Wednesday, September 22, 2004
The Question of God
I recorded a broad cast of "The Question of God" off of OPB last night and started watching it today. It examines the world views of Sigmund Freud and C.S. Lewis, both of whom I've tried to read and had little success. The special is focused on the idea that our individual understanding of the meaning of life comes down to one fundamental question: Does God exist?
This is a basic question. It's probably not the first question a seeker asks because it's too big to handle without preparation. Freud and Lewis are the most influential proponents of secularism and spiritualism in the western world according to Dr. Armand Nicoli, a professor at Harvard and who teaches a class that is the basis of this discussion.
Freud was heavily influenced by materialists in school, although he did take a course on religion from Franz Bortano (this is probably misspelled, as the special doesn't print the proper name and there are three distinct pronunciations given. I only have a brief biographical sketch of Freud and it does not mention this teacher). The quote from Bortano in this special states that philosophy draws us away from God, but a deeper examination of philosophy takes us back to God. The special then quotes Freud asserting that there is no knowledge that is not derived from scientific observation and that there is no knowledge derived from revelation, intuition, or inspiration. Freud apparently realized that logic and science cannot prove or disprove the existence of God. He then felt that he was faced with a choice to follow the material world view or the spiritual world view. He chose the material world view.
What amazes me is that the realization that science can't prove or disprove the existence of God leads to this "choice" that must cement us for the rest of our lives. (Perhaps I'm exaggerating that bit.) I did have a "choice" when I made that realization, but I saw it as a choice of 'do I believe that God exists' or 'I do not believe that God exists.' I chose to believe in God. I couldn't imagine a Creation without a Creator. It was a building block of my personal faith.
It seems to me that other people come to this realization and also have some sort of "confrontational choice" that affects them for the rest of their lives. For some it is probably a question of "Do I believe in Science or Religion?" This is the same question Freud found. Since my confrontational question was different it may explain why I have a pretty fair reconciliation between the Material and Spiritual world views, mainly because I don't think they are truly in conflict, and thus there is no need for reconciliation.
Freud went on to get married and expressly forbid his wife to practice any ritual or continue in any spiritual practices. I grin to myself when I say it sounds like Freud followed Materialism with religious fervor. Perhaps we are at a point when Materialism has drawn us away from God but we've started to study the material world with such detail that we're finding God was there all along. ¶ 5:05 PM
This is a basic question. It's probably not the first question a seeker asks because it's too big to handle without preparation. Freud and Lewis are the most influential proponents of secularism and spiritualism in the western world according to Dr. Armand Nicoli, a professor at Harvard and who teaches a class that is the basis of this discussion.
Freud was heavily influenced by materialists in school, although he did take a course on religion from Franz Bortano (this is probably misspelled, as the special doesn't print the proper name and there are three distinct pronunciations given. I only have a brief biographical sketch of Freud and it does not mention this teacher). The quote from Bortano in this special states that philosophy draws us away from God, but a deeper examination of philosophy takes us back to God. The special then quotes Freud asserting that there is no knowledge that is not derived from scientific observation and that there is no knowledge derived from revelation, intuition, or inspiration. Freud apparently realized that logic and science cannot prove or disprove the existence of God. He then felt that he was faced with a choice to follow the material world view or the spiritual world view. He chose the material world view.
What amazes me is that the realization that science can't prove or disprove the existence of God leads to this "choice" that must cement us for the rest of our lives. (Perhaps I'm exaggerating that bit.) I did have a "choice" when I made that realization, but I saw it as a choice of 'do I believe that God exists' or 'I do not believe that God exists.' I chose to believe in God. I couldn't imagine a Creation without a Creator. It was a building block of my personal faith.
It seems to me that other people come to this realization and also have some sort of "confrontational choice" that affects them for the rest of their lives. For some it is probably a question of "Do I believe in Science or Religion?" This is the same question Freud found. Since my confrontational question was different it may explain why I have a pretty fair reconciliation between the Material and Spiritual world views, mainly because I don't think they are truly in conflict, and thus there is no need for reconciliation.
Freud went on to get married and expressly forbid his wife to practice any ritual or continue in any spiritual practices. I grin to myself when I say it sounds like Freud followed Materialism with religious fervor. Perhaps we are at a point when Materialism has drawn us away from God but we've started to study the material world with such detail that we're finding God was there all along. ¶ 5:05 PM
