Deism, Anyone?

Dan-O

I've dabbled in this on & off for the past 15 or 20 years. And I've found that many of the central concepts of Deism are well aligned with my own thinking on the nature of the Supreme Being.

Webster's defines a deist as "One who believes in the existence of a God or supreme being but denies revealed religion, basing his belief on the light of nature and reason."

Many of the United States' founding fathers were deists, including Thomas Jefferson, Thomas, Paine, Ethan Allen, and Benjamin Franklin. And their writings of more than two centuries ago still ring true for me today.

Jefferson wrote, in a letter to John Adams:
"It is too late in the day for men of sincerity to pretend they believe in the Platonic mysticism that three are one and one is three, and yet, that one is not three, and the three are not one.... But this constitutes the craft, the power, and profits of the priests. Sweep away their gossamer fabrics of fictitious religion, and that would catch no more flies"

Paine said, in his work The Age of Reason :
"I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish church, by the Roman church, by the Greek church, by the Turkish church, by the Protestant church, nor by any church that I know of. My own mind is my own church.

"All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit.

"I do not mean by this declaration to condemn those who believe otherwise; they have the same right to their belief as I have to mine. But it is necessary to the happiness of man, that he be mentally faithful to himself. Infidelity does not consist in believing, or in disbelieving; it consists in professing to believe what he does not believe."

Satanus

I'm not sure if the being is supreme. It could be an all pervading unconditionally benevolent 'lower' being, like the sun/sunlight, shining on all, yet not really intervening in any meaningful way. We could have sprung from it, like spores springing from a mushroom, floating off where we are inclined, or perhaps as probes shooting into nothingness. Who really knows?

S

talesin

Oh, good topic.

The idea of multiple deities appeals to me. Gods and goddesses.

What do you think?

FMZ

Interesting... I think if I hadn't found my own path to "connection" to the Supreme One, I would probably have been a Deist. I see and feel the Divine in everything, but I do not believe religion (in itself) does not hold the key to this being.

FMZ

Golf

My understanding of deism is that God does not interfere or meddle in human affairs. I am a strong believer in a Creator. I don't want anyone to waste their time convincing me otherwise, nor will I waste my time trying to convince them of a Creator.

Guest 77

Dan-O

Golf, you are correct. Deists believe that God basically wound us up & turned us loose here, and that He does not intervene in our lives.

gitasatsangha

I looked into Deism at one point, but (and this is just my opinion, I am not bashing anyone's personal beliefs), I found it to be a dry and somewhat pointless belief system. If there is a "Supreme Being" or "First Cause" who set up the works but does not care about them, then such a Supreme Being is no more important to me in my life then the Big Bang or an old wax cylinder recording that no one has the proper equipment to play.

During the age of reason, it probably made a great deal of sense, as thinking men and women were clearing out the cobwebs of rational thought, and with that had to go many of the superstitions and logic-holes that had filled western thought for so much of the past couple of millenia. I think it may help persons with an analytical predisposession if they like to think of the universe as a construction with some sort of order behind it. It sidesteps the whole "If God exists, why is life so crappy" debacle that dualistic faiths invariable fall into.

JamesThomas

"have you found some other faith which makes more sense for you?"

Generally, faith and beliefs build walls that reinforce a sense that we are separate entities from what we seek. They also separate us from others. Religious beliefs shrink us into a specific identity, and then mold a tiny personal god within our mind to fit our restricted story and ideas.

There is another way other than "faith" and beliefs. A way that creates no walls or boundaries of separation between us, the universe, and Divinity.

It is a journey out of the mind and it's concepts, faiths and beliefs, and into the actual vibrant reality of this moment and the deepest sense of Being. A step out of the abstracts of the mind, and into boundless Truth.

The mind gives birth and credence to an objective god, and a tiny fragmented entity called "me".
Reality, does not.

j

SixofNine

Deism, Anyone?

None for me, thanks.

bem

Thanks Dan,

for giving me something else to think about. A friend from the forum recently asked me where I stood on my religious beliefs now. best I could say is that I believe in a higher power.I'm sure this is a worn out phrase by now. I always think try taking your next breath without Him....(I too wish to not offend anyone, I am just answering the ?)

"All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit. I for one agree with the above statement from your post.

I had thought a lot of these things even before reading the post and further info.

bem

Deism, Anyone?

Share this