[geeks] Religion and the Presidency

[Anthony Ortenzi]

der Mouse asked: 
> I gather you do not have any experience leading you to believe any
> deities have reality for you - but how does that make it a matter of
> faith for those who do have such experience to so believe?  Do you need
> to experience cluster migraines to believe they exist?  Is it faith to
> believe phobias exist if you've never had one?

I can believe that cluster migraines, phobias, and divine power may exist in
peoples' realities.  I can believe that you have had spiritual experiences,
in your reality.

Consider the case of phantom pain in the event that a limb is lost.  For
quite some time, it's been believed that it was due to peripheral nerve
damage.

http://blog.ted.com/2007/10/vilayanur_ramac.php

There is evidence that phantom pain can be relieved by tricking the brain
into thinking that the limb still exists.  The only evidence of the pain is
the report of the experience of pain in a limb for which there is empirical
evidence that it doesn't exist.

I do not believe that the man feels pain in his finger that was attached to
his arm.

I do believe that he experiences the pain.

Do you believe that love exists outside of the experience of those who feel
it?  That there is some universal element "love" that flows more in some
places than others?

-Anthony