SmedlyButler
Gold Member
Wondering what inspired the Ancients to conceive their Gods sparks an old memory of mine. Driving across the prairie years ago, the sky black with those towering roiling cumulonimbi that signal menace we were caught in a storm so violent every vehicle had to pull to the shoulder and wait for it to pass. The visibility was near zero. The wind was thunderous, large hailstones horizontally hammering and denting steel, cracking glass, shattering mirrors. My pick-up was shaking and rattling like a breeze blown shutter. The raw power of it was terrifying yet awe inspiring. We heard later a small tornado had touched down a couple miles away.
I imagine the scribe of Psalm 29 (maybe David) sitting in a Galilean redoubt waiting for a similar storm to pass, being inspired by the awe, needing to grasp the cause before the effect, having none of our modern understanding of thermodynamics or entropy or any of the other concepts we use to explain weather phenomenon. Seeking a prime mover for the events in his world his explanation was an anthropomorphic omnipotent being. Yahweh. God...
.....
the God of glory thunders,
the Lord, over mighty waters.
The voice of the Lord is powerful;
the voice of the Lord is full of majesty.
The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars;
the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon.
He makes Lebanon skip like a calf,
and Sirion like a young wild ox.
The voice of the Lord flashes forth flames of fire.
The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness;
the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.
The voice of the Lord causes the oaks to whirl,
and strips the forest bare;
and in his temple all say, Glory!'
Still more than the power and beauty of Nature there is a question that rattles my scientific objective view of the world at times. How and why is the human brain equipped to even contemplate such a subjective quality as the Sublime? What does that ability add to Homo Sapiens naturally selected advantage? Or does it add anything, is it just a superfluous by-product of the cerebral neuron matrix? Non-believers have an ontological curiosity as well as believers.
Because of the simple molecular structure of a water molecule (two hydrogen atoms attached to an oxygen atom at an angle of 104.5 degrees) a snowflake is a hexagonal crystal lattice structure. Billions form and fall during a single snowstorm, every one unique. Just imagine how many have fallen since the hydrologic cycle began billions of years ago, the Universe giving us a billion trillion singular objects of absolute stunning joy. And with such generous abandon, very few seen by the human eye. Our ancestors didn't have microscopes to view them in detail. Still every human being alive would instantly recognize their intricate grandeur. The religious would probably call every single one a gift from god. (I think hmm... maybe God designed them for his own pleasure not ours...just before I give my head a shake.)
Take the number Pi, it is irrational (cannot be written as a ratio of two integers), we see it throughout Nature. If you had started writing down its digits at the time of the Big Bang at the rate of one digit every microsecond you wouldn't be any closer to the end of the number at this moment than you were 13.7 billion years ago. There is something like the Beauty of the snowflake in that, don't you think? I've heard it said that some physicists are brought to tears when they first solve and understand Einstein's equations. Einstein himself couldn't accept some of the more disturbing revelations of Quantum theory because they conflicted with his concept of God.
Of course I could never believe in the anthropomorphic vengeful violent God of the Bible anymore than I could believe in the troll under the bridge, but I can assure those who do a person can have a very lively spiritual-like existence without the baggage of ancient myth.
I find Richard Dawkins rigid and grating at times but I do share his belief that much of the intellectual potential of the world is being held back by age-old mythic lore. It's the 21st century. What you believe is your own business. Trying to force others to live by laws informed by 4000 year old superstition is a recipe for conflict. See Sharia.
SB
I imagine the scribe of Psalm 29 (maybe David) sitting in a Galilean redoubt waiting for a similar storm to pass, being inspired by the awe, needing to grasp the cause before the effect, having none of our modern understanding of thermodynamics or entropy or any of the other concepts we use to explain weather phenomenon. Seeking a prime mover for the events in his world his explanation was an anthropomorphic omnipotent being. Yahweh. God...
.....
the God of glory thunders,
the Lord, over mighty waters.
The voice of the Lord is powerful;
the voice of the Lord is full of majesty.
The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars;
the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon.
He makes Lebanon skip like a calf,
and Sirion like a young wild ox.
The voice of the Lord flashes forth flames of fire.
The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness;
the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.
The voice of the Lord causes the oaks to whirl,
and strips the forest bare;
and in his temple all say, Glory!'
Still more than the power and beauty of Nature there is a question that rattles my scientific objective view of the world at times. How and why is the human brain equipped to even contemplate such a subjective quality as the Sublime? What does that ability add to Homo Sapiens naturally selected advantage? Or does it add anything, is it just a superfluous by-product of the cerebral neuron matrix? Non-believers have an ontological curiosity as well as believers.
Because of the simple molecular structure of a water molecule (two hydrogen atoms attached to an oxygen atom at an angle of 104.5 degrees) a snowflake is a hexagonal crystal lattice structure. Billions form and fall during a single snowstorm, every one unique. Just imagine how many have fallen since the hydrologic cycle began billions of years ago, the Universe giving us a billion trillion singular objects of absolute stunning joy. And with such generous abandon, very few seen by the human eye. Our ancestors didn't have microscopes to view them in detail. Still every human being alive would instantly recognize their intricate grandeur. The religious would probably call every single one a gift from god. (I think hmm... maybe God designed them for his own pleasure not ours...just before I give my head a shake.)
Take the number Pi, it is irrational (cannot be written as a ratio of two integers), we see it throughout Nature. If you had started writing down its digits at the time of the Big Bang at the rate of one digit every microsecond you wouldn't be any closer to the end of the number at this moment than you were 13.7 billion years ago. There is something like the Beauty of the snowflake in that, don't you think? I've heard it said that some physicists are brought to tears when they first solve and understand Einstein's equations. Einstein himself couldn't accept some of the more disturbing revelations of Quantum theory because they conflicted with his concept of God.
Of course I could never believe in the anthropomorphic vengeful violent God of the Bible anymore than I could believe in the troll under the bridge, but I can assure those who do a person can have a very lively spiritual-like existence without the baggage of ancient myth.
I find Richard Dawkins rigid and grating at times but I do share his belief that much of the intellectual potential of the world is being held back by age-old mythic lore. It's the 21st century. What you believe is your own business. Trying to force others to live by laws informed by 4000 year old superstition is a recipe for conflict. See Sharia.
SB
