Ten beliefs

[jay]

1. I believe in an intangible universe, both alongside and part of the tangible universe. Numbers and ideas exist here. So does spirituality.
2. I believe in a supreme organizing principle -- God, although not necessarily the male hairy thunderer figure. I don't see what meaning gender has in that context.
3. The universe may be an unfair place, in finite time, but it all eventually works out.
4. I'm a Christian, although I think that there are also other Ways.
5. I believe that we humans are not alone in the universe.
6. I believe in the Golden Rule as a guiding principle.
7. I believe that we're here to love and to be vessels of love to others.
8. I believe that science and rationality gives us tools for appreciating the universe, by gaining deeper insights.
9. I believe in stirring-up things occasionally, just to keep everything honest.
10. I believe that I'm making a difference.

(repeated here from an email reply of mine last month to archway)

Comments

[brian1789.livejournal.com]

I had meant the latter Rule, coming out of my own cultural context. And I don't know how things get temporarily organized... but entropy is undeniable.

But it is hard for me to see how different emergence would alter the break between physically-measurable entities and the non-measurable. Countable, perhaps...

[purpletigron.livejournal.com]

The simple example which came immediately to mind is magnetism. We experience magnetism as 'abstract', through secondary effects e.g. on ferrometals. But birds seem to be able to directly sense magnetic field lines. Our abstract is their 'direct experience of the senses'.

As you point out, physical scientists are comfortable with 'concrete' phenomena as being physically measurable, even if not directly accessible to unaid human senses. Still, it would be very interesting to meet a species which had a direct 'entropy sense'! Highly interesting possibilities for discussions of 'deity as organising principle'.