tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7325300274115265117.post7035294277601623645..comments2024-03-09T18:59:51.444-07:00Comments on Raima Larter - Author: What Do Scientists Believe?Raimahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13817382167424203932noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7325300274115265117.post-76017293495614294022010-12-22T12:20:51.213-07:002010-12-22T12:20:51.213-07:00OMG Raima, what an amazing and interesting post. T...OMG Raima, what an amazing and interesting post. Thank you so much for sharing what you learned! This strikes a particular nerve for me, since through my entire life I have REALLY struggled with my spiritual beliefs. I can honestly say that during my early years (and tears) of chemistry studies in graduate school, I was thoroughly driven by the fact that the answers to life and God were rooted in science. I was determined to find a path to figure them out. But then graduate school “got in the way” for me and I was distracted by life, career, etc. <br />Being brought up in a very staunch Catholic environment, without the freedom to question the “teachings”, in my adult life I have journeyed deeply in and out of my Catholic religious/spiritual faith (more than once) and explored numerous other religious and spiritual doctrines over the years. I have simply come to terms with the fact that there is no *one* perfect view of this topic that works for me, personally. <br /><br />I believe that what humans refer to as the characteristics of God can be captured through biblical stories, that can help demonstrate ideal human behavior (i.e Jesus, as the ideal example of love). However, in my own heart, I believe there is an underlying mysterious and very powerful force that exists all around us. To me, this is what we can refer to as God, if we want (and admittedly, I do myself for ease of discussion), and that this force drives the very source of action or inactivity in this world. Both in human behaviors and non-human life processes. And, I believe that all the processes that occur (or not), and the scientific answers we seek to understand are driven by that force (of “God”). <br /><br />As I see it, scientists are constantly working to leverage and understand that force for the greater good of our entire universe [well, the non-evil ones ;-)]. As my ”unrealistic optimism” seeps into this post, I still believe that discoveries in science will continue to enlighten us in this regard….and can’t come soon enough in my book! <br /><br />Finally, a 75% responses rate?? Holy mackerel!!!!! My best ever has been a mere 45% response rate. ☺ Thanks again for your awesome post.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02020119876862399549noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7325300274115265117.post-28098858606430197872010-12-17T11:52:48.353-07:002010-12-17T11:52:48.353-07:00I agree. There are time for debate, but then there...I agree. There are time for debate, but then there are times for people to share ideas and experiences without being on the defensive (or the offensive). Debates mostly harden people's positions, unfortunately.Apuleius Platonicushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11761230673724504084noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7325300274115265117.post-90562420501941201722010-12-17T11:49:44.066-07:002010-12-17T11:49:44.066-07:00Oh, and I forgot to respond to Holly! Thanks for r...Oh, and I forgot to respond to Holly! Thanks for recounting that story about your friend, Jon. So sad and poignant, but I'm happy that you were there for him at the end of his days. I think it is often the case that illness is what forces us to look deeper into the truth about our own lives. Sad but so, so true!Raimahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13817382167424203932noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7325300274115265117.post-38911959869055081522010-12-17T11:47:38.445-07:002010-12-17T11:47:38.445-07:00No, that topic didn't come up, but thanks for ...No, that topic didn't come up, but thanks for the pointer (and the article) - I'll take a look. Sounds very interesting! I don't know if all meetings of this AAAS group are like this, but the discussion the night I went to this talk did not get into anything resembling a debate. It was almost totally focused on the people involved and their experiences. A nice change of tone, IMHO!Raimahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13817382167424203932noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7325300274115265117.post-37573008052675166872010-12-17T10:25:31.674-07:002010-12-17T10:25:31.674-07:00OK, here's another question: was there any dis...OK, here's another question: was there any discussion about the new research on "retro-causation"? I haven't been following this at all, but suddenly there is buzz about a paper coming out by Daryl Bem in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology on "Feeling the Future: Experimental Evidence for Anomalous Retroactive Influences on Cognition and Affect." Oh, I just found the entire article in pdf format online: http://dbem.ws/FeelingFuture.pdf. In the conclusion of the article, Bem says that anyone who rejects the results he is reporting on is acting like the White Queen in Alice in Wonderland, who snorted, "One can't believe impossible things." This could get interesting .....Apuleius Platonicushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11761230673724504084noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7325300274115265117.post-32419993990535320122010-12-16T15:19:47.909-07:002010-12-16T15:19:47.909-07:00I enjoyed your post thoroughly, Raima!
Your acc...I enjoyed your post thoroughly, Raima! <br /><br />Your account reminded me of our dear friend, Jon Barwise. Jon was a distinguished professor at IU, one of our Super Professors with joint appointments in philosophy and cognitive science and a worldwide following. Jon was intuitive in a way that allowed us to easily bond, but when he developed the cancer that would kill him,he began to wake up in a more conscious way to non-academic ways of knowing. As his illness progressed, he found it very sad that it had taken a grave illness to alert him to realities that few of his professional colleagues talked about. There are lots of labels for these "other" realities -- spiritual, religious, intuitive...but whatever the name, they point beyond the material world that mesmerizes so many of us. <br /><br />Personally, I believe science will one day catch up with some of these realities. In the meantime, I hope that studies like this one will prompt many more people in the academic world to share their personal experiences and beliefs in ways that both Jon and the nun who told us that devastating tale of silence, would have deeply appreciated. <br /><br /> Thanks so much for sharing what you have learned. What a joy to discover you are not alone!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17218313034405897193noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7325300274115265117.post-62131120245624444032010-12-16T14:24:29.956-07:002010-12-16T14:24:29.956-07:00Thanks for your comment, Pam, and for the encourag...Thanks for your comment, Pam, and for the encouragement! I certainly agree with you that there is no real conflict between religious belief, spiritual practice and scientific study and many of us are comfortable having all of these hold a high position in our lives and work. I think the results that Elaine found will dispel the common notion that scientists are all atheists. This is the impression you get from media coverage, but the data don't seem to support that view at all. I find her results very encouraging!<br /><br />BTW, whoever drew the conclusion that, because some bacteria can seemingly use arsenic instead of phosphorus, there is no God is seriously over-stepping the usual and normally-accepted limits of drawing scientific conclusions! Such a small view of God...and such a misrepresentation of science! I agree with you: very sad to hear this claim.Raimahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13817382167424203932noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7325300274115265117.post-62930666674469329112010-12-16T12:10:47.954-07:002010-12-16T12:10:47.954-07:00Raima, I am not a scientist, but I ::heart:: scien...Raima, I am not a scientist, but I ::heart:: science. Neither am I a theologian, but I ::heart:: God. Honestly, I don't understand the struggle. It seems to me that a few in each circle make it difficult for the rest of us. Years ago when I heard that electrons disappear, and later with M theory, string theory, & parellel universes could actually be a reality, for my faith I jumped up and down and thought perhaps this is the answer to "Where is Heaven?". Religious folk whe want to claim the Devil buried Dinosaur bones to lead us into sin and Scientist & journalist who say that bacteria that utilize arsenic instead of phosophorus means that there isn't a God both make me very very sad. If in the end I'm wrong about God, then I'll return to the stuff of stars. If I'm right about God, well, just how wonderful will that be. Keep up your work, Keep exploring and questioning. You do good work.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7325300274115265117.post-53007413129900338192010-12-16T09:22:56.823-07:002010-12-16T09:22:56.823-07:00Yes, there was discussion about the ones who write...Yes, there was discussion about the ones who write a lot and are cited frequently (Dawkins and etc). These are the ones Barbara kept referring to as "The Four Horsemen." Elaine pointed out that there are less than 5 people writing about this and they get a lot of press, making it sound like there are more than there are. <br /><br />The other point made (I forgot to include this, but my post was pretty long anyway!) was that people who write blog comments and etc are often not themselves scientists and don't even seem to know much science. This was very distressing to many in the audience, who thought the views of the scientific community were being mis-represented.<br /><br />Thanks for dropping by!Raimahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13817382167424203932noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7325300274115265117.post-62449210127713496082010-12-16T09:07:34.924-07:002010-12-16T09:07:34.924-07:00Fascinating stuff! This is extremely useful for th...Fascinating stuff! This is extremely useful for those of us who were not there. Thanks!<br /><br />Was there discussion of the hard-core atheist types in science, like the people who went after Collins when he was nominated to be NIH Director? It was pretty scary to see ostensibly "liberal" minded people openly calling for someone to be rejected for a high-profile government appointment on the basis of his religious beliefs.Apuleius Platonicushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11761230673724504084noreply@blogger.com