[lit-ideas] Re: The Problem of Evil
- From: Eric <eyost1132@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 09 Mar 2006 12:59:02 -0500
Peter: But surely the "just a dream" conclusion of
the Buddhist
narrative is a consequence, not of the absense of
God,
but rather of the absence of any independent or
permanent
self.
In the Taoist narrative Zhuang Zhou dreamed that
he was a
butterfly dreaming that he was Zhuang Zhou. What
on earth
does that have to do with the existence, vel non,
of God?
________
The "problem of evil" relates to the paradox of an
omniscient and morally perfect being who would NOT
prevent the existence of conditions that are
intrinsically bad or undesirable, i.e., evil.
The narrative turn of Buddhism is to say that God
is not real, existence is not real, and pain by
extension is not real. The entire paradox of "the
problem of evil" in Buddhist terms takes place in
Samsara. To my underinformed understanding, that's
like saying it only appears to be a problem
because it is taking place in a fantasy that one
can awaken from.
Christian and Hebrew narrative strategies seem to
imply that we don't have sufficient knowledge
(enough evidence about the world) to assert that
the existence of God is incompatible with evil
because we don't have the long view in which
everything works out.
So their claims seems to be positing that "the
problem of evil" is an abstract argument that is
clashing with an empirical one, an empirical
argument lacking sufficient evidence.
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