If this topic already exists and I failed to see it, I apologize (I looked through 5 pages or so and didn't see it, so I figured I was safe).
I'd like to start by saying that I'm a noob (go easy!) and to keep this post as clear as possible I'll explain my personal "beliefs" (if you can call them that). I'm not an atheist, nor am I really really agnostic. I don't think that there is a god, but I don't know that there isn't. I was strongly atheist up until a year or two ago and I had a kind of "revelation," if you will. Who am I to say that there isn't a god? It's kind of arrogant to make a claim like that. Equally to say that your god is the and that he/she/it/they absolutely exists. So I've opened myself up to new ideas, I've become more interested in philosophy.
Something that I have been reading on this year that I have found to be remarkably interesting is the "theory" (it's not really a theory, but I'll use theory for lack of a better term) of the unverse being a hologram. This theory has been developed based on work by physicist David Bohm and a couple neurologists working with the holographic properties of the brain. If you haven't done any reading on it before, check the book called "The Holographic Universe" by Michael Talbot, and this article by the same author (I'm not sure exactly where it originally appeared):
twm.co.nz/hologram.html
It's easy to relate this, though, to pantheism, but I don't necessarily think that would be accurate. If we're to believe that the universe really does exist as a hologram, with information being the interference patterns on the holographic film, and conciousness being the laser to expose the image, I don't think the universe itself is concious. It may contain conciousness, and that conciousness may manifest itself as creatures with brains, but I don't think that the universe itself is aware. Similar to me saying that my body is not aware, but my brain is. I am my brain, my body is the vehicle that keeps my brain alive and allows my brain to communicate, I am not my body.
If this were true, though, it would certainly make supernatural phenomena a little bit easier to believe and make steps towards explaining. Further evidence that is - perhaps mysterious - but does support this theory (among others) is the Global Conciousness Project:
noosphere.princeton.edu
Anyway I could probably go on for a while, I should probably stop myself. It's a thought though.
I'd like to start by saying that I'm a noob (go easy!) and to keep this post as clear as possible I'll explain my personal "beliefs" (if you can call them that). I'm not an atheist, nor am I really really agnostic. I don't think that there is a god, but I don't know that there isn't. I was strongly atheist up until a year or two ago and I had a kind of "revelation," if you will. Who am I to say that there isn't a god? It's kind of arrogant to make a claim like that. Equally to say that your god is the and that he/she/it/they absolutely exists. So I've opened myself up to new ideas, I've become more interested in philosophy.
Something that I have been reading on this year that I have found to be remarkably interesting is the "theory" (it's not really a theory, but I'll use theory for lack of a better term) of the unverse being a hologram. This theory has been developed based on work by physicist David Bohm and a couple neurologists working with the holographic properties of the brain. If you haven't done any reading on it before, check the book called "The Holographic Universe" by Michael Talbot, and this article by the same author (I'm not sure exactly where it originally appeared):
twm.co.nz/hologram.html
It's easy to relate this, though, to pantheism, but I don't necessarily think that would be accurate. If we're to believe that the universe really does exist as a hologram, with information being the interference patterns on the holographic film, and conciousness being the laser to expose the image, I don't think the universe itself is concious. It may contain conciousness, and that conciousness may manifest itself as creatures with brains, but I don't think that the universe itself is aware. Similar to me saying that my body is not aware, but my brain is. I am my brain, my body is the vehicle that keeps my brain alive and allows my brain to communicate, I am not my body.
If this were true, though, it would certainly make supernatural phenomena a little bit easier to believe and make steps towards explaining. Further evidence that is - perhaps mysterious - but does support this theory (among others) is the Global Conciousness Project:
noosphere.princeton.edu
Anyway I could probably go on for a while, I should probably stop myself. It's a thought though.
