Atheists and the supernatural.
A rather misleading title, I assure you.
In truth, all technology so advanced as to be unrecognizable as technology is traditionally labeled supernatural.
My phone is something off of Star Trek, my coffee maker from Hogwarts, and this laptop has a magical touch screen that I swear can read my moods and freeze up accordingly.
It is supernatural to me. I cannot see this technology exist in nature. My brain cannot fathom that the little parts inside these machines were mined from the ground or chopped from a forest. It does not recognizably come from nature, therefore it is supernatural.
The human body, the environment around us, and even the particles that make up our being were once attributed to spirits, the will of the gods and a thousand other fairy tales. As science progressed, this plane of imagination grew ever smaller. Things that held mystery and studious lore have eventually faded into the boring textbooks of school children, medical students and hungover college kids.
Science have always had hints of things to come.
Daniel Rutherford knew that there were 'other kinds of air' as he trapped mice under glass jars and burned away their oxygen with a candle flame. He had no name, no word for this tasteless, odorless, invisible gas, but he knew something existed.
In 1683, an entirely new dimension was opened up before the eyes of Antony Van Leeuwenhoek. He used a window to observe for the first time...bacteria. Invisible. Tasteless. Odorless, but none the less powerful enough to effect life and death over the entire planet.
How many more such discoveries await us?
How many other dimensions, invisible variables and life altering impacts are in the future.
I cannot believe that technology has fulfilled it's development, or that we even know what is left to discover.
Without divine guidance, we accept that our lives are a blip on the radar of eternity.
Much like the theory of 'other gasses' our theories of 'other dimensions' or 'other universes' might well be common knowledge some day.
The supernatural might well become the unfathomably but none the less incredibly natural in a few generations.
As atheists we do not believe in a god. As people, some of us suspect that there is something more...something having nothing whatsoever to do with Heaven, Hell, Mt. Olympus or Nevernever.
Perhaps you've seen hints of it, and like antique coal miners, hope to cage a canary for further investigation.
Until science proves to me that there is something 'other' I take all assumptions and guesses (even my own) with skepticism. After all, the greatest doctors of their day once were certain that ill health came from an imbalance of humours.
Please don't let that keep you from sharing, however.
Who would have thought that the real reason was tiny little 'animalcules' running around in our bodies?
Consider this an exercise in imagination as much as investigation?
Ready?
Share!
In truth, all technology so advanced as to be unrecognizable as technology is traditionally labeled supernatural.
My phone is something off of Star Trek, my coffee maker from Hogwarts, and this laptop has a magical touch screen that I swear can read my moods and freeze up accordingly.
It is supernatural to me. I cannot see this technology exist in nature. My brain cannot fathom that the little parts inside these machines were mined from the ground or chopped from a forest. It does not recognizably come from nature, therefore it is supernatural.
The human body, the environment around us, and even the particles that make up our being were once attributed to spirits, the will of the gods and a thousand other fairy tales. As science progressed, this plane of imagination grew ever smaller. Things that held mystery and studious lore have eventually faded into the boring textbooks of school children, medical students and hungover college kids.
Science have always had hints of things to come.
Daniel Rutherford knew that there were 'other kinds of air' as he trapped mice under glass jars and burned away their oxygen with a candle flame. He had no name, no word for this tasteless, odorless, invisible gas, but he knew something existed.
In 1683, an entirely new dimension was opened up before the eyes of Antony Van Leeuwenhoek. He used a window to observe for the first time...bacteria. Invisible. Tasteless. Odorless, but none the less powerful enough to effect life and death over the entire planet.
How many more such discoveries await us?
How many other dimensions, invisible variables and life altering impacts are in the future.
I cannot believe that technology has fulfilled it's development, or that we even know what is left to discover.
Without divine guidance, we accept that our lives are a blip on the radar of eternity.
Much like the theory of 'other gasses' our theories of 'other dimensions' or 'other universes' might well be common knowledge some day.
The supernatural might well become the unfathomably but none the less incredibly natural in a few generations.
As atheists we do not believe in a god. As people, some of us suspect that there is something more...something having nothing whatsoever to do with Heaven, Hell, Mt. Olympus or Nevernever.
Perhaps you've seen hints of it, and like antique coal miners, hope to cage a canary for further investigation.
Until science proves to me that there is something 'other' I take all assumptions and guesses (even my own) with skepticism. After all, the greatest doctors of their day once were certain that ill health came from an imbalance of humours.
Please don't let that keep you from sharing, however.
Who would have thought that the real reason was tiny little 'animalcules' running around in our bodies?
Consider this an exercise in imagination as much as investigation?
Ready?
Share!
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Aric on -
I'm content just staring at the cover. Actually, it sounds pretty interesting. I'll probably get around to reading it eventually, but right now I've got way too many books that I need to read.
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Permalink Reply by Reggie on -
The "too many books" thing is why I want to read this rather than I have read (past tense) this.
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Permalink Reply by Danielle on -
I have a word document 2+ pages long (two column) of books I want to read and own a good 15 books I have yet to read. Trust me I understand haha.
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Permalink Reply by Danielle on
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That's a great book. Physics of the Impossible is a great one, too, along the lines of this post.
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Permalink Reply by Chris H on -
Busy with Greatest Show on Earth, but will surely take this next. (With an old Robert Ludlum - The rhineman exchange in between as light entertainment) Love the cover.
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Permalink Reply by Michael on -
The Mayans fused their science with religion to amaze its population with accurate predictions of celestial spectacles one of which will occur in 2012. The transit of Venus at the winter solstices. According the History Channel , the only vantage point to view this will be on Apocalypse Island.
A half a world away from the Mayan Civilization. A newly discovered carving twice the size of the Sphinx sits in a badly decayed state, but with man made feature observable. If true what great pangs they went through to marvel the populace. I am the all powerful Wizard of Oz, but don't pay attention to the man behind the curtain.
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Permalink Reply by douglas carson on -
After suffering through this "History"{?} Channel program, I still fail to be convinced this Sphinx like feature is anything but a natural rock pinnacle like dozens of others I have seen and climbed.
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