Sorry, folks, I've been hard at work lately so I missed my chance to jump on this chimera when it first appeared...
LG will be thrilled to see me return, I'm sure...
lifegazer said:
I thought it was pretty obvious:-
A real universe
If a real universe exists beyond the sense of one, then "things" really do exist and are really separated from one another by space & time.
Fine, up to this point.
The universe has no purpose or meaning, and neither does humanity. In fact, 'self-awareness' is some kind of brain-generated illusion - there is no 'self'. It's a free-for-all where you should grab as much money and have as much fun as you possibly can before you melt away into the irrelevant end.
This does not logically follow. The universe may well have been created, even with a purpose (though the majority of evidence says otherwise) by God. God may very well be a creator external to its creation; it may also be a creator whose very body is the universe as well, or even an unreal entity whose properties are unknowable to us as of yet.
However, skipping whether or not the universe has purpose - why do people tend to categorize self-awareness into 'soul' and 'non-existence' in such a dichotomous manner? Self-awareness obviously does exist for each of us - the 'self' is the totality of the dynamic brain/body existence of each of us. The 'self' is the completion of the brain, its senses, its body, what the body is wearing, etc. 'Self' is a dynamic state - something continuously redefined from moment to moment - connected to previous self-states through memory.
Further, the theory that a lack of spiritualism infers a state of moral anarchy is also, clearly, false reasoning. Humans, for whatever purpose, feel such things as love, respect, honor, etc. Even without a 'supreme morality' at work, each person finds reasons to make life as decent as possible - or they don't, even with morality. Many, MANY followers of faith are miserable cusses who do anything to further their own goals and desires; many, MANY atheists work hard on humanity-oriented issues, positive causes, etc. For my own part, I work hard to ensure that the world I leave for my children is in some way better than the world I inherited. Now, does that help everyone on Earth? No, of course not - and sometimes, what I want for my children may conflict with what someone else needs or wants somewhere else; but we each of us do the best we can, within those limits we set for ourselves.
An illusory universe
'You' are God. You are not the "thing" you perceive yourself to be within the illusion. Fundamentally, 'You' created this illusion for a purpose and all of your choices are meaningful.
Nobody else but God exists. This is truly significant and your future should be devoted to eradicating all selfishness, war and injustice.
This does not follow from any reason or logic. If the universe was created at all, it either was created for a purpose, or it wasn't; whether it is an 'illusion' or not is irrelevant. And certainly, not every choice made by every entity is relevant; most don't mean diddly-squat in the universe. Besides, if your future should be devoted to eradicating these things, why bother creating the illusion with such things in the first place? Are you claiming that God first creates the source of his suffering, then relies on his ignorant avatars to end his suffering? Ridiculous and unreasonable.
Those, briefly, are the primary differences.
They make no sense at all.