How does Tom Holland fit into this thesis? He seems to have moved into Peterson's territory (as Peterson seems to be moving closer to the flame of which he has long felt the warmth): he says he believes the stories are "true". He sees the root of Christianity in everything humanistic. He has concerns humanism can't survive long being uprooted from the hidden source he has now identified with some chagrin. Yet, he doesn't properly believe. Is he now a rebel from humanism? A Nietzsche who has tired of the skeptical angst? A wishful agnostic? Merely a skeptic who is skeptical of his skepticism? I agree with you in the hints that are in Ecclesiastes 3:11.
Great read. I have a slightly different take on it, maybe you'd care to take it down. :) The phrase "literally fase, metaphorically true" holds a bit more value than I think you give it credit for, depending on your definition of Truth or existance.
Is Belgium true? No and yes. Reducing down, you could say Belgium is just something made up by European powers as a buffer. Or a - natural- arbitrary lap of land. An alien, when observing the earth without human interference, could not see observe this "Belgium". Yet at the same time, it lives and it wills. It acts on the world. We can't get rid of it when we don't want it anymore, like an imaginary friend. It procreates new Belgians and evolves.
My interpretation would be that Belgium is true- but not in the same way stones are. The same way, stones are not true in the same way quarks are, and quarks are not in the same way true as the fundamental laws of physics are. There is a hierarchy of truths (padum tss) with different properties. Saying that something is "metaphorically true" can mean "useful lie" but can also mean "there is such a thing as a metaphorical Truth". And maybe it's both! Just like Belgium is a lie and a truth.
I don't think Weinstein himself is really out of that forest either. He once used the example of "When you hear a rattle shake, it is cursing you." IIRC. He called it metaphorically true, and on first sight this sound like a "useful lie". But I could also intepret it there being a "heuristic" that imposes itself. The potential of a venomous bite is the curse. The truth brings life and survival, and the option to live on and research the truth more closely. I think he means the first though, but I saw in it something that I never could express as a Christian. The feeling of the Spirit imposing itself on me.
It has made me experience the Holy Spirit and Christ in a way I haven't experienced before, even though in hindsight it seems so obvious. Christ -almost literally!- as the way to God. The Spirit who pulls me towards it. A "way" is not a thing that holds ultimate value in the physical world. But it does so for all who live and seek progress. I think it is what you call evidence. But I do feel its evidence on a whole other plane of truth than we are used to talk about. "Metaphorical Truth" seems like a useful word for me to describe it in contrast with physically true, as long as it's not used to dismiss its realness. This seems to be a tightrope the darkweb is walking.
I also don't think that this means that God is a emerging property of the laws of nature. But rather the gravity that attracts us forward. We are pulled into existence, not spilled into it.
Excuse me if I'm saying anything stupid, I'm not well read on the subject! If you have something that would enlighten me, I would love to hear!
How does Tom Holland fit into this thesis? He seems to have moved into Peterson's territory (as Peterson seems to be moving closer to the flame of which he has long felt the warmth): he says he believes the stories are "true". He sees the root of Christianity in everything humanistic. He has concerns humanism can't survive long being uprooted from the hidden source he has now identified with some chagrin. Yet, he doesn't properly believe. Is he now a rebel from humanism? A Nietzsche who has tired of the skeptical angst? A wishful agnostic? Merely a skeptic who is skeptical of his skepticism? I agree with you in the hints that are in Ecclesiastes 3:11.
Great read. I have a slightly different take on it, maybe you'd care to take it down. :) The phrase "literally fase, metaphorically true" holds a bit more value than I think you give it credit for, depending on your definition of Truth or existance.
Is Belgium true? No and yes. Reducing down, you could say Belgium is just something made up by European powers as a buffer. Or a - natural- arbitrary lap of land. An alien, when observing the earth without human interference, could not see observe this "Belgium". Yet at the same time, it lives and it wills. It acts on the world. We can't get rid of it when we don't want it anymore, like an imaginary friend. It procreates new Belgians and evolves.
My interpretation would be that Belgium is true- but not in the same way stones are. The same way, stones are not true in the same way quarks are, and quarks are not in the same way true as the fundamental laws of physics are. There is a hierarchy of truths (padum tss) with different properties. Saying that something is "metaphorically true" can mean "useful lie" but can also mean "there is such a thing as a metaphorical Truth". And maybe it's both! Just like Belgium is a lie and a truth.
I don't think Weinstein himself is really out of that forest either. He once used the example of "When you hear a rattle shake, it is cursing you." IIRC. He called it metaphorically true, and on first sight this sound like a "useful lie". But I could also intepret it there being a "heuristic" that imposes itself. The potential of a venomous bite is the curse. The truth brings life and survival, and the option to live on and research the truth more closely. I think he means the first though, but I saw in it something that I never could express as a Christian. The feeling of the Spirit imposing itself on me.
It has made me experience the Holy Spirit and Christ in a way I haven't experienced before, even though in hindsight it seems so obvious. Christ -almost literally!- as the way to God. The Spirit who pulls me towards it. A "way" is not a thing that holds ultimate value in the physical world. But it does so for all who live and seek progress. I think it is what you call evidence. But I do feel its evidence on a whole other plane of truth than we are used to talk about. "Metaphorical Truth" seems like a useful word for me to describe it in contrast with physically true, as long as it's not used to dismiss its realness. This seems to be a tightrope the darkweb is walking.
I also don't think that this means that God is a emerging property of the laws of nature. But rather the gravity that attracts us forward. We are pulled into existence, not spilled into it.
Excuse me if I'm saying anything stupid, I'm not well read on the subject! If you have something that would enlighten me, I would love to hear!