Theism vs (A)theism and Gnosticism vs (A)gnosticism (and/or Brahma vs. (A)braham)

I think Robert Anton Wilson who first said I am, in general, agnostic; but as pertains to "God" I am decidedly atheist. anyway, I heard it first from Xen Dada Axis (hive).

One can be a Gnostic and Atheist, or Agnostic and a Theist, or a Gnostic and a Theist. Or not.

Abraham was the last, I would tend towards the first, but of course have doubts (see below).

In the shuffle gets lost the meaning of gnosticism.

What does it mean to know?

Think I have faith in knowing, but I don't put too much credence in believing.

Hacking God : In the end most inventions are not used for their intended purpose.

Stuart Kauffman: Reinventing the Sacred

Unfortunately he is a bit dry, but he could be our Ralph Nader in the battle against Reductionism.

Unlike Dawkins, who often comes off pretty fundamentalist in his own way, Kauffman is truly radical, in that his brand of atheism has a place for awe and respect for the cosmic. As a result, thoughtful theist holdouts won't have to go cold turkey when they realize that God (like everything else) is a metaphor. And we of a scientific bent can uncloset our pagan urges and guiltlessly follow magic as well as logic.

Our reverence of The Sacred need not be thrown out with the holy bath water if it is recognized as a mental tool that can be hacked.

The Big Job

from http://whyifeelcrazy.com:

the best job is a dangerous mission
Tuesday, April 28th, 2009

“So we can’t find peace, we can’t 'win', it’s not going to be all right. But that doesn’t have to rob us of purpose; in fact it’s the opposite, it implies a great purpose:

…what each of us must do is cleave to what we find most beautiful in the human heritage - and pass it on. So that one day, one day when this endarkenment exhausts itself, those precious things we’ve passed on will still be alive, and it will be possible for the people of that day to make use of them to construct a life that is a life - the life of freedom, variety, consensual organization, and light and dark, in their proper proportions (whatever they may be).

…that to pass on these precious fragments is our mission, a dangerous mission - that if you were going to volunteer for crucial, hazardous work, work of great importance and risk, this might be the job you drew.

And it isn’t a bad job at all. Actually, it’s the best job.”

[Stolen and brazenly updated: From: WHOLE EARTH REVIEW Winter 1989, page 44 (which is no longer being published) THE AGE OF ENDARKENMENT BY MICHAEL VENTURA]

I concur!! It's the only job!

One of the things that attracts me to chaos theory is that it is the only explanation of the universe that allows for free will.

In a purely deterministic universe our agency is an illusion, since we are merely the products of molecular interactions.

In a purely random universe our actions can not be reliably linked to their consequences.

Only in an unfolding universe, where each moment is created through an iteration of the last, can human agency be accounted for.

So the next phase of reality will be determined by those fragments of the past which we choose to reiterate.