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• Thursday, October 2, 2008 04:08 AM

  Schroedinger's Cat

  I laughed at the rejoinder to Schroedinger's Cat, "Ah yes, just yesterday I remember hearing about that woman in pakistan who was stoned to death, because she misspoke about Schroedinger's Cat."

  Thanks, very funny. But I think, too, there's something in what the original poster said. Many profound truths in the natural and philosophic realm defy common sense because they defy easy dis-integration into parts. Aristotle described a mode of logic with the law of identity (A=A), and the law of the excluded middle (A, or not A), which left Western thinking collapsed in a heap of jello everytime it hit a paradox. No problem for Aristotle, himself, who had caveats and other excellent modes of thought... but the rest of us are so locked into the one, syllogist, mundane mode of thinking that we can't even get our heads around easy hermeneutics like the tetralemma, eg, A, not A, both A and not A, not both A and not A. But it's called metaphysics for a reason.

  S's Cat is of that ilk, as are transcendental, ultimate truths. They are thought experiments that reveal truth. That's all religions are, people: helpful thought experiments. Many believe them to be divine in origin. I agree with the Talmud scholars, that God is a distant hypothesis, but also with Wittgenstein, who said, "Darüber man nicht sprechen kann, muß man schweigen." The intellectual differences between the beliefs of a thoughtful atheist, a theist, a Buddhist and a Jew are infinitismal -- slightly different trust issues. God, self/no-self, Atman only appear to be widely different concepts. There is nothing inherently illogical about the Holy Trinity, either, or immaculate conception, except to a particularly form of literal, discursive logic. It's not even a speedbump in the road compared to Hindu logic puzzles. Ever tried singing Vedic chant?

  Still, enlightened is as enlightened does. And I think calling religious followers universally idiots discredits Bill Maher more than the subtle intellects and humanists who found serenity and beauty in the contemplative life. Thich Quang Duc, the Vietnamese monk who self-immolated in 1963, remaining composed for the minutes his flesh burned, was in his actions evidently a Boddhisattva, one who has attained enlightenment, but remains to help others along the path. The historical Jesus, and certainly many of the saints, seem also to have been enlightened beings. Buddhism divided into two schools over the question of the Gautama Buddha's divinity; the early Christian church had similar schisms. Less than a hair's breadth of difference exists between perfect and divine. Deciding, a priori, that God does not exist because you hate Republicans is very different than concluding, after much study, debate and contemplation, that God does not exist because it is not useful for Him to exist. The problem for the modern atheist is he too easily dismisses theological notions as primitive superstition, mistaking a charicatured form for the substance, and then too readily congratulates himself on his perspicuousness.

  I don't blindly follow anyone, but I praise and am warmed by the existence of saintly examples and boddhisattvas.

  peace

  —hadrian23 Read hadrian23's other letters
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