Seeking Truth
Living With Doubt
by
Book Cover & Preview Text
Chapter 3: Doubt
Many authors91 argue that people are ‘hard wired’ for believing in a tribal deity of some type. Since every known human society exhibits some type of religion, it is hard to argue otherwise, although we have no idea as to the mechanism for such ‘wiring.’ Another widely argued view is that doubt and religion are antithetical. In this chapter, we discuss how doubt—and tribalism—shows up in religion, science and art, and provide a few insights into their relationships. These include how religious leaders tend to invent explanations rather than admit ignorance about the physical world; how scientific specialties usually organize themselves as ‘tribes’; quantum mechanics as an example of a paradigm shift and a failure of ‘tribal elders’; how art uses doubt and ambiguity to suggest ideas beyond the words or images themselves—including the important concept of ‘negative capability’; how far mystical traditions have gone with doubt; and the anxiety that doubt causes people.
Doctrinal Religion: Doubt
The doctrinal religions view doubting religious truths as an absolute evil. For the same reasons, religious texts are rarely modified or rewritten in the light of new knowledge...
Chapter 6: Cosmology
How are the world and universe put together? How do I fit into the universe? What difference do I make? Questions such as these are as old as humanity. One of the major claims of many religions, including the Levantine triad, is that, having the absolute truth, it can answer such questions. The first written record of answers found comes from the cities of the
God?
Now, in all this remarkable detail, there is no need to invoke anything like the traditional picture of ‘God’, nor is there any evidence for a ‘heaven’ separate and distinct from the physical universe. We do not know why there is a universe, but we have both observations and models to explain what has occurred starting about 10-35 seconds after the big bang.
Synthesis
In the Levantine religions the basic cosmology is found in Genesis, and is incorrect based on what we now know about the world. What of the mystical traditions?
For these, cosmology is expressed in terms of myths and images...
Formats
Book Details
About the Book
Exploring the intersection of art, science and religion, "Seeking Truth: Living with Doubt" considers that all three are paths to the same end. Attacking not only the unyielding smugness of evolutionary biologists but also the uncompromising surety of Fundamentalist figureheads (in both the Christian and Islamic faiths), author Steven Fortney and Marshall Onellion take the reader on a path that disavows all such certainties and considers the thought-provoking question; What does it mean to live with doubt? Far from leaving questions unanswered, instead they tackle such questions as proof versus faith, the impossibility of absolute understanding, and how a combination of art, science and religion can lead to a transcendence of that which we cannot know. In so doing, they expose the dangers of "certainty," be it in religion, science or any other ideology that claims to offer absolute truth.
"Seeking Truth: Living with Doubt" has been endorsed by theologians (Arthur Dewey, Professor of Theology,
About the Author
Steve Fortney, born in Minnesota into a military family, has degrees in Classics and Philosophy and Education from the University of Wisconsin, and attended Luther Theological Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota. Married since 1960 to Ruth Fortney, he has four children and eight grandchildren. He was a newspaperman for four years, a union negotiator for 25 years, an alderman for 22 years, and a high school English teacher for 31 years. He took initiation in the Tibetian Buddhist tradition from the Dalai Lama, and received his Zen Buddhist name from Priest Sokyu Hashimoto in Miharu, Japan. He fishes, hunts and gardens. He has six published novels and numerous published poems.
Marshall Onellion, born in Louisiana, has an ethnic background that includes French, Irish, Scottish, English, Portugese and 1/64 Cherokee Indian. He was an Eagle Scout at age 13, received a B.S. in math and physics from West Virginia University, served as an Air Force officer, and received a Ph.D. in physics from Rice University. He had been north of the Mason-Dixon Line only six months before he became a physics professor at the University of Wisconsin- Madison, where he has worked since 1987. He has 179 refereed journal articles and over 3,100 citations. Married since 1977, he and his wife Violet Castro are soft touches for stray dogs and cats.