post theism

Isnt agnosticism a not knowing? My beliefs are firm in that I do not believe in an all encompassing being or force. I just think there are forces outside of standard physics(the what we see and perceive). I'm not sure about this because I don't know physics terribly well, but I believe what I'm referring to is kind of (maybe completely) covered by string theory. Forces or processes outside our comprehension of reality that may even have some impact on our reality.

 

In this post and your previous you stated:

sounds agnostic to me.

 

What if one has never been inside the box?

 

yes I can see how you would think that. I have this tendency to be a little ambiguous when I write about topics I'm not completely comfortable and/or competent writing about. The topic interests me tho.

 

LOL you have no choice but to be in the box.

 

The ambiguity might be less if you separate theoretical science from ideology. What is...is. What might be....may be or may not be. There are some things you can never know; be happy with what you do know and look for what is possible to know. String theory is fun stuff, but I doubt man will ever know for sure. I'm happy to leave that to the Stephen Hawkings and Neil deGrasse Tysons of the world and just watch PBS documentaries on it.

 

There are people outside the box, they're called independent thinkers.

 

Man's the box himself. What would be outside is never better determined than by this individual's profession.

My primary profession is to be a Christian.

 

"Thinking outside the box is to think differently, unconventionally or from a new perspective. This phrase often refers to novel, creative and smart thinking."

To be a Christian, by definition, is to be a follower....in the box.

 

^ look right above me, it's you thinking inside the box.

 

Forget what the Constitution says, christianity is the official religion of the USA, and YHWH is its official god. Get sworn into office or to testify in court, and you will be presented with a Bible to swear on. Even among the nonreligious, there is a widespread belief that the Bible is a valuable and trustworthy book that we should all care about. It's more of a cultural belief than religious. Most of these people have little idea what is actually in the book.

I couldn't find the box if my life depended on it.

 

Throughout life everyone has to think inside the the box, unless you're a feral child or were stranded on a remote island since birth. Your parents (orphan home), teachers, religious institutions, and bossess all have you conform to think inside the box. I would argue that most independent thinkers can think outside the box because they know what thinking inside the box is. Therefore they can learn to differentiate between thoughts interesting and noteworthy vs. Thoughts that are mundane.

 

Good God, the doctors make sure of that. What of being healthy and stopping smoking.

Mundane thinking? Goedel's theorem has two renditions as of the development of Mathematics. One based on the historical virtue of number systems, and the other upon the development of infinite sets for transfinite counting realities.

 

America has no official religion, no official god and, no Virginia, most of the founding fathers were not Christians.

Nobody has been required to swear on a bible in court in this country in more than 20 years. Elected officials swearing on the bible is for show, it gets Christians to vote for them despite their graft and corruption.

Sorry, but most of the non-religious think the bible is dribble. Any book that demands you kill your neighbor for a long list of reasons should be on the top shelf out of the reach of children.

The reason you can't find the box is that you're stuck inside it.

 

All of this is "in the box" thinking. No one can force you to think in any particular manner. All you can be forced into is the appearance of conformity.

 

Well you said 'what if no one has been in the box?' It's true no one can force you but i think regardless we are all born in the box, thinking is a different story but I would say the vast majority of us think inside the box at least 50% of our day to maintain some sort of peace of mind and communication with people and society.

I guess people could interpret 'the box' in different ways. My signature is actually referring to kind of an inside hallucination i was having on ketamine, then my friend actually felt she was in a box when she was on ketamine, so it was kind of an inside joke between us.

 

I said "What if one has never been inside the box?" not no one. Referring to someone who was, for a variety of reasons, not indoctrinated into the culture. This person would have a difficult time in life being accepted by others around him. Many of these people would eventually learn to project the appearance of conformity. This could only be accomplished by peering inside the box to see what it is they need to imitate. At some point this person would learn to move in and out of the box as circumstances dictate.

"The Box" could be interpreted in "different ways," but there is a culturally accepted meaning, conformity.

 

You completely misunderstood every point that I made. I started to explain it again, but it isn't worth the trouble. Screw it.

 

Unfourtuently, all to few that call themselves Atheist don't stick to that.

Afar as I'm concerned, a closed mind is a closed mind-- let 'em use any label they want.

 

JackFlash,

I have a friend who was born in the woods. he's pushing 40 and has never been a legal part of society. he can't get documentation-- no birth certificate.
He lives in a different box. Which begs the question:

Why is the box (tesseract?) you're constructing better than any other?