gjm comments on Is Spirituality Irrational? - Less Wrong

5 Post author: lisper 09 February 2016 01:42AM

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Comment author: gjm 16 February 2016 05:05:37PM 0 points [-]

You do understand that lisper is not now claiming that spiritual experiences are genuine encounters with a non-natural reality, right?

Comment author: polymathwannabe 16 February 2016 06:06:03PM 0 points [-]

Lisper's words:

What I want to say is rather that certain kinds of spiritual experiences might be more than mere fantasies made up out of whole cloth.

Comment author: lisper 16 February 2016 08:03:16PM 2 points [-]

I really don't understand the problem here. In between "fantasies made up out of whole cloth" and "genuine communication with a deity" there is a broad range of possibilities, and I think the truth lies in that range rather than at either extreme. Spiritual experiences are real experiences, and they can feel like a genuine encounter with a deity without actually being a genuine encounter with a deity.

Comment author: gjm 16 February 2016 11:06:11PM 1 point [-]

Yes, but "more than mere fantasies made up" is not the same as "genuine encounters with a non-natural reality".