There's a Dutch saying that translates like the shore will stop the ship (ie, #16). There's no English equivalent. To some extent, it means that you can only push someone or things so far before they break (eg, source). I was reminded of this saying after reading that the GOP in Alabama ignores court rulings. My blog title has an implicit question: Is reality (eg,...
Faith vs Religion
Faith versus ideology
7 Sep, 2023
Recently, Pope Francis made an intriguing comment about faith versus ideology: “In other words, ideologies replace faith.” See National Review, 28 August 2023: Pope Francis Says ‘Reactionary’ U.S. Catholic Church Has Replaced Faith with ‘Ideology’. It's intriguing because any Religion = ideology. In my blogs, I separate faith from Religion. As I once said to someone...
If there’s only 1 God then why has God so many names?
30 Aug, 2023
In various blogs, I mentioned the various names of a Supreme Being, like Ahura Mazda, Allah, God, Jupiter, Odin, Shiva, Yahweh and Zeus. Recently, I wondered: if there’s just 1 God then why has God so many names?? The ultimate answer may well be in Mahatma Gandhi's message below. Scientists have never found any culture without evidence of...
Completed life
8 Jun, 2023
Until recently, I didn't appreciate this topic. In my view, it was a hobby horse (Dutch: stokpaardje) of the liberal-left. Today, my perspective is shifting following its drivers, being: (i) increasing life expectancy or demographics, (ii) being irrelevant to society, (iii) declining religion, and (iv) urbanisation. In many countries, the average age of the...
Do we have good reasons to believe in beliefs?
5 Jun, 2023
Recently, I noticed this strange question above in an Aeon-Psyche article: Do we have good reasons to believe in beliefs? A radical philosophy of mind says no. Last Saturday, a new friend said the following: "Believing is in the nature of mankind; it's a clear feeling. You're almost born with it." I couldn't agree more with what he said. It was in a slightly...
Nature and God are two sides of the same coin (Spinoza)
25 May, 2023
The phrase above is from Baruch Spinoza's book Ethics (1677). In the Latin language, it was: "Deus sive Natura". Wiki: "For Spinoza the whole of the natural universe is made of one substance, God, or, what's the same, Nature, and its modifications (modes)." I suppose, this comes close to my views. Big Think, The Well, newsletter 25 April 2023 The...
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