Who knows? a study of religious consciousness

156 Pages·2003·0.415 MB·English

by  Gardner, Martin;Smullyan, Raymond M.;Bucke, Richard Maurice

WHO KNOWS?

WHO
K NOWS?
AStudy of Religious Consciousness
Raymond M. Smullyan
This book is a publication of
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© 2003 by Raymond Smullyan
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Smullyan, Raymond M.
Who knows? : a study of religious consciousness / Raymond Smullyan.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-253-34198-1 (alk. paper) — ISBN 0-253-21574-9 (pbk. : alk.
paper)
1. Religion. 2. Hell. 3. Future life. 4. God. 5. Christianity. 6.
Gardner, Martin, 1914– Whys of a philosophical scrivener. 7. Bucke,
Richard Maurice, 1837–1902. Cosmic consciousness. I. Title.
BL50 .S59 2003
210—dc21
2002008868
1 2 3 4 5 08 07 06 05 04 03
I believe all religions are true.
—Walt Whitman
I believe no religions are true.
—Anonymous

CONTENTS
preface | ix
I
Wherefore the Whys
| 1
II
Through Dark Clouds
| 47
III
Cosmic Consciousness
| 97
references | 135
index | 137

PREFACE
Is there really a God, and if so, what is He (She? It?) actually like? Is
there really an afterlife, or is the belief in one mere superstitious,
primitive, childish, wishful thinking? Is there actually one scrap of
scientific evidence either for or against the possibility or probabil-
ity of an afterlife? And if there is an afterlife, is there really such a
thing as eternal punishment for unrepentant sinners, as many or-
thodox Christians and Moslems believe? And if there is, is God un-
willing or unable to relieve the sufferings of those in Hell? Is it true,
as St. Augustine said, that God could save everyone,if He wanted
to, and the reason He doesn’t is that He will not? Could a kind God
really allow such a horrible thing as Hell, or is the belief that it is
horrible due to the fallen nature of Man, as some orthodox religion-
ists claim? After all, there are those like Jonathan Edwards who
found the idea of Hell, not horrible, but beautiful! (Before his con-
version, he found it horrible, but after his conversion, he found it
“sweet.”)
Next, what about mystics; are they in possession of some higher
knowledge, or are they simply fooling themselves? Is it really true
that our unconscious minds are connected to a higher spiritual re-
ality, as believed by those like William James, and if so, could this
higher spiritual reality be the very same thing that religionists call
God?And what about the remarkable idea advanced by those like
Richard Bucke and Edward Carpenter, that through the process of
evolution, the human race is developing a higher type of conscious-
ness called Cosmic Consciousness,which will ultimately enable us to
directly perceive that which hitherto was believed merely on faith?
Beautiful and optimistic as is this idea, is it a reality or merely a
pleasant pipe dream?
These are some of the questions addressed in this book. Surely, it
is helpful to consider the strongest possible arguments both for
and against any theological or philosophical position, and this is
what I have tried to do with many of the questions concerned. Mar-
tin Gardner—a famous writer on mathematical games and puzzles
—has written a book, The Whys of a Philosophical Scrivener,in which
many chapters are devoted to theological topics. Part I of my book
is a commentary on these chapters. Part II is exclusively on the
doctrine of Hell, in which I consider the strongest arguments for