Path: typhoon.sonic.net!not-for-mail Newsgroups: alt.magick.tyagi,alt.consciousness.mysticism,alt.metaphysics.alchemy,alt.philosophy.taoism,talk.religion.misc,talk.religion.newage Subject: (DnD) Deities and Daoists References: <2asm1v4rj043e2rmetntc5qjhseihrsjuc@4ax.com> From: i@no.self (!) Reply-To: spam@luckymojo.com User-Agent: nn/6.6.0 Lines: 43 Message-ID: Date: Wed, 15 Jan 2003 09:16:12 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 208.201.242.18 X-Complaints-To: abuse@sonic.net X-Trace: typhoon.sonic.net 1042622172 208.201.242.18 (Wed, 15 Jan 2003 01:16:12 PST) NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 15 Jan 2003 01:16:12 PST Xref: typhoon.sonic.net alt.magick.tyagi:35742 alt.consciousness.mysticism:58556 alt.metaphysics.alchemy:191 alt.philosophy.taoism:108211 talk.religion.misc:393119 talk.religion.newage:158238 Mark: |# Is it possible to be a Taoist and an atheist? "Jim Fish" : | Different types of Taoism exist. what is the primary role of deities in Taoism as diversely-practiced? are they social or administrative? socially-supporting and helpful? or do they have more mysterious functions? and how do Immortals differ? | Belief, or lack thereof, in gods is inconsequential IMO. so believing in gods won't induce a faux experience of them? | Tao gives rise to the 10k. Gods (if they exist) are a part | of the 10k. is Tao sufficiently like a God that an atheist would dispute its reality or challenge an assertion as to its existence? there are books comparing "God" and "Tao", for example | ...[belief] that gods don't exist... has ...no bearing on | reality or any gods or Tao (IMO). disbelief in fictional phantoms sometimes eliminates them from one's thought-processes and subjective experience. one's attitude toward illusions can determine their level of reality. if disbelief in them opposes the creation of even fantasy versions of them which one might identify with some subset renegade consciousness, and that's all that they ever were, then they are subject to our whims as mere figments | If you had the faith that gods exist, it would have no | bearing on reality, gods, or Tao. inasmuch as I am part of reality, it has bearing. inasmuch as the gods or Tao is part of me or is That by which I proceed, so indeed it has bearing. it might, in fact, inform my composure favourably to become attuned to or at least acquainted with them this may form the basis of alchemy and mysticism generally