THE ORIGIN OF RELIGION
  • HOME
  • BEN'S BLOG
  • About The Book
    • BookStore
  • Reviews
  • About The Origin of Religion
  • The origin of spirit
  • FINAL CONCLUSION
  • Contact

BEN'S  BLOG
Click on "Archives" for all blogs since November  2013

Imagination vs Reality

3/3/2016

0 Comments

 
We have five senses which show us the reality of the world around us. We also have imagination which is unlimited. We can imagine anything, When I see a tree, I know it is there, However, if I am in the desert I can imagine a tree which isn’t there and as long as I am realistic, I know it isn’t there. If I am delusional I can believe it is there. I can touch (feel) an object and therefor know it is real but I can also imaging an object when in reality it isn’t there but I wish it was.  The same reasoning goes for hearing, smelling and tasting. Our senses send chemical and electrical signals to the brain which then must interpret it to inform us what these signals really mean. Since our birth we learn their meaning by trial and error until we separate imagination from reality and live objects from non-animated ones. An imaginary friend, that many children envision, eventually gives way to reality.
Imagination, however does not have such limits, we can imagine anything, whether it is an imaginary tree or an alien in a UFO. Books are written, imagining other worlds, impossible physics, monsters, ghosts, miracles and so on and on. We can speculate without limit on “solutions” about non-existing phenomena and about things we still do not understand but they have no real value until we have some realistic evidence that there is some truth to these speculations. Sometimes we find that evidence, sometimes the evidence is contradictory and then we must adjust our speculation accordingly. If we accumulate more evidence, the speculation can become a theory and some theories accumulate so much observable evidence that they become facts, even if these facts later need finer adjustments when more knowledge accumulates.
Imagination with no evidence is of course great as a thought experiment and is unlimited but  not proof of anything. Conclusions drawn from an imaginary  condition is tempting but has no value. When, without any evidence, we conclude that since we observe thunder and lighting there must be  a god “Thor” throwing his hammer into the sky, there is no connection between the observation and the imaginary cause. The same goes for the “argument that the universe is so complicated, fine tuned and large that there must be a creator. Here again there is no connection between an observable fact and the speculation of its cause.
When writing became invented, many of these imaginary guesses were written down. Based on later observations some were found to point in the right direction. Some needed to be disregarded but were not. We now know the world is round and not flat as deduced from earlier observations. We must adjust with new findings.
Speculation about the existence of a Deity is pure imagination. No observable facts. Instead the current knowledge point in the direction of random events being the case. Prayers being heard some times and sometimes not , the miracle healings which sometimes occurs to religious and non-religious people,  are proof of random events., good luck or bad luck! We should rely on human knowledge and painfully acquired experience through trial and error. No cancer cure was “coded “ in the Bible  as some want to make us believe.  Imagining the supernatural is an easy way out which creates  more problems and delays the progress of our continues search for true answers by pretending that we have already all the answers.
Imagination is important and has its place because it does starts our thinking “outside the Box” of our five direct senses but we must reject those which show no observable evidence.

0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Ben Vande       
    Weerdhof
    Andrews


    Retired Teacher
    Author
    Videographer






    Archives of
    previous Blogs

    February 2023
    January 2023
    November 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    March 2022
    January 2022
    October 2021
    August 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    February 2021
    December 2020
    October 2020
    August 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

    Click RSS feed for previous blogs

Ben's Blog

About Origin OF Religion

About THe Book

BooKStore

Contact

  • HOME
  • BEN'S BLOG
  • About The Book
    • BookStore
  • Reviews
  • About The Origin of Religion
  • The origin of spirit
  • FINAL CONCLUSION
  • Contact