Re: God

Posted by Jochen Fromm-5 on
URL: http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/God-tp7596233p7596276.html

Daniel Dennett writes in "Breaking the spell" that philosophy asks questions that may not have answers while religion proposes answers that may not be questioned. 

-J.

-------- Original message --------

From: Prof David West <[hidden email]>

Date: 5/21/20 16:46 (GMT+01:00)

To: [hidden email]

Subject: Re: [FRIAM] God

Certainly. I apologize if I implied otherwise.

"What is the function of that?" seems to be a strange question — a disguise for a different type of question like, "what is the evolutionary advantage?

My reaction to the article was along the lines: Does DMT, at the micro-dose level in the human brain, contribute a biological evolutionary advantage along the lines of nuanced sensitivity — helping make more precise distinctions to sensory input and therefore increase survival odds in some subtle way. The belief in "Other" or "God" is just a side effect?

Fast forward a few millennia and the side-effect that had little or no consequence vis-a-vis biological evolution suddenly becomes a vulnerability —a contra-survival trait—  in terms of socio-cultural evolution?

[Yes, I am being a bit sloppy and or metaphorical as I toss about the the term evolution.]

davew


On Wed, May 20, 2020, at 3:36 PM, [hidden email] wrote:

> Ok.  But I can ask "why", right?
>
> Nicholas Thompson
> Emeritus Professor of Ethology and Psychology
> Clark University
> [hidden email]
> https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/
> 
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Friam <[hidden email]> On Behalf Of Prof David West
> Sent: Wednesday, May 20, 2020 3:29 PM
> To: [hidden email]
> Subject: Re: [FRIAM] God
>
> Who said anything about a function?
>
> A simple observation: every culture of which we are aware express some
> sort of belief in the supernatural - there is marginal consistency
> among expressions of that belief. Burials with artifacts / food stuffs
> / staged body positioning / etc. are interpreted as expressions of
> supernatural belief in prehistoric cultures. Again just an observation,
> no interpretation, no assignment of meaning, no explantation.
>
> davew
>
>
> On Wed, May 20, 2020, at 10:22 AM, [hidden email] wrote:
> > Wait a minute?
> >
> > What is the function of believing in higher spirits?
> >
> > Or is it a spandrel?
> >
> > N
> >
> > Nicholas Thompson
> > Emeritus Professor of Ethology and Psychology Clark University
> > [hidden email] https://wordpress.clarku.edu/nthompson/
> > 
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Friam <[hidden email]> On Behalf Of Prof David West
> > Sent: Wednesday, May 20, 2020 6:23 AM
> > To: [hidden email]
> > Subject: [FRIAM] God
> >
> > Taking (inhaling) DMT seems to induce a belief in "higher spirits" e.g. "God."
> >
> > https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0269881120916143
> >
> > Since human brains naturally produce DMT (some controversy about this
> > assertion); that is why all human cultures — historic and prehistoric —
> > incorporate beliefs in the supernatural.
> >
> > davew
> >
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