Posts tagged pcp96

Hi again:

I’ve been listening some more to your shows and something you said in a recent episode (not sure which one) got me thinking. Are we atheists really all that negative? You sounded like atheists just take all the fun out of things. I’m not sure I agree. Before I go into this, I am truly sorry if I mis-heard you or indeed if I imagined the whole thing. I’d still like to put into words my defense.

From your explanation of metaphysics I gathered that it’s possible for prettymuch anyone to work in the realm of the metaphysical, including atheists, since that realm is essentially anything which is not physical (Amber in Episode 83 at 18:50 in MP3). At first glance this might sound like it poses a problem for an atheist but this is not so.

Consider the example of a thought or an emotion. Let’s suppose these two may be explained in terms of physical processes (neurons bla bla bla). These are both things which are experienced. That experience is not something physical but rather something known only to the person experiencing it. The same then is true of metaphysical phenomena. If indeed it is true that one can enter the astral plane and project one’s disembodied psyche to another location and it is true that this phenomenon can be explained through recourse to empirical science then I would suspect that the experiential component is analogous to the application layer of the OSI model used in building the internet. (ask Jason for details).

I suspect that Ashlee may be able to comment on my theory as well, since moving up the spiritual OSI model — going from the biochemical components to the application layer of experience — would require something akin to a paradigm shift (in Peter Carrol’s sense of the term).

I see you have some people like Simim and Branden who might have some interesting things to say on this topic.

I’m a new listener to the Pagan Podcast (Sam is a friend of my wife’s, and so I subscribed a few weeks ago.), and I do find it pretty funny – both from the humourous stuff you purposely do to be funny and … well, the stuff I find funny due to personal bias. I’m an atheist, and your show is really my first exposure to paganism, which I find pretty far out there. I know I’m not your target audience, so I’m sure that doesn’t surprise you. Which sort of brings me to the point of this letter. In show 93, Sam bashed Travolta for eschewing science in favor of following the doctrines of his religion of scientology. Now if you’re going to host a show that talks about magic circles, crystal power, proper polytheist worship methods … or whatever … then I think we’ve crossed that barrier between what science recommends and what many of you personally believe. Assuming Travolta truly believes that Scientology is true and that the sciences of medicine and psychiatry would do more harm than good, is he any different from some of your more nonscientific views? Sure, you may personally not approve of his choices, but haven’t you all made personal religious choices that other folks don’t approve of? Not that I don’t find Scientology nutty. I sure do! As I do all religious organizations. I just find there to be a smattering of hypocracy in judging other religions more harshly than your own. But keep up the good work. There always seems to be more room for additional belief systems, and yours are far less dangerous than those that believe in Jihads or the “free market”