Reddit mentions of The Varieties of Scientific Experience: A Personal View of the Search for God

Demon Haunted World and The Varieties of Scientific Experience both by Carl Sagan. You're going to need something softly softly that at the same time packs a punch. Anything by the 'new atheists' will be deemed offensive to their sensibilities not to mention the mere name of Dawkins or Hitch may turn them off before you've even gotten a chance in. Sagan is a fucking poet. You'll do more damage with him than anyone else.

If you want to know why I think Sagan was really awesome, check out "The Varieties of Scientific Experience".

Sagan's Gifford Lectures from 1985 contained in the book are still remarkably relevant.

You should check out his book "Varieties of the Scientific Experience." It is one of the most objective books I've ever read about a scientific search for God.

The article is about one of the Gilford lectures Sagan gave. They are all catalogued in The Varieties of Scientific Experience.

I'd highly recommend The Varieties of Scientific Experience: A Personal View of the Search for God by Carl Sagan. It's a transcription of his Gifford Lecture from 1985, but it's a very concise summation of his reasoning and it has some amazing quotes.

Also, obviously The God Delusion.

For others, look at the /r/atheism FAQ.

The Varieties of Scientific Experience: A Personal View of the Search for God

Hey Prinkster,

There's a lot of interesting books you can pick up. You should pick this one up, The Varieties of Scientific Experience: A Personal View of the Search for God. Prime eligible!

I'm still reading it myself, but it's been pretty awesome.

Anyway, my thoughts on "meaning in the world." This is a concept I heard or read from Richard Dawkins.

Somebody asked him, "Well, with out god, what is the meaning of it all?"

"That's an irrelevant question," he says.

"Do you wonder the same thing about the mountains?"

And of course, the question "Why do mountains exists?" is a pointless question. That is to say, not how, but why. How, plate tectonics.. blah blah.. Why, though?

It doesn't have an answer.

Sort of like our existence. There is no answer, no general meaning that we all need to try to get to. And in that, there's beauty and also sadness. And, of course, confusion.

Coming to terms with that is just another part of your journey. Good luck, Prinkster.

The Varieties of Scientific Experience: A Personal View of the Search for God

Collection of the transcripts of Sagan's 1985 Gifford Lectures published posthumously.

http://www.amazon.com/Varieties-Scientific-Experience-Personal-Search/dp/1594201072

Thanks for sharing your story. I was indoctrinated from birth, like you, to be a catholic. Sometime around when I was 10 (in catholic school) I became skeptical of religion largely because of the many discrepensies within the bible but especially because of the genesis story. I had always been interested in space and science and the more I learned about astronomy the less credibility religion had in my mind.

Many years later I came across this book by Carl Sagan and it changed everything. Please give it a try, I hope it will open your eyes not to what I am proclaiming to be the truth, but what I know to be reality.

And as always if you need help or support please PM me.

Just read the editorial review on amazon... I need to read this myself. Looks damn good.

My favorite youtube comment of all time:

>It's worth pausing and reflecting on how a spiritual-like feeling can arise from something generated by math alone, like this visual sequence. Spirituality is the meanings we see in things that have none.

>Habitual thinking would make alot of people disagree with it, but if you think about it without prejudice, it's actually a beautiful idea. We have the power to create meaning where there is none. In a sense, we're the true gods of the universe.

Sagan would approve.