#diest

[beautiful-belgium]

Willem Ignatius Kerricx - Pulpit (1738), Collegiate Church of Saint Sulpitius and Saint Dionysius, Diest

Unknown photographers, 1918 and 1943

CC BY 4.0 KIK-IRPA, Brussels (Belgium)

[freelychiefearthquake]

A Philosophical Approach to Magic and Pagan Traditions and Beliefs

Does our culture promote an accurate picture of pagan traditions and beliefs? We think not. It is skewed by religious prejudice. Let's take a philosophical approach to magic and reveal what the facts say. You don't have to follow a religion to have spiritual beliefs. Many people have beliefs about a higher power and the afterlife. Beliefs about the supernatural and paranormal are also common. These concepts share elements of mysticism and magic.

Magical Practices Through the Ages

Magic is a concept found in many cultures. Western theology comes from the ancient mystery religions of the Mediterranean. The Mesopotamian region was a fertile ground, not only for agriculture by religion. This is the home of the dying-god mystery religions. The mystery religions of Assyria, Babylon, Egypt, and Persia developed alongside each other. They borrowed ideas and techniques from mythology and superstition. Mastering the art of magic was part of the culture.

Taking A Philosophical Approach to Magic When discussing magic, it's important to have a common understanding of what it is. Magic is an invisible power that influences things. So, in this respect, magic is like gravity. You can't see the invisible power of gravity, but it influences everything.

[greencheekconure27]

[unteriors]

Delphine Alenuslaan, Diest, Flemish Brabant.

[grusik]

Jacques & Lise / Diest - 31 jul 2022 Artists: Jacques & Lise by Ferdinand 'Ferre' Feys

[themaninthegreenshirt]

“The first, indeed the only, requirement of a diet is that it should lose you weight without reducing your alcoholic intake by the smallest degree.”

Kingsley Amis [1960] by Terence Donovan

[atheistforhumanity]

Is freewill the proof God exists? Only a universe of every possibility can allow the existence of freewill because according to science, the true meaning of freewill is utterly illogical. It is not illogical because we experience it every day. The universe is both everything logical and illogical. A universe of everything demands there to be God, the law of relativity states there has to be the opposite, a Devil.

Hello Anon,

So, you’ve made a few statements that are confused and I would like to clear them up. First, does free will exist? I’ve written before that I do not believe we have free will. I’m not claiming to have the definitive answer on this complex topic, but that’s my opinion at the moment and I back it up with some relevant science.

Would free will prove God’s existence? No. That is a non-sequitur, meaning your conclusion does not follow your premise. There is no reason to think that if free will did exist that it couldn’t develop naturally. You would have to prove that such a thing is impossible for your statement to be true.

Then you say, “Only a universe of every possibility can allow the existence of freewill because according to science, the true meaning of freewill is utterly illogical.” So, there are a couple things about this sentence. I think you mean a multi-verse, because a single universe does not allow for every possibility, and to be clear a multi-verse may not in the way people think. The multi-verse is an unproven hypothesis that proposes the endless universes, but we have no reason to believe that they are not governed by laws of physics, even if by a slightly different version. Regardless, there is proof that we need an endless number of realities for free will to exist. You’re making an assumption that is not backed up by anything.

You talk about the true meaning of free will “according to science,” and I have no idea what you’re talking about here. Remember, science is a methodology to discover information. It does not profess meaning about anything. If you’re referring to an argument made about logic that involved scientific evidence then you’ll have to be more specific. Then you say we experience free will everyday. If you read my post above I would disagree.

“The universe is both everything logical and illogical.” Sure the universe contains our illogical ideas and most animal behavior, which is natural, doesn’t seem logical. I would agree that some natural phenomena appear illogical to us until we figure them out. For instance, Isaac Newton couldn’t figure out the orbit of Mercury (if I remember right), and he concluded there must be an unseen planet near by that was throwing off the orbit, because the orbit was completely illogical. Well, later on Einstein developed the Theory of Relativity and was able to explain the orbit. What I’m saying is that I don’t think there is anything truly illogical in the universe, just things we don’t yet understand.

No, neither the universe or the multi-verse demand their be a God. Again, you’re just making an assertion with no evidence at all. We have no reason to think a God must exist at all in any reality. And as I explained, we have every reason to believe that another universe would also be governed by it’s own laws of physics, which makes the concept of a God existing illogical.

Finally, no, relativity does not state that everything has an opposite. You’re thinking of Newton’s 3rd law of motion, which states that for every action there is an equal reaction. This, however, has literally nothing to do with abstract concepts such as God and the Devil. By the logic you’re using here, He-Man and Skeletor must also exist because they are opposites, and so on. But seriously, the 3rd law of motion does not apply to concepts, morals, and ideologies. This doesn’t prove either God or the Devil in anyway.

So, you may not agree with me about whether free will exists, but that wouldn’t prove anything if it did. I hope I’ve cleared up some things for you. Thanks for asking questions.

[greencheekconure27]