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The Nullifidian Volume 3 Number 01
From ai815@freenet.carleton.caThu Feb 1 08:18:59 1996
Date: Thu, 1 Feb 1996 05:36:33 -0500
From: Greg Erwin <ai815@freenet.carleton.ca>
To: 72724.3223@compuserve.com, depearce@lexmark.com, chazlett@infinet.com
Subject: January 1996 Nullifidian
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*The*E-Zine*of*Atheistic*Secular*Humanism*and*Freethought**
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now available at http://infoweb.magi.com/~godfree/
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##### Volume III, Number 1 #####
################### ISSN 1201-0111 #######################
####################### JAN 1996 ###########################
nullifidian, n. & a. (Person) having no religious faith or
belief. [f. med. L _nullifidius_ f. L _nullus_ none +
_fides_ faith; see -IAN] Concise Oxford Dictionary
The purpose of this magazine is to provide a source of
articles dealing with many aspects of humanism.
We are ATHEISTIC as we do not believe in the actual
existence of any supernatural beings or any transcendental
reality.
We are SECULAR because the evidence of history and the daily
horrors in the news show the pernicious and destructive
consequences of allowing religions to be involved with
politics or government.
We are HUMANISTS and we focus on what is good for humanity,
in the real world. We will not be put off with offers of
pie in the sky, bye and bye.
============================================================
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Absolute morality
2. How to get rid of Door-to-door Missionaries
3. Interview with Wayne Aiken, creator of the Atheist
Fortune Cookie File
4. Criticism of last months' article on Buddhism, by mathew
==========================
//*BEGINNING OF ARTICLE*//
==========================
Absolute morality
The only absolute morality is surrender to another's will.
Bully-worshippers, whether they are sycophantic courtiers to
a king, or grovelling petitioners to a god, have an absolute
moral code: whatever the bully says to do, do it! The god
speaks through those that claim to be its authorized
representatives, the priests. When you accept that whatever
some other person says is the definition of morality; at
that point, you no longer have to make any decisions. You
certainly don't have to check out consequences or have
empathy for those affected by your decisions. By
obfuscating the inevitable contradictions, inconsistencies
and changes coming from your chosen source; by denying the
cruelty, sadness, and other evil consequences which occur;
by threatening any, including yourself, who dare to doubt,
and by creative use of words, draining all coherent meaning
from them, you can achieve the christian claim of an
absolute morality.
Of course, in the real world, it doesn't exist.
I don't think that it is necessary to show that every
religion is actually completely flexible on every moral and
ethical question. This is obvious at a glance from their
history. The only tenet that the priest insists on is that
of obedience. Maybe that and killing off the believers of
other religions. Heresy, schism and apostasy would get you
burned when churches had that power; killing, rape and theft
were forgivable. In fact, there isn't a church around that
hasn't promoted or condoned all three, and virtually every
other crime, in the right circumstances.
The attraction which the phrase "absolute morality" has for
people is its promise of escape from responsibility. No
more will you be forced to decide what is right and what is
wrong. Someone else will tell you. Of course, this
involves, it demands a renunciation of being human, which is
why the religious often do such inhumane things. It is a
necessary consequence of the renunciation of human-ness.
Being human means experiencing uncertainty and doubt.
The truth of the matter is that there is nothing, not one
act, which is absolutely and perfectly good; or one that is
absolutely 100% bad. Even a mother feeding a baby gets
tired and feels occasional pain, though she may suffer this
gladly, she still suffers. On the other hand, it would be
callous to look for the "good side" of something like the
death of a child, but isn't this what everyone does,
afterwards, in an attempt to extract some meaning from the
death?
We would rather pretend and have authority figures assure us
that there are those who are absolutely evil, and who are
responsible for everything that goes wrong. Preferably,
they are easily identifiable, perhaps by color, perhaps
because they are different in some other way. This is
easier to handle than the idea that ordinary people, people
just like ourselves, can do horrible things. We would
rather pretend that we have never done such things, and
never could.
Maybe one attraction of this surrender is that we might
actually get to do some of those horrible things without
being responsible for the consequences. Is this what draws
people unfortunate enough to live in peaceable times to
doomsday cults and paranoid militias? If the end of the
world is coming soon, or the world is run by a huge, secret
conspiracy, then there won't be time for consequences.
You're free to do what the church (or movement) tells you to
do. If these are the end times, then there isn't time to
think about it, only time to obey.
This is also the attraction, for some, of a military
situation. In the midst of a battle, an individual
soldier's only hope is that the officer in charge knows what
he is doing. Blind obedience is probably the best strategy
in such a situation. It is not a guarantee of being saved,
but those who do not, will not be around either to complain
or to demonstrate that there were other methods of getting
through.
In our daily lives, we do have time to think things over,
time to revise our opinions, time to view the consequences
of our acts. There are many who see such review as an
admission that they might have been mistaken. It is. It is
a recognition that we often must act, choose or decide
without perfect information, and, in consequence, may do so
incorrectly. If we admit this, we can correct the mistakes.
Those who claim to have the One True Answer, whether it is
christianity or communism, or the gospel according to the
World Bank, cannot admit to this possibility and will insist
on the Truth that their morality is absolute, unchanging and
error-free.
Therefore, any challenge to a previous decision is deemed an
immoral act in itself. Rather than admit to the possibility
of a mistake on the part of a structure which is, by
definition, incapable of mistakes, being divine, any other
explanation will be seized upon.
For instance, one person can be scapegoated. This
individual, upon whom the blame for the incorrect decision
can be laid, can be found to have been a willing or
unwilling agent of the Enemy, whether the Enemy is Satan or
the international bourgeoisie. If "unwilling," he may be
reinstated, after suitable repentance, punishment and
indication of submission. Why waste a good slave?
Or, the protestors can be silenced. The Catholic Church has
threatened the parents of abused children, implying that
attacks on priests are attacks on the Church, and thus place
the parents in the position of being enemies of God. In the
old days, when the Church had access to civil power, it used
civil power: the rack, the dungeon, the stake; only now is
it reduced to mere curses and threats of damnation.
Or, the church (all else failing) can change its moral
position, without admitting it. Few churches any longer
support slavery, but the texts supporting slavery remain in
the bible, as the word of god. Few churches believe the
earth is flat, but the verses stating that view remain. We
no longer think it moral to kill off the families and
relations of criminals, but the tribal societies that wrote
the bible lived by vendetta, and the verses that record such
actions remain. We no longer think that god is appeased by
blood sacrifice, but it remains the core doctrine of
christianity. Also fossilized in the bible, like grotesque
atavistic monsters, are the inferiority of women, support
for faith healing, polygyny, genocide, absolute monarchy,
hatred of all outsiders, support for capital punishment for
trivial offences, child abuse, belief in religious
INtolerance, belief in base superstitions like witchcraft,
astrology, fortunetelling and racism.
Absolute morality is a delusion. It is a meaningless noise
uttered by believers to indicate their conformity to
doctrine and dogma. Like the similarly creedal statement,
"I believe in the Trinity," which no one understands or can
explain: the words have no meaning. They serve the same
function as any other ritual act, like all going into a
large building at the same time, on the same day; or all
laying face down in the dirt five times a day, pointing in
the same direction; it separates the world into Us and Them.
Intelligence is the only moral guide. We alone are
responsible for our moral decisions.
====================
//*END OF ARTICLE*//
====================
"We tend to scoff at the beliefs of the ancients. But we
can't scoff at them personally, to their faces, and this is
what annoys me." [Jack Handey]
==========================
//*BEGINNING OF ARTICLE*//
==========================
How to get rid of Door-to-door Missionaries
Susan Polizzi (spolizzi@carroll1.cc.edu) sent this to REHU-L
(Religious Humor List). I forward it for your further
amusement.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
I think I found this on the FunnyBone page on the net...It
originally referred to a specific group who tend to want to
camp on your front doorstep, but I think it may be
applicable to all kind of folk, including magazine sales-
persons.
--------------------------------------
* A chalk outline of a human body on the sidewalk, and a
few copies of The Watchtower scattered around...
* My mother (a second-generation atheist) used to say
(in a very sweet voice): "I'm sorry, I don't give a damn
about Jesus." Worked every time.
The missionaries just backed off the porch in
slack-jawed, bug-eyed disbelief.
* Agreed, we are not prepared for this one, but it has
to be carried off perfectly. The more sincere you appear,
the more baffled the missionary will be: Answer the door
with an automatic weapon and say "Allah be Praised!!!" and
just see what happens.
* Automatic weapons are undeniably the best deterrent to
missionaries. For extra effect, fire a few rounds into the
air or towards their car.
* Pretend you hear a voice inside your head telling you
to kill the missionary. Guaranteed to stop future visits for
several years.
* The young couple came to my door. I was wearing my
robe, and had just awakened. Now let me explain, I am a very
unusual looking person anyway, but when I awake, I look like
some kind of movie monster, I have hair all over everywhere.
I made my eyes real piercing, and stared past them. I knew
who they were, you can tell, they look so cute in their
getup and their bland faces.Well the female one obviously is
supposed to do the introduction because she sort of
panicked, and said:
"We're...we're...we're..we're....we're...." And then
she stared helplessly at the other one and he said: "uh...
uh.... uh... uh..."I then did a really fierce grin and stuck
out my hand in a very fast gesture, and opened all my
fingers, and in a voice sort of a mixture between Peter Lore
and Lurch, I said: I... WILL... TAKE... YOUR...LITERATURE...
AND... GIVE... IT... TO... MY... MASTER. The male one
quickly handed me a copy of whatever rag they were peddling.
they did not ask for a donation. They ran. It's a true
story, and they never came back.
* A friend claims that when missionaries knock on her
door, her first response is to ask for their address. When
they ask why she wants to know, she says it is so she can
visit them to push her beliefs. So far, none of them have
given their address. It also marks the end of the interview.
SLAM!
* A guy goes up to my friend's friend and asks, "Can I
talk to you about God?" She says, "Sure, what would you like
to know?"
* Missionary ladies come to the door. One of them has
small child in tow.
Interrupts SIW's dinner. If you knew SIW like I knew
SIW, you wouldn't do that.
SIW: Thank you, but I already have a religion.
Missionary: May I ask what it is?
SIW: I'd really rather not say. {Pregnant pause} I'm
not sure if it's legal in this country.
Supposedly they gave her a real strange look on their
way back down the stairs.
* I answer the door with a bloody knife and say, "I'm
sorry, could you come back in a half hour? We're not done
with the virgin yet."
//*END OF ARTICLE*//
"The meme for blind faith secures its own perpetuation by
the simple unconscious expedient of discouraging rational
inquiry." [Richard Dawkins, _The Selfish Gene_]
//*BEGINNING OF ARTICLE*//
===========================================================
Interview with Wayne Aiken, creator of the Atheist Fortune
Cookie File
Profiles in Freethought On-Line
The Person Behind the Atheist Fortune Cookie File,
The Nullifidian presents:
An Interview with Wayne Aiken.
The Nullifidian: How did you get started with the Atheist
Fortune Cookie file?
Aiken: I have collected quotes for quite some time; a couple
of years ago, I noticed that a fair number of the quotes
were directly relevant to atheism and freethought, so I
decided to create a single archive file dedicated to that
topic. I also wanted a special place to store all of the
interesting .signature quotes that I saw in messages on
alt.atheism and other newsgroups. The file quickly grew, so
I decided to make it publicly available.
For those not familiar with the term "fortune cookie", this
refers to an old Unix program which would randomly select a
quotation from a large text file of quotations. This was
usually done at log-in time, so that users were greeted with
a variety of different messages when they signed in, much
like the randomness of messages in the famous Chinese
dessert cookies. Computer files containing suitably
formatted text quotations became known as "fortune cookie
files".
A it now stands, the quotes file contains a huge number of
quotations covering aspects of atheist philosophy, biblical
criticism, history, law, science, psychology, the religious
mindset, and humor. Although it was originally simply an
archive of quotes, many people have found it directly useful
as a source of information. Toward that end, I am also
attempting, whenever possible, to increase the accuracy of
the citations, and although the quotes file itself is a
handy pointer, it doesn't replace the research and reading
necessary to fully understand the context of the original
author's statements. Nor does it substitute for more
detailed and substantial arguments--some of the religious
could trade quotes back and forth without proving anything.
But, it does make an enjoyable and informative read, and its
hard to read it without coming away with some new idea or
perspective.
Nullifidian: How many years has this been going on?
Aiken: For about two years, although I have been reading
and participating in the newsgroups for much longer.
Nullifidian: Every web crawler and net surfer will wonder,
how much of your time does this use up?
Aiken: Not very much, compared to the amount of time that I
normally spend reading messages in the atheism-related
newsgroups. If I see an interesting quote in a message, I
save it. Every couple of weeks I go into those saved
messages and extract, format, and merge the new quotes. It
only takes a couple of hours a month to do this. I
occasionally research a quote, or search for quotes in
freethought material, which takes a bit of time.
They key to maintaining and enlarging the file is simply
keeping up with the newsgroups on a fairly consistent basis.
The messages are a terrific source of material on all
subjects, although there is also a fair amount of garbage to
wade through. I must also give credit to the many people
who have directly contributed their various collections--I
consider myself simply a compiler rather than author of this
work, and it's definitely a group effort.
Nullifidian: What is your religious background? (If you had
one) How did you get from there to where you are now?
Aiken: I was fortunate to be raised in a home that was
non-religious, although to my knowledge everyone considered
themselves a believer. It simply wasn't an issue--it was
never discussed or explicitly practiced, and I wasn't
pressured in any way about going to church. When I was
about 10 or 11, I briefly went with my grandfather to a
Methodist church, chiefly out of curiosity. I went to
Sunday School, and he went to the Fellowship meeting,
although we never once attended the following services. I
quickly grew bored and stopped going. He stopped going when
his friends began meeting at a local restaurant/coffee shop
instead. What little religious belief I had was of no
relevance to daily life, and I remained this way through
college. It would be truly hard to find a more passive and
non-practicing believer.
It wasn't until I was exposed to the more direct and active
believers that I even saw any need to question any of it.
Exposure to fundamentalists on computer BBS's, watching
evangelist TV shows, and Pat Robertson's bid for the office
of President in 1988, were all events which awakened my
interest in the subject. The more I looked and questioned,
the more I suspected that religious ideologies were
inventions and frauds of massive proportions. I was
impressed by the Wiccans and other "neo-pagans" for their
resolve to stand up against the prevailing Christianity, and
I saw that they had a clearly superior ethic as well. I
couldn't, however, bring myself to accept the metaphysical
aspects of it, and when I delved into it from a
philosophical viewpoint, I realized that the god-idea, from
whatever angle, was unsupportable and unnecessary. By the
time that I read some of Ayn Rand's philosophical works, I
had essentially reached the same conclusions regarding the
invalidity of mysticism. However, I was also aware that
this isn't a mere intellectual game--there are any number of
groups who are doing their best to seize control of this
society.
Since that time, I have been involved in protests, marches,
public-access shows on atheism, calling politicians,
participating in newsgroups, and enough other activities to
put me in the "militant atheist" category. Pat Buchanan was
quite right- there is a culture war going on, and I am
increasingly convinced that at this point in time, doing
nothing helps only the religious groups trying to force
their way back into power.
Nullifidian: What do you do in real life? What are your
plans for the future?
Aiken: I am a computer programmer/analyst, and I've also had
various experiences at hardware design, computer repair,
network maintenance and administration, and a variety of
other computer-related tasks. I currently work for a large
NC manufacturing company, in one of their subsidiaries which
makes turnkey PC-based applications.
Although I love the bigger cities, my plans for the
immediate future are to stay here in North Carolina. I
attended North Carolina State Univ. in Raleigh, and I've
been here ever since. North Carolina has a terrible
reputation, with our infamous senator, hate/racist groups,
and provincial religious power groups, but things are
getting better, and overall, most people are tolerant and
considerate.
Nullifidian: What are your personal circumstances? Married?
children?
Aiken: I am not married, currently living the overworked
computer jock lifestyle. This seems to be one of several
professions with large percentages of unbelievers.
Nullifidian: How long can we expect to keep finding the
Atheist/Freethought Fortune Cookie File on line?
Aiken: I plan to have some kind of network account for the
foreseeable future, and as long as I'm able, I also plan to
keep updating the quotes file. The Cookie File is safely
stored and available from several network sites worldwide,
so it doesn't depend on me personally having an account.
Nullifidian: Do you have a web page?
Aiken: Not yet. I may have something soon though.
Nullifidian: If someone seeks immortality by getting a
clever saying (or asinine saying should they be religious)
quoted in your file, where should they post or otherwise
hang out? What is the best way for people to send additions
or corrections?
I can always be reached by e-mail at slack@ncsu.edu for
anyone wanting to directly submit any material. It is
highly probable that I will see quotes in postings in the
newsgroups alt.atheism, talk.atheism, soc.atheism, or
alt.atheism.moderated, but for deliberate submissions, its
best to e-mail it directly to me.
Nullifidian: Do you have a favorite "good" quote? A
favorite "bad" quote?
Aiken: A couple of my favorites, from the quotes file, are:
"The idea of God implies the abdication of human reason and
justice; it is the most decisive negation of human liberty
and necessarily ends in the enslavement of mankind both in
theory and practice. He who desires to worship God must
harbor no childish illusions about the matter but bravely
renounce his liberty and humanity."
[Mikhail Bakunin]
"Do you want real TRUTH in capital letters? Then search
yourself for why you believe the things you do. Don't be
afraid to analyze why your religion gives you the high it
does. Answer yourself this question: Is TRUTH important
enough for me to give up my religion if that is required?
Until you answer yes to this you are not being honest with
yourself." [Dave Trissel]
As for the religious, many times its best to simply let them
hang themselves with their own words. Despite the Christian
Coalition's attempts to whitewash their image nowadays,
Operation Rescue founder Terry Randall expresses its true
essence:
"Let a wave of intolerance wash over you. I want you to let
a wave of hatred wash over you. Yes, hate is good.... If a
Christian voted for Clinton, he sinned against God. It's
that simple.... Our goal is a Christian Nation... we have a
biblical duty, we are called by God to conquer this country.
We don't want equal time. We don't want Pluralism. We want
theocracy. Theocracy means God rules. I've got a hot
flash. God rules."
[Randall Terry, Head of Operation Rescue,
Fort Wayne, Indiana, Aug 15, 1993]
Nullifidian: Which evangelist strikes you as the most
amusing? Why?
Aiken: Without a doubt, Robert Tilton was the most
hilarious preacher ever. I've never seen such an outrageous,
transparent, self-parody. His style was so exaggerated and
hilarious, that it transcended comedy itself. We may never
see another one like him again. I'm also disappointed that
Dr. Gene Scott is no longer on the air where I live. He had
to be one of the most laid-back people I've ever seen on TV,
preacher or not.
Nullifidian: Which church, or other religious organization
strikes you as the biggest menace to the country or to
humanity at the moment? The most amusing? Stupidest? There
may be multiple answers possible, and perhaps, necessary.
Aiken: A tremendous amount of media attention was paid to
the Bakker and Swaggart scandals, but for the most part, the
media has paid correspondingly little to the truly dangerous
political aspirations of Robertson and elements of the
"Christian Coalition". The media may not be exactly
friendly to them, but they have done so little to expose
these groups, that sometimes I fear that real investigative
journalism might be dead in this country. The former groups
do exact their toll on the human condition, in the form of
greed and stupidity, but control is the most dangerous. It
is my opinion that groups are a threat to life and freedom
to the direct degree that they attempt to enforce their
particular beliefs through the government. The Religious
Right, despite their calls for less government and an end to
welfare, have no problem with government enforcing *their*
values and subsidizing *their* institutions with vouchers
and tax privileges. There are clearly big problems with
this country, and a great deal of the animosity toward
government abuses are more than justified. The strategy of
the Right is to ride this wave of popular discontent into
office, where they can act upon the less public parts of
their agenda. Its a brilliant strategy, and the potential
for mischief is enormous. We have seen similar ideological
groups do the same thing, with predictable results, in the
earlier part of this century.
And then, there's the Pope, who was born about 500 years too
late. However, I find it encouraging and somewhat amusing,
that a great many American members of the church have a
nasty habit of thinking and acting for themselves. So much
so, that a large part of his last few visits to the US have
been dedicated to scolding and cajoling not only the rank
and file, but the clergy as well. Worldwide, however, his
organization is still in the human misery business, and the
amount of power the church wields in the third world is
incredible. We can only hope that countries can come to
their senses and resist this influence, as the people of
Ireland recently--and courageously--did.
I could go on and on. New threats crop up all the time,
like the vicious censorship-oriented Scientology cult's
efforts to silence critics on the Internet. I suspect that
in 50 years, there will be even more, new and improved,
groups trying the same things. I have a very strong
life-and-let-live attitude, as I suspect many Americans do,
so these groups might not succeed in the long run, but I'm
worried that they might cause a ton of trouble before
they're stopped.
Nullifidian: In which secret conspiracies do you
participate? When can ordinary atheistic secular humanists
expect to finally receive some benefits from the secret
humanist conspiracy gang running the government and the
media? Currently, no doubt as part of some grand
subterfuge, religious people appear to be getting all the
breaks.
Aiken: That's a whole 'nother can of worms. There are
secret societies out there, some religions masquerading as
jokes, some jokes masquerading as religions. I've had my
fair share of fun in that scene, and without getting into it
too far, which would take volumes, I'd like to mention some
of the more popular ones:
Discordianism, very similar to the Merry Pranksters, follows
the philosophy of Eris, the goddess of chaos, albeit
extremely loosely. They advocate a *very* healthy distrust
of authority, and the "sacred" book, the Principia
Discordia, is a masterful blend of common sense and Monty
Python-style comedy.(1)
(1) The Principia Discordia is available on-line at:
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~tilt/principia/
The Church of the SubGenius, a more recent successor to the
Discordians, is a much harder-edged satire on nearly every
facet of life in the late 20th century. As perhaps the
ultimate reductio ad absurdum, this "cult" centers around
the modern messiah J.R. "Bob" Dobbs, a pipe-smoking
millionaire prophet who talks to UFOs. Church doctrine, and
the many "devivals" held around the country each year, are a
roller-coaster ride of profound truth as presented through
trash culture and bad taste.
Universal Life Church is Kirby Hensley's creation, which is
now in the process of ordaining as many people as possible.
As possibly the most lenient organization possible, its
possible to become a real, legally-recognized "minister" by
simply agreeing to uphold freedom of religion, and to do
what's "right", whatever you consider that to be. Its a
great statement regarding the arbitrariness of religious
"authority", and it goes a good way toward taking the steam
out of the special privileges and status of clergy, if
*everybody*, even atheists, can be one with no effort. You
can even be "ordained" online, with their new web page at
http://www.ulc.org/
Nullifidian: Can you send a picture? JPEG or GIF
attachment would be fine.
I'll see what I can do- I have a picture of myself picketing
the Pope this past October. If it scans ok, I'll send it in
a separate message.
Nullifidian: Any closing comments?
Aiken: That pretty much wraps it up. Also, in the
interview, you might mention that the quote file is
available on the web at:
http://www.best.com/~gauci/
http://www.freethought.tamu
and FTP at:
ftp.mantis.co.uk:pub/alt.atheism/reference
and,
freethought.tamu.edu:pub
standard .sig file for aiken is:
Holy Temple of Mass$ >>> slack@ncsu.edu <<< $"My used underwear
Consumption! $ $ is legal tender in
PO Box 30904 $ BBS: (919) 954-5028 $ 28 countries!"
Raleigh, NC 27622 $Warning: I hoard pennies.$ --"Bob"
==================
||END OF ARTICLE||
==================
"The time appears to me to have come when it is the duty of
all to make their dissent from religion known." [John Stuart
Mill]
==========================
//*BEGINNING OF ARTICLE*//
==========================
Criticism of last months' article on Buddhism
> BUDDHISM
>by: tmwe@maths.nott.ac.uk Tim Eyre
[...]
I feel a need to comment on Tim's article. It's perhaps
unfortunate that he chose to criticize Buddhism based on the
ideas of karma and rebirth, as those are probably the
Buddhist teachings which are most often misunderstood by
non-Buddhists.
> 1. Why are there so many people around
> nowadays? The world population is increasing
> explosively. This would imply that animals are
> behaving themselves and being reincarnated as
> humans while fewer humans are being 'relegated'
> to animal status. In the light of the atrocities
> committed in the 20th Century, this seems
> unlikely.
The simple concept of reincarnation is that each person has
a soul, and that when the person dies that soul is reborn as
a new entity. Introductory texts about Buddhism often speak
in such terms, but I believe that the reality of Buddhist
teaching is rather different.
In particular, Buddhism absolutely rejects the idea of
"self"; there is no single unique entity which is the soul
or consciousness of a given person. Most texts on Buddhism
stress this, but don't deal with the seeming contradiction
between this and the idea of rebirth.
The answer is that individual souls or consciousnesses are
viewed as emergent phenomena. The books I've read have used
many metaphors to explain this; the best, I think, is as
follows:
Imagine consciousness as an ocean. An individual
consciousness is like a wave moving across that ocean. The
idea of "self" is a mistake because you can't really draw
lines to say where one wave ends and another begins.
When a person dies, the wave sinks or collapses, but the
parts of the ocean of consciousness which made up that
person will go on to be a part of new waves. There will be
a tendency for parts of the ocean which were close together
in one wave to be passed on close together in a new wave.
When people remember aspects of a past life, it's because
the qualities of that past life led to more aspects of it
persisting together into a new life. So aspects of the
consciousness of some intensely evil person, for example,
may tend to have a power of their own which will make them
'cohere' for longer, so that those aspects are likely to be
reborn together in the same new wave or consciousness.
There are some diagrams in the Buddhist religious texts
which attempt to explain the process in detail. As I
recall, there are several layers of 'ocean', and the waves
have a particular shape. There are some lengthy and rather
complicated commentaries in the texts; I hope I haven't
oversimplified the explanation.
> 2. Particularly bad souls are supposed to be
> reincarnated as lower animals. Is there a cut off
> point in how low a soul can go?
Yeah, Microsoft employee... :-)
> Are there animals
> without souls? If amoebas are reincarnations, how
> are they meant to make a conscious effort to do
> better next time?
It doesn't need to be a conscious effort. Unlike
Christianity, Buddhism doesn't care if you believe in it or
not. A man who's never heard the Buddha's teachings can
attain nirvana; and a man who has studied for his entire
life can fail.
> 3. Where does evolution fit into this scheme?
You tell me. It seems completely orthogonal to me.
> 4. Who administers the reincarnation scheme?
> Who knows what who has done and what subsequent
> status should be assigned? If it is
> automatic, by what mechanism does it operate?
The Buddhist teaching is that karma is simply a natural
process, the way things are. The "law of karma" is like
"the law of gravity"; an inherent property of the universe.
There's nobody administering it, any more than there's
someone deciding which objects should fall.
Sometimes people will seem to get away with things that
karmically, they should suffer for. Like thermodynamics,
you can occasionally seem to have local small-scale
anomalies :-)
> 5. By what mechanism does a soul move from one
> body to another? Does the soul take residence in
> the fertilized egg? The zygote? The newborn
> child? What evidence is there for the
> existence of an actual 'soul' anyway?
None, if you mean "soul" in the conventional sense; which is
why Buddhism rejects the idea of that kind of soul.
When a creature dies, its consciousness is released; the
wave begins to collapse and fall into the ocean. New life
is born, and a new wave rises up.
As to exactly how it ties in with fertilization of embryos
and production of spermatozoa, I'm afraid I don't know.
There are probably Buddhist teachings on the matter, but
I've not investigated that deeply.
> 6. In what sense is the soul that moved from
> body A to body B the 'same' soul?
In the sense that if I kick down a sandcastle and build it
again in the same place with the same bucket, it's the same
sandcastle.
> Presumably it
> has no physical presence, nor does it have any
> recollection of the life in body A. Why, then, is
> it the same soul?
Well, if you mean "why is it the same single unique entity",
the answer is that it isn't.
Anyway, I hope I've cleared up a few misunderstandings.
Unfortunately, much of the information floating around about
Buddhism has been written by Christians, and is filtered
through their preconceptions. For example, early books
treated Buddhism as a theistic religion; Buddhists
meditating were seen through Christian eyes as praying to
some strange idol -- the statue of the Buddha.
> We are told that 'all life is suffering' is a
>fundamental principle of Buddhism. Such a bleak
>outlook! Plenty of people enjoy life; if life
>was that bad, suicide rates would be
>astronomical. Why not take a positive approach
>and enjoy life?
Well, 'suffering' is the word generally used in translation,
but perhaps a more appropriate one would be
'dissatisfaction' or 'incompleteness'. It's not that life
is some kind of torture to be endured; rather, life gives
you the feeling that it's not quite right. Something's
missing, something about life is unsatisfactory, but you
can't quite work out what it is.
> Buddhism is not a violent religion. It does,
>however, encourage and even require that its
>adherents engage in meditation.
I'm trying to see the link here, but...
> It cannot be
>denied that meditation in moderation is a
>beneficial activity. However, if spending the
>better part of one's waking hours staring at the
>end of one's nose and chanting the same phrase
>over and over again is not a pointless waste of
>human life, I don't know what is.
I assume you refer to those who choose to go 'on retreat',
and spend many days in intense meditation. Buddhism teaches
that a monastic existence is not suited to all. Far from
encouraging people to devote their lives to meditation, you
actually have to try and persuade the teachers that you are
the right sort of person to undertake such intense study.
You must distinguish between 'lay' Buddhism and monastic
practice; it's unfair to criticize Buddhism as a whole
because monks are extreme in their commitment. They are a
very few.
> Buddhists are as guilty as any other religion
>of hypocrisy. Consider the rank materialism of
>the Thai people, the opulence of the Buddhist
>temples of Borobudur on Java, Ankor Wat in
>Cambodia or the still very active Kek Lok Si
>temple in Malaysia. So much for transcending
>materialism.
The idea is to transcend the desire for material wealth; not
to remove material wealth from your life.
> The idea that entertaining bodily desires
>leads to sickness, old age and death is catchy,
>but where is the causal connection? Perhaps the
>rewards for abstinence only exist in Nirvana.
Again, I think you're criticizing monastic life, rather than
Buddhism in general.
mathew
--
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Checking whether HTML is correct by looking at it with a
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_________________
>From the editor:
Nullifidian means no religious faith. For me, that means
really, truly no faith whatsoever. I don't find speculation
about karma and reincarnation any more convincing than
speculation about purgatory and heaven.
OTOH, some of the Buddhist ideas about the self, and its
lack of reality, seem to be quite well reflected in modern
psychological studies (see Susan Blackmore, for one). This
does not necessarily validate any of their transcendental
speculations.
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