Tag Archives: the ontological mystery

Doubt Concerning Ultimate Claims

Posted on February 14, 2013 by

If someone is making a claim about the ultimate origin of things, and you doubt the claim, you might bring up Herbert Spencer. Spencer was a 19th century philosopher and popularizer of Charles Darwin’s ideas, and for Spencer, beneath all … Continue reading →

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Sink Eye, Space Eye, and The Empty One

Posted on November 19, 2012 by

“Lia-Triple M” (a . k. a. liammm) got a curious result from taking a photo of her sink draining: __________ __________ It’s not just that we’re primed for recognizing faces and eyes; it’s the bottomlessness of the above image that unsettles: … Continue reading →

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What the Lightning Said: My Definition of Art

Posted on April 1, 2012 by

Art, by my definition, is a report of what the lightning said. It’s bound up with the ontological mystery (the mystery of being itself); an artist’s attempt to represent to others an experience of that mystery (what it feels like … Continue reading →

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The Empty Box: The Problem with a Personal God

Posted on July 14, 2011 by

I don’t dismiss the idea that God is a person. I dismiss the idea that you or I, under normal circumstances, can ever know whether or not God is a person and actually is relating to us, at any given … Continue reading →

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Burdens of Proof: Why I’m (Still) an Agnostic

Posted on July 12, 2011 by

Who has the burden of proof on the God question—atheists or theists? I say neither because, when you raise an existential question, the truth is the whole. Nobody gets a free ride or has a prior right to win an … Continue reading →

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The Problem of Pure Consciousness

Posted on June 29, 2011 by

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              . Sunlight rivers through the shimmering  Sycamore tree, pools on the ground, Makes of shadow a living shoreline.  I vibrate there. The juggler’s balls are Frightfully high in the rarified air. Eight Sheriff’s deputies in four cars came, but They did … Continue reading →

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Are Science and Poetry Compatable? Do We Want Them To Be?

Posted on June 27, 2011 by

It’s sometimes suggested that science and poetry are two ways of looking at the world that really don’t have many points of contact. But, curiously, below is one of the world’s greatest living literary critics, Helen Vendler of Harvard, explaining how her early training … Continue reading →

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Today’s Question: Is the Goal of Existence an Epiphany?

Posted on October 5, 2010 by

Is the goal of existence, the end, an epiphany—a vision, as it were of God—as in “I see you”? Or is the goal of existence rational coping with passing appearances, seeking to enjoy one’s existential freedom and independence from the (opaque and … Continue reading →

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Ron Rosenbaum separates the sheep from the asses with one question: why is there something rather than nothing?

Posted on June 30, 2010 by

In a recent Slate article, Ron Rosenbaum affirms his agnosticism against both theists and atheists, and offers atheists in particular a “show me the money” question: Rosenbaum wants atheists to write and tell him how it is that something came from nothing:  … Continue reading →

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The great I don’t know? An agnostic develops serious doubts about his agnosticism, and starts affirming “the great I don’t know”

Posted on May 20, 2010 by

At Andrew Sullivan’s blog today, an agnostic nurse writes movingly about his hospice work: I came into this experience as an agnostic who often had leanings to atheism, but while working with hospice patients my faith in something has been … Continue reading →

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How I Combine Richard Rorty’s Atheist Pragmatism with My “Spiritual Agnosticism”

Posted on January 8, 2010 by

It ain’t easy, and it requires a bit of Kant and Kierkegaard to get there, but below is what I believe at this point in my life, and how I have arrived at believing it. First, here is what I … Continue reading →

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The Universe’s Existence: Is it an Ontological Mystery or Just a Very Complicated Problem?

Posted on January 5, 2010 by

At the heart of the universe are three staggering paradoxes, and one of them, however absurd and inconceivable, must be true: either the universe made itself; or it has always existed; or some self-made or eternal telos is behind it Theists … Continue reading →

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Are Theological Languages Any Good? An Agnostic’s Perspective

Posted on January 4, 2010 by

I like Richard Rorty’s definition of a theory: If it gives us some predictive power, it’s science; if it doesn’t, it’s philosophy. Theology is a form of philosophizing, and therefore a form of theorizing. Theology theorizes under the assumption that IF there … Continue reading →

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Richard Dawkins on “Theo-Masturbation”

Posted on January 4, 2010 by

Earlier today, I noticed that Richard Dawkins said of one of the featured articles at his site (on negative theology): Josh called it ‘theo-masturbation’. Excellent expression, and it perfectly sums up what Karen Armstrong, Terry Eagleton and all those pretentious pseuds do, … Continue reading →

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Quote of the Day (and Funny)

Posted on December 29, 2009 by

From David Berlinski’s book, The Devil’s Delusion: Atheism and Its Scientific Pretensions (Basic Books, 2009, 16-17): Why should a limited and finite organ such as the human brain have the power to see into the heart of matter and mathematics? … Continue reading →

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Neil Young and the Discontinuities of Life and the Self

Posted on December 18, 2009 by

Neil Young as a wise man: Neil Young as a young man: The second video doesn’t embed. See it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWovzUEe4l8

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Evolution v. Creation Watch: How Did Such a Frail, Intricate, and Gorgeous Thing Come into Existence in the First Place?

Posted on December 3, 2009 by

Just asking.

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The Ontological Mystery (the Mystery of Being) Represented in Film

Posted on November 17, 2009 by
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Motorcycle Love: “You live in a box, you drive a box, you work in a box. When you get on those two wheels . . .”

Posted on November 5, 2009 by

Slate has a video series called “Interviews: 50 cents”, in which they have random “man on the street” conversations with people. Slate recently went to the Pomona Fair in Southern California and did an interview with a heterosexual couple into Harley Davidson motorcyles. You … Continue reading →

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Mental Health Break: Barbra!

Posted on November 5, 2009 by
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