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June was reading something this morning that caught her attention.
She is curious as regards how believers interpret, agree, or disagree with the quote, below. It was written by Dostoevsky, who wrote much about the struggle between atheism and belief. Dostoevsky felt that both positions involve risk. Accordingly, faith demands courage, but it never gives an individual so much certitide that the struggle is forever and always a 'done deal.' With faith one accepts, but not without continuing effort. Dostoevsky sees "proof" for God in the simple experiences of life rather than in elaborate demonstrations of doctrine and dogma.
For Dostoevsky, God is essentially intuited by mankind:
"...I came upon a peasant woman with a tiny baby in her arms. The baby smiled at her for the first time in its life. I saw her crossing herself with great devotion. 'What are you doing, my dear?' --God has just such gladness every time he sees from heaven that a sinner is praying to Him with all his heart, as a mother has when she sees the first smile on her baby's face.' That was what the woman said to me almost in those words, this deep, subtle and truly religious thought -- a thought in which all the essence of Christianity finds expression; that is the whole conception of God as our Father and of God's gladness in man, like a father's in his own child -- the fundamental idea of Christ. The essence of religious feeling does not come under any sort of reasoning or atheism...There is something else, and there will always be something else -- something that the atheists will for ever slur over; they will always be talking of something else."
In being a nonbeliever, June found the above passage somewhat compelling.
--Am thus curious as to what other's thoughts are, as regards the above.
Are you asking whether or not there is a certain intuition that exists within those who believe in God and that is one reason why they are able to believe in God?
If indeed that is what you are saying, then my answer would be that I believe all people are born with an inner knowledge (or intuition if you will) that God exists...and those who are atheists are just denying that inner knowledge.
I believe that God placed an intuition seed within all of us.. How can I explain except our desire has been to return to God since the fall of mankind when we were removed from Gods presence..We can follow our instinct and seek God and find Him, or we can deny that instinct and spend a lifetime of drifting further from Him..
Are you asking whether or not there is a certain intuition that exists within those who believe in God and that is one reason why they are able to believe in God?
Yup.
--Because it has been a long time since June read any of the existentialists, much less Dostoevsky, and the fact that he incorporates the intuitive into his philosophy and novels was something June had either forgotten, or hadn't paid much attention to the first time around, ages ago....
June was reading something this morning that caught her attention.
For Dostoevsky, God is essentially intuited by mankind:
Take gentle care.
Yes. It is direct perception without use of the sensory system . . . which is why it is important to withdraw from the sensory system in meditation. Unfortunately, meditation can be particularly difficult for the female brain . . . since it is far more active than the male brain at rest. Studies have actually described male brains at rest as "dead" . . . while female brains are hyper active in comparison. However . . . the female brain has verbal capabilities associated with both halves of the brain . . . while males verbal capacity is typically limited to the left brain. This mean females typically can verbalize their emotions and right brain intuitions more readily than the males. Should a female actually achieve the meditative end state and contact with God . . . she should be far more capable of describing it verbally than I or any other male.
June was reading something this morning that caught her attention.
She is curious as regards how believers interpret, agree, or disagree with the quote, below. It was written by Dostoevsky, who wrote much about the struggle between atheism and belief. Dostoevsky felt that both positions involve risk. Accordingly, faith demands courage, but it never gives an individual so much certitide that the struggle is forever and always a 'done deal.' With faith one accepts, but not without continuing effort. Dostoevsky sees "proof" for God in the simple experiences of life rather than in elaborate demonstrations of doctrine and dogma.
For Dostoevsky, God is essentially intuited by mankind:
"...I came upon a peasant woman with a tiny baby in her arms. The baby smiled at her for the first time in its life. I saw her crossing herself with great devotion. 'What are you doing, my dear?' --God has just such gladness every time he sees from heaven that a sinner is praying to Him with all his heart, as a mother has when she sees the first smile on her baby's face.' That was what the woman said to me almost in those words, this deep, subtle and truly religious thought -- a thought in which all the essence of Christianity finds expression; that is the whole conception of God as our Father and of God's gladness in man, like a father's in his own child -- the fundamental idea of Christ. The essence of religious feeling does not come under any sort of reasoning or atheism...There is something else, and there will always be something else -- something that the atheists will for ever slur over; they will always be talking of something else."
In being a nonbeliever, June found the above passage somewhat compelling.
--Am thus curious as to what other's thoughts are, as regards the above.
Thank you in advance.
Take gentle care.
I haven't looked it up to see if it was true, but once upon a time I saw someone here post about Helen Keller's belief in God. If this was true...it surely was intuitive to her.
Since I mentioned "Helen Keller" and did not know if what was said about her was true here on the forum previously, I did a little research...
this is what I found:
In one of her letters, Helen told Bishop Brooks that she had always known about God, even before she had any words. Even before she could call God anything, she knew God was there.
She didn't know what it was. God had no name for her-nothing had a name for her. She had no concept of a name. But in her darkness and isolation, she knew she was not alone. Someone was with her. She felt God's love. And when she received the gift of language and heard about God, she said she already knew.
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