Jack Cummins

I think that we are in constant stories, some made by others and those made by others. We can be oppressed by them, or transform them into our own sto...

Which social truths are you thinking about? The reason I ask about that is because there are ones which are just about conformity. I definitely believ...

I do think that myths can resonate on an archetypal level. However, I do see the danger you speak of about how charismatic leaders can use mythic cons...

I agree that life is becoming harder and I, myself, find this because I am living in an overcrowded house. It does seem to me, and I think to some oth...

Surely, we should be looking for ways for balancing problems arising from overpopulation and,the consequent issues of managing resources, rather than ...

What you are saying does make sense. I do believe that on a general people are similar. It does appear that most developing societies have developed s...

It is hard to know the motives of the writers of the Gospels because there is a lot of dispute about the sources. They were probably written and put t...

If you had read the various posts which I have written you would see that I am not advocating the Bible as the source for guiding life, but interested...

Do you not think that part of the problem may be that the word 'soul' is open to critical examination, because it is not just a static entity. My unde...

I have just looked at your link and the book looks extremely interesting. I have often thought that it was strange that just about all the near death ...

I believe that you are correct to see the New Testament as blending of many traditions, including the Egyptian and Sumerian. This probably isn't ackno...

Yes, I have some awareness that Buddhism is often seen in a very romanticized way. The idea of rebirth often appeals to many people, although I know t...

You say about spending time reading the scriptures. I have known people who have attended all kinds of Bible study groups, or even read the Bible cove...

The term 'unseen' is one which can be interpreted in many ways, like 'hidden'. These terms can be used by a born again atheist like yourself. On the o...

You are asking an extremely difficult question really, in asking about the value of myth. It all comes down to perspectives on truth: religious knowle...

Sorry for being obscure. What I am trying to say is that myth is a whole perspective or way of viewing experience, incorporating symbols. I am also sa...

I think that you are right that the people who explore beyond the accepted norms are often those who have reason to do so, as you have shared in your ...

What you are saying shows how we are all taught differently. I am interested to know what ideas you have and sources you have for alternative pictures...

Myth is an extremely complex but interesting topic. One of the problems with the term myth is its colloquial use to mean false. I embrace it in the se...

I think that we were replying at the same time, so I have just read your latest comment. I think I leave a certain amount of ambiguity about the idea ...

I think that you are correct to see the idea of an unseen order as being an aspect of science. I think that the idea can be used in a religious or sci...

I definitely don't think that fears around the topics of hell and sex are exclusive to Catholicism and I am sure that many people from other Christian...

Yes, it does seem that there does appear to be some higher source behind the scenes of the laws of the universe, some mysterious factor that gives ris...

I think many people have missed Maslow's whole emphasis on peak experiences, in focusing on his hierarchy of needs. When I have been on modules of psy...

You say that you were ranting and that's interesting because it seems that's what people who adhere to authoritarian religions seem to do. One of the ...

I do think that the Eastern thinkers have so much to offer. I do believe that earliest Christianity may have been more attuned to the way of perceivin...

I think that you are definitely right to say that I read the Bible as if it is a work of literature rather than in the way it was understood originall...

I do think that the Catholic religion is a very powerful and it is like a world in its own right. There is immense power from the symbolism and many f...

I am certainly in favour of the experiential domain. I didn't know about Simone Weil's teenage experience, probably because until you pointed her out ...

The idea of a God who doesn't wish to be prayed to and is accepting of atheism is an interesting radical alternative to the picture of Jahweh of the O...

I do think that many people would prefer the conventional life you describe of family and employment, but I think that so many don't have this any lon...

I would agree that without religious ideas it is sometimes easy to fall into nihilism. I do have some affinity with the philosophy of Nietzsche, Camus...

I think that the post you have just written makes your argument a bit more explicit, but I am a bit troubled by your use of the word, 'perversity'. It...

I do agree with you and Bertrand Russell and think our original faiths are still there lurking in the background. I have never called myself an atheis...

I think that you are right in the sense that the idea of God as presented in Christianity does imply that of being looked after by God, the father. De...

I see religious thinking as full of mythic narrative and symbolic truths. Some of these can be traced back to Egyptian ideas and other ancient picture...

I think that you need to be more specific, with examples, to make your argument clearer in making it fit into your philosophy of egoism. At the moment...

I think that it is true that religion is connected to family and community life and, of course, I would not be advocating abolishing religion. That wo...

There is a long history of opposition between science and religion, especially when the ideas of Darwin came along. However, it is possible to reconci...

I am not sure why you think that some stories are not mythic. I take the view that just about all stories have some relationships to mythic structures...

I suppose that part of the issue of whether you find it hard to believe in anything is whether you really want to or not. Personally, I do believe tha...

I do have a strong interest in the gothic. This probably arose around the time I was questioning religious beliefs, especially as I was reading Jung o...

I have always found the esoteric traditions of religion more interesting than the exoteric ones. Within Christianity, there are the ideas of Celtic Ch...

Your first comment was good as well. I have just been struggling to get round to replying today. I think that one particular point you make is the dis...

I think that the question of why people need religion is in the borderlands between philosophy and psychology. I am interested in the writings of Freu...

Perhaps the time we are entering into will show us how hardwired we are for uncertainty. I am inclined to think that any religious beliefs or of an un...

Perhaps we should not recoil and evade such horrors. Obviously, it so easy to look for the brighter aspects of life, but perhaps this is too onesided....

Interesting, and Led Zeppelin and others spoke of dog as the reverse of God. Some destroyed their records but what does it say about the role of dogs ...

We may be talking about the top of the hierarchy of power, especially those who make the decisions. However, the idea of government is probably comple...

I would agree that it is best if we keep our messages as simple as possible. It is difficult though, in dealing with such a complex topic, but overblo...