We all paint the world in colors of our own choosing. The secular person is just honest about that fact and doesn’t pretend that his/her version applies universally.

Brick Bungalow - 11 November 2009 01:34 PM

We all paint the world in colors of our own choosing. The secular person is just honest about that fact and doesn’t pretend that his/her version applies universally.

When we impose meaning on the world what we are doing is saying something like “A means X - to me,” or “A means X - as I see it.”  It is egocentric.  When a religion does it, it is trying to tell us how we have to interpret meanings.  This sort of stuff, of course, important for us to get along in the world (not necessarily the religious part, but we still need some sort of framework to interpret events).  But it also gets in the way of accepting that the world has an intrinsic meaning that can be experienced non-conceptually.

can zen - 11 November 2009 10:53 AM

The “things’ we invent that are supernatural are otherwise called ‘minds’...

I can not accept the mind as supernatural, but rather an emergent property of an evolutionary chemistry experiment gone awry.

Brick Bungalow - 10 November 2009 02:09 PM

Meh. In order to dismiss purpose you must define purpose.

Regarding “the purpose of life,” I dismiss it because it depends on intent, which requires agency.

purpose |ˈpərpəs|
noun
the reason for which something is done or created or for which something exists

So to be clear, I am reading “the purpose of life” as “why does life exist,” or “for which reason was life created.”

@Sam - we need a glossary.