RE: virus: Limiting

Robin Faichney (r.j.faichney@stir.ac.uk)
Mon, 15 Dec 1997 09:56:41 -0000


> From: David McFadzean[SMTP:david@lucifer.com]
>
> At 08:54 AM 12/12/97 -0800, Tim Rhodes wrote:
>
> >That you are quite right. Do Christian churchs discourage athiests
> inside
> >their walls? Not a chance! In fact they spent a considerable
> portion of
> >their budget just to get them in the door.
>
> Right, and we don't discourage theists or other mystics inside our
> virtual walls (except implicitly through all our godless discourse :).
>
Just for the record, theists are not a subset of mystics.

http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=mysticism
(WWWebster) gives

1 : the experience of mystical union or direct communion with ultimate
reality reported
by mystics
2 : the belief that direct knowledge of God, spiritual truth, or
ultimate reality can be
attained through subjective experience (as intuition or insight)
3 a : vague speculation : a belief without sound basis b : a theory
postulating the
possibility of direct and intuitive acquisition of ineffable knowledge
or power

Actually, I'd guess only a minority of theists are mystics, and it's
certainly the case that many mystics are agnostic or even
atheistic. Eg, me, who comes in as a believer in "direct
communion with ultimate reality", but not in God (though I do
have some sympathies with some of those who do).

Robin