Good post, but I think what people are often seeking in the non-material is not so much an explanation of what they are, but a further connection with other people, deities, spirits, etc. In a crude sense, judeo-christian god gives people an ever-present friend that understands everything about them and always loves them. Materialism would tell them, ‘There is no God. You have found that talking to yourself makes you feel that you are unconditionally loved, but it’s all in your head.’
On a non-religious note, two lovers may feel that they have bonded such that they are communicating on another level. Which explanation seems more aesthetically pleasing:
1) Your ‘souls’ are entwined, your ‘minds’ are one, he/she really does deeply understand you such that words are no longer necessary, you are sharing the same experience.
2) You have found a trigger to an evolutionarily developed emotion that makes you feel as if you are communing. Your lover may or may not have found the same switch. You are each experiencing this in your own way in your own head. You will need to discuss to compare.
And yes, I do think that verbal and physical communication is still pretty great (I mean, that’s what we got), but there is a large attraction to believe one’s transcendent feelings really do, well, transcend, and that we are not as alone in our minds as we really are.
Which explanation seems more aesthetically pleasing?
It depends. To those wise enough to take joy in the merely real, the materialistic explanation could be a challenge to actually become more empathetic and communicative towards their lovers. An alief of communion and transcendence can also enhance trustworthiness and cooperation, which are generally sought in any love relationship.
By contrast, if the ‘spritual’ explanation were real, it would probably lose its charm and even be resented by some as a loss in autonomy, just as fire-breathing dragons and lightning spells might become boring and unexciting in a world where magic actually worked.
Voted down for preemptive use of Let Me Google That For You. I would actually like to vote this down first for signaling that you are providing a resource explaining a technical term you used by providing a link, but instead providing a much less helpful Google search, where the reader is not sure which, if any, of the search results will be helpful, and vote it down again for using LMGTFY instead of Google directly, which includes obnoxious animations and requires javascript.
I would have left it alone if you had just used the word “alief” without any link at all.
Sure, one can always look at the positive aspects of reality, and many materialists have even tried to put a positive spin on the inevitability of death without an afterlife. But it should not be surprising that what is real is not always what is most beautiful. There are a panoply of reasons not to believe things that are not true, but greater aesthetic value does not seem to be one of them. There is an aesthetic value in the idea of ‘The Truth,’ but I would not say that this outweighs all of the ways in which fantasy can be appealing for most people. And the ‘fantasies’ of which I am speaking are not completely random untruths, like “Hey, I’m gonna believe in Hobbits, because that would be cool!’, but rather ideas that spring from the natural emotional experiences of humanity. They feel correct. Even if they are not.
Good post, but I think what people are often seeking in the non-material is not so much an explanation of what they are, but a further connection with other people, deities, spirits, etc. In a crude sense, judeo-christian god gives people an ever-present friend that understands everything about them and always loves them. Materialism would tell them, ‘There is no God. You have found that talking to yourself makes you feel that you are unconditionally loved, but it’s all in your head.’
On a non-religious note, two lovers may feel that they have bonded such that they are communicating on another level. Which explanation seems more aesthetically pleasing: 1) Your ‘souls’ are entwined, your ‘minds’ are one, he/she really does deeply understand you such that words are no longer necessary, you are sharing the same experience. 2) You have found a trigger to an evolutionarily developed emotion that makes you feel as if you are communing. Your lover may or may not have found the same switch. You are each experiencing this in your own way in your own head. You will need to discuss to compare.
And yes, I do think that verbal and physical communication is still pretty great (I mean, that’s what we got), but there is a large attraction to believe one’s transcendent feelings really do, well, transcend, and that we are not as alone in our minds as we really are.
It depends. To those wise enough to take joy in the merely real, the materialistic explanation could be a challenge to actually become more empathetic and communicative towards their lovers. An alief of communion and transcendence can also enhance trustworthiness and cooperation, which are generally sought in any love relationship.
By contrast, if the ‘spritual’ explanation were real, it would probably lose its charm and even be resented by some as a loss in autonomy, just as fire-breathing dragons and lightning spells might become boring and unexciting in a world where magic actually worked.
Voted down for preemptive use of Let Me Google That For You. I would actually like to vote this down first for signaling that you are providing a resource explaining a technical term you used by providing a link, but instead providing a much less helpful Google search, where the reader is not sure which, if any, of the search results will be helpful, and vote it down again for using LMGTFY instead of Google directly, which includes obnoxious animations and requires javascript.
I would have left it alone if you had just used the word “alief” without any link at all.
Sure, one can always look at the positive aspects of reality, and many materialists have even tried to put a positive spin on the inevitability of death without an afterlife. But it should not be surprising that what is real is not always what is most beautiful. There are a panoply of reasons not to believe things that are not true, but greater aesthetic value does not seem to be one of them. There is an aesthetic value in the idea of ‘The Truth,’ but I would not say that this outweighs all of the ways in which fantasy can be appealing for most people. And the ‘fantasies’ of which I am speaking are not completely random untruths, like “Hey, I’m gonna believe in Hobbits, because that would be cool!’, but rather ideas that spring from the natural emotional experiences of humanity. They feel correct. Even if they are not.