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In reply to the discussion: Happy Birthday, Carl Sagan! [View all]Starboard Tack
(11,181 posts)20. In further tribute to the memory of this amazing man.
A brilliant mind. A scholar, scientist, philosopher and spiritual agnostic.
On Science and Spirituality
Science is not only compatible with spirituality; it is a profound source of spirituality. When we recognize our place in an immensity of light‐years and in the passage of ages, when we grasp the intricacy, beauty, and subtlety of life, then that soaring feeling, that sense of elation and humility combined, is surely spiritual. So are our emotions in the presence of great art or music or literature, or acts of exemplary selfless courage such as those of Mohandas Gandhi or Martin Luther King, Jr. The notion that science and spirituality are somehow mutually exclusive does a disservice to both.
― Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark
On Religion
How is it that hardly any major religion has looked at science and concluded, This is better than we thought! The Universe is much bigger than our prophets said, grander, more subtle, more elegant? Instead they say, No, no, no! My god is a little god, and I want him to stay that way. A religion, old or new, that stressed the magnificence of the Universe as revealed by modern science might be able to draw forth reserves of reverence and awe hardly tapped by the conventional faiths.
― Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space
On Atheism
"An atheist is someone who is certain that God does not exist, someone who has compelling evidence against the existence of God. I know of no such compelling evidence. Because God can be relegated to remote times and places and to ultimate causes, we would have to know a great deal more about the universe than we do now to be sure that no such God exists. To be certain of the existence of God and to be certain of the nonexistence of God seem to me to be the confident extremes in a subject so riddled with doubt and uncertainty as to inspire very little confidence indeed".
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Your posts were hidden by a jury of your peers because they were deemed as such.
trotsky
Nov 2012
#72
"Spirituality" can mean simply being in awe of natural processes, like sunsets or glaciers.
trotsky
Nov 2012
#31
I don't think I'm comfortable yet moving along. There is some confusion to clear up.
trotsky
Nov 2012
#38
Just to clarify, do you now wish to have your text from post #32 read like this:
trotsky
Nov 2012
#41
It's not about me being confused, it's about you repeating ridiculous straw men positions.
trotsky
Nov 2012
#66
The questions you are asking indicate you have not done much reading on the subject.
trotsky
Nov 2012
#69
Nah, I don't think so. You can go back to playing with Clean Hippie now. Enjoy!
Starboard Tack
Nov 2012
#81
So then, are you claiming that there is more than one way of knowing? Interesting.
humblebum
Nov 2012
#75
So then when an atheist makes the claim that something has indeed been created from nothing,
humblebum
Nov 2012
#40
Yes, the claim has definitely been made more than once here that something has come from nothing.
humblebum
Nov 2012
#46
Actually "really is" are not my words. Not much room for interpretation there.
humblebum
Nov 2012
#30
BTW. Where did I ever claim that you said "I cannot grasp it therefore it does not exist?"
humblebum
Nov 2012
#76