably no differences. In other words, the ultimate meaning of there actually being a God is probably not much, if at all, affected by what form (or hyphenated deism) one postulates that God manifests itself.
And basically it's to be good boys and girls.

I agree. I think we're all Humanists for all practical purposes.

I think I disagree with Gnomon that the answer to "So what?" might be "Not much".

Let me put it this way... What if Aristotle (a philospher) knew as much about science as we (in this forum) do?

I tend to think that while he might have continued to think about what it meant to live the good life, and about society and justice; I believe that he would have made far different arguments.

My concern is that today's modern Aristotles get so busy "tending to go off the deep end in search of ultimate answers" that they never get around to talking about how to live the good life, or about society and justice.

Science without philosophy is just strings of 1s and 0s... Philosophy without science is just superstition.

TXM wrote:

I think I disagree with Gnomon that the answer to "So what?" might be "Not much".

Science without philosophy is just strings of 1s and 0s... Philosophy without science is just superstition.

Did you notice that I said the pragmatic answer to the "so what" question may be "not much"? In discussions with down-to-earth Atheists, they seem to be much more interested in the practical "what has God done for me lately?" question than in the theoretical "is there a God?" speculations. Since God has never done anything special for them, the so-what adds up to no-thing.

In the Point of Deism thread, I brought up the pointed question raised on another forum : "what is the advantage of Deism?" What is the practical, as opposed to the theoretical, superiority of Deism to Atheism? Putting our Deist heads together, we came-up with not-much as the answer. As I put it, for all practical purposes, I am an Atheist, but for philosophical purposes, I am a Deist.
https://panendeism.forumotion.com/deism-f4/the-point-of-deism-t486.htm

I agree with that last line. As Einstein said, "Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind." To that, I might add : Science without theoretical speculation is dead.

In short, it's great and wonderous to pursue the question of 'what's it all mean' and 'why we are here'; but we should never forget that the yardstick we will be measured by, if indeed our lives should be so lucky to survive the deaths of our physical bodies, will be our actions

Helium wrote:

In short, it's great and wonderous to pursue the question of 'what's it all mean' and 'why we are here'; but we should never forget that the yardstick we will be measured by, if indeed our lives should be so lucky to survive the deaths of our physical bodies, will be our actions

Yes. But the morality of my specific actions is determined by my general worldview---my belief system, my collection of axioms. The Golden Rule is a nice simple rule-of-thumb. Yet the daily interpretations and applications of that generic guideline require a more comprehensive understanding of how the world works, and why---including, if possible, some notion of "what it all means" and "why we exist".

Everyone agrees that "thou shalt not kill", but does that cover murder, war, honor, and hunting for food? That's why the Hebrews had several books of exegesis to expand on the concise commandments directly from the hand of God. Apparently there are always exceptions to a general rule.

Since I don't have any tablets of stone, it is incumbent upon me to learn as much as possible about Nature, and the Designer of Nature, so I can build-up a good personal ethic to guide my choices and actions. That's why I spend so much time dwelling on philosophical and scientific details. I don't know if my disembodied soul will be judged by a king on a throne, or re-assigned by an impersonal karmic force, or just dispersed into the ether, but I want to be prepared for any eventuality.

Live for today, but plan for tomorrow.

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Since I don't have any tablets of stone, it is incumbent upon me to learn as much as possible about Nature, and the Designer of Nature, so I can build-up a good personal ethic to guide my choices and actions. That's why I spend so much time dwelling on philosophical and scientific details. I don't know if my disembodied soul will be judged by a king on a throne, or re-assigned by an impersonal karmic force, or just dispersed into the ether, but I want to be prepared for any eventuality.

Live for today, but plan for tomorrow.

Yeah, I can drink to that. Actually, I am drinking to that.