#possibilian

[mayakovsky-jung]

Why I Am A Possibilian

[radiosanity]

A piece I made for the new Big Wave Records compilation 'Sehnsucht' (released May 7 2014). For more info on the release and the featured artists - and to download the compilation for free - please visit: http://bigwaverecs.wordpress.com/2014/05/08/new-release-sehnsucht/ http://bigwaverecs.wix.com/big-wave-records#!guests/c1fxj Image: details from the album cover art. Original cover image: courtesy Sylvan O’Reilly (Astral-Haze) http://astral-haze.deviantart.com ; [email protected] (Album design: Big Wave Records)

[nathanielstuart]

"Our ignorance of the cosmos is too vast to commit to atheism, and yet we know too much to commit to a particular religion. A third position, agnosticism, is often an uninteresting stance in which a person simply questions whether his traditional religious story (say, a man with a beard on a cloud) is true or not true. But with Possibilianism I'm hoping to define a new position -- one that emphasizes the exploration of new, unconsidered possibilities. Possibilianism is comfortable holding multiple ideas in mind; it is not interested in committing to any particular story."

Are You A Possibilian? | Dr. David Eagleman (by TEDxTalks)

[sciencecenter]

David Eagleman talks about Possibiiianism

David Eagleman has a fascinating PopTech talk about the intersection of science and religion. He walks away with a philosophy he coined, called Possibilianism, which has a very interesting take on how to approach factual claims. This is a must-watch for those looking for balance, nuance, and a sense of humor in their science talks.

(h/t justaturnofthedial)

[sciencevicious-blog]

Possibilianism

According to Wikipedia, Possibilianism is “a philosophy which rejects both the diverse claims of traditional theism and the positions of certainty in strong atheism in favor of a middle, exploratory ground. The term was first defined by neuroscientist David Eagleman in relation to his book of fiction Sum.”

I align myself with the practices and principals of Possibillianism. It was only through a series of self-evolving assertions throughout my adult life that I came to find a word that I feel comfortable and confident enough to apply to my own outlook. * There was a time when I called myself agnostic, but that never felt right. Then I spent a few years saying I was a nihilist, only to find myself constantly faced with the chore of explaining that I meant this in the true sense of the word; i.e. not “I believe in nothing”, but instead, “I don’t believe in anything”. And not in that pouty goth way.

Of course, there was only one logical next step: become that annoying asshole who talks about how they don’t like to label themselves because they don’t want to be compartmentalized into a societal stereotype. I know what you’re thinking. What a dick, right? Well, I agree with you. And, allow me to defend our instinctual distaste for such hipster pseudo-intellectual positioning. Making the effort to talk about how your ideas are so unique that you can’t even put them into words is naturally going to come off as a cop-out to anyone who hears it, even to people who have used that excuse themselves. There often are unavoidable growing pains of intellectual pretention for those of us out there who seek knowledge. I fell into that trap, however briefly; it was long enough to count myself among the “takes one to know one” elite. Even as I empathize, I can’t help but wrinkle my nose up in disapproval when I hear a budding young nerd say, “you’ve probably never heard of it….”

I had to learn for myself that labels are as important as they are harmful. After all, we have to communicate, and we’ve evolved to do that with the written and spoken language. All words are labels in and of themselves.

I was in a bit of a funk at that point. Not just because I didn’t have a label to call myself but because, to me, it seemed like the world was slipping into these two partisan groups. There were the ultra-skeptics, who blindly believed in nothing. And then there were the radical fundamentalists, who blindly believed in something. When you boil it down it’s all the same song and dance. Everyone was just trying to “prove” their way to the end they liked the most. No one seemed interested in real truth.

Then, I heard a reference to this term Possibilianism - which David Eagleman had coined - while listening to my favorite podcast, Mysterious Universe. In this episode, the hosts of the podcast interviewed author Steve Volk about his book Fringe-ology: How I Tried to Explain Away the Unexplainable. In this book Steve tells the story of his scientific investigation of what most would call a paranormal experience from his childhood. Steve explained that his approach was without prejudice, meaning he didn’t go into it assuming there were particular possibilities. He didn’t assume, like most would, that he would conclude that what he had witnessed was either ghost activity or something that could be rationally explained through science. He simply investigated, as a journalist, withholding all preconceived judgment about what he would find. This, he would later say, was Possibilianism.

I immediately did a Google search of the word and found that I wasn’t the only one out there who felt a longing to be defined in a way that would more efficiently communicate the way I saw the world. After reading a lot of blog posts and forums about and by my peeps, I realized we needed this word all along. We needed this philosophy to manifest itself into the written and spoken language so that we might endeavor to find each other, to communicate with each other this otherwise tacit concept. I knew then that I wanted to start a blog on the subject exploring science, psychology, religion, metaphysics, the paranormal, and all manner of other interesting subjects in a way I now felt more equipped to analyze. And so it was born.

I present to you Science Vicious For the Superstitious!**

*Invent a word. Why didn’t I think of that?

**It'll all make sense in the end.***

***Not really but still.

[andphotography-blog]

David Eagleman making the case for "Possibilianism". Informative video. Interesting ideas. Not much different then my understanding of Atheism, but I get that it comes with less baggage, and misunderstanding, and therefore could be useful to bridge divides. Those Atheists that dismiss him/this as a "fence sitter/sitting" or as "religious apologist/apology" are missing the point. 

[andphotography-blog]

Visit Original Link

David Eagleman on Fresh Air.