Philosophical musings on Quanta & Qualia;  Materialism & Spiritualism; Science & Religion; Pragmatism & Idealism, etc.

Deism is not based on Pascal’s wager, but on reasonable inference.
Click image for enlargement

   Post 83. May 11, 2019

  Deism as Alternative to Atheism

   Atheist Accident versus Deist Design

All religious cultures are different in the details, yet the core philosophy has always been the same : that there is more to reality than meets the eye. However, imaginative humans have interpreted that intuitive truth in various ways. For some, the "more than" is viewed as "more of the same, only different" (e.g. ghosts are ectoplasmic bodies). For others the "more than" is "turtles all the way down" (matter > atoms > multiverses). For a few, the "more than" is The Whole, The ALL, The One. The eye of the body (sight) can only see collections of Parts, while the eye of the mind (insight) can “see” the whole System, which is bound together by immaterial forces of inter-relationship6. Since the “more than” is invisible, yet effective, it has been commonly described in metaphorical terms as “wind” or “breath”. But we now have a new technical term to replace the outdated concepts of “spirit” or “soul” or “chi” : Information or EnFormAction.

Like ancient Taoism7, the modern Deist philosophy is not a god-worshipping or evangelizing Religion, but merely a practical way of life, in view of natural “laws” established by the presumed Creator. So, there's no need to force traditional Taoists to become iconoclastic Deists. We merely acknowledge the perennial philosophical concepts that we hold in common (e.g. holism). The superficial differences are what people have always fought about. But there's one key insight that most philosophers of mind agree on : Materialism is how the world looks to the primitive animal (phenomenal) mind8. Only evolved enlightened9 (noumenal) minds can see the invisible relationships that make matter manifest. Whether they know it or not, when Scientists, Mathematicians, and Philosophers see patterns in nature, they are reading the mind of G*D.

Deism has something in common with all world Religions, and with modern Science. Yet it also dispenses with most of the superfluous baggage, such as Spiritism and Scientism. Ideally, the Deist philosophy is parsimonious, eliminating superfluous details that divide us, and focusing only on the essence that unites. But the self-sufficiency & austerity of that abstract intellectual worldview almost guarantees that it will never become a popular religion. Nevertheless, just as the minority Stoic, Buddhist, Confucian, and Taoist philosophies eventually influenced whole cultures, perhaps the Neo-Deism worldview will have a trickle-up effect on modern secular & religious segments of society. So, although Deism may seem to be Atheism Lite, it does offer some consolation that the evolving world is more than just “one damn thing after another”10. 

End of Post 83

6. Invisible Forces :
  Not magic energies, but mathematical relationships (e.g. geometry, topology) that define the shape & function of things.

7. Taoism :
   The core philosophy, not the popular religious beliefs. Some Taoists believed that they could become god-like by practicing specific rituals and austerities. But those are the superfluous details that have been discarded by parsimonious Deism.
http://factsanddetails.com/china/cat3/sub10/item91.html

8. Eliminative Materialism
   A radical view that rejects the commonsense notion of immaterial mental states (i.e. the noumenal mind).
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/materialism-eliminative/

9. Enlightened :
   Some people view enlightenment as a sudden a-ha insight or instant revelation. But in reality, it’s an emergent understanding of a complex problem following a long process of learning and questioning.

10. Arnold Toynbee quote:
    The historian, who did see Deistic patterns in history, was making a sarcastic response to an atheist historian’s rejection of historical progression, who said ironically : “Men wiser and more learned than I have discerned in History a plot, a rhythm, a pre-determined pattern. These harmonies are concealed from me.”
https://quoteinvestigator.com/2015/09/16/history/    

   It and Thou :
   For Materialists, the universe is an IT – an inanimate object.
   For Spiritualists, the cosmos is a Thou – an animated system with which we can have a meaningful relationship.
   For Deists, the ALL is infinite potential, of which our world is a finite sub-system.    The physical universe is a temporal IT within the eternal THOU of unbounded possi-bilities. We can’t know the ALL personally, but we can act as-if the ultimate source of being is analogous to a Father or Mother, and treat the relationship with respect.

   Atheism, Agnosticism,    and Deism :
   All of these worldviews are secular alternatives to traditional theistic religions. They differ primarily in their confidence in the existential status of a world creator.    Atheism says “no god”; Agnosticism says “maybe”; and Deism says “probably”
    I sometimes characterize my personal position as an Agnostic Deist. I think that empirical and theoretical evidence suggests that a creator is necessary to explain our existence and the progression of evolution, but I don’t know for sure.