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GeekNights 20101028 - Spiritual Experiences with Luke Burrage
Tonight on GeekNights, we have a treat. International entertainer and world-class juggler Luke Burrage happened to be in New York on holiday, and we happened to sit down with him in the studio for a few hours to chat. In the first of several excerpts to come, we discuss the nature of spiritual experiences, their relationship with atheism, and our own personal understanding of so-called "peak experiences."
Comments
As always, I'm still amazed that Scrym is still able to do this stuff on top of their other own personal things.
I find it hard at times to be able to do the things I do, or fit it into my schedule. There are so many times when I'm at work, I think about how I constantly want to do x or y, but I'm at work so I will have to do it in my free time. When you get around to actually living on your own, and working full time, being able to manage your free time to where you want to do things you want to do vs. responsibilities can be difficult and at times exhausting.
I can only imagine how much less free time I would have if I ever had a child.
Luke also has a good voice for radio. I hit him with a course multiband compressor just to easily amplify him, but I basically didn't tweak it at all.
It also makes a lot of sense about how these mega churchs pretty much sell great experiences. I remember going to one of these and it was like a rock concert. Musical performance on various large screens, an area for children and teens with various activities like pinball, foosball, ping pong , and video games, and a freaking Starbucks in the lobby of the church. It was crazy.
Also, I adore Luke's accent. Accents are always nice to hear from time to time.
Similarly, the ideas of forgiveness, redemption, sin, and human inadequacy is something that rings true in my mind, and it is what keeps me as a Christian. While certainly I have had spiritual experiences, some deeper level of the very personal theology of Christianity is something unique to it. No religion has shown me the same level of simply being forgiven because you ask for it, instead relying on trying to be a better person to earn acceptance of some kind. Additionally, Atheism would require that I act like I don't need forgiveness, that I accept the flaws of humans as natural and okay in a sense, which is something that conflicts with my personal views. Therefore, while I believe in science and rational thought, the very personal emotional attachment I have to the ideas of forgiveness and redemption makes me a believer.
So, yeah, providing spiritual experiences through other things could help Atheists bolster their movement and possibly make it more meaningful. However, for someone like me, you're still missing a major part of my belief system, and so those of us with strong and firm beliefs don't really find that aspect important. Rather, we have that aspect because of our strong beliefs. Because I have these emotional attachments to forgiveness, I can choose to believe in a higher power of some kind and have spiritual experiences and whatnot.
Anyways, excellent show, loved hearing your perspectives on this, even though it is contrary to my viewpoints of things, and I can't wait to hear more of Luke.
Atheists simply don't believe in a magic sky man, because we aren't little children with imaginary friends. Other than that, you can believe anything and still be atheist. Religions are an entire set of beliefs all attached to each other. Atheism isn't a religion. It's just lack of one single belief. It says nothing about any other beliefs.
Since I believe in this lack of inherent human goodness, but I can't justify that with how we have all survived this long and still manage to do good things in the world, and I don't believe in a realistic biological imperative to do good (maybe to cooperate and form societies, but nothing much far beyond that), I have to look somewhere else to justify it, and religion is the thing that fits best.