SubscribeYesterday I got home from Adelaide after attending a magic convention. Here are some impressions of this weekend of thaumaturgy.
The two and a half day gathering of magicians and magic enthusiasts started with a Close-Up show. It quickly became clear that this would be a weekend of card tricks, more card tricks and even some [...]
The Horizon of Reason
Exploring the boundaries of logic and perception
Tag: Religion
Thoughts on the numinous.
Adelaide Magic Convention
The end of magic?
I have recently purchased a facsimile copy of Reginald Scott’s The Discoverie of Witchcraft (originally published in 1584).
This is an important book in the history of Western civilisation as it is the first ever book in which methods for creating magic are explained. This might seem an overstatement, as magic is nowadays a trivialised from [...]
Torchwood
The first episode of Torchwood has finally aired on Australia television! This contemporary Doctor Who spin-off is more than just another way to cash in on the popular science fiction series. Torchwood is more violent and daring than the series that spawned it, but underneath the sex and violence the stories deal with philosophical issues, [...]
The limits of Dawkinism
I have been reading Richard Dawkins‘ book, The God Delusion. Although I largely agree with his atheist point of view, I think he stretches his argument a bit too far as he does not seem to acknowledge that there is a limit to what we can achieve with reason, a horizon across which rational [...]
Does God have a sense of humour?
This photo arrived in my mailbox with the subject line: “FW: Someone’s going to hell for this!!!”.
I found this statement a bit strong because, I figured that if God is by definition a perfect being, then he (or she) surely would most certainly have a great sense of humour.
He or she would be rolling on [...]
The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster
The battle between evolutionists and creationists is still waging strongly. Evolutionists are propagating “Intelligent Design” – the idea that “certain features of the universe and living things exhibit characteristics of a product resulting from an intelligent cause or agent”.
However, the fact that organisms function so well and that nature is very efficient proves the reverse. [...]
Religion and the meaning of life
The next essay I am writing for the Meaning of Life course deals with the question whether religion can provide a grounding of values which make life meaningful. Here are some preliminary thoughts:
When searching for the meaning of life, this meaning needs to be grounded to something, it needs a vehicle. A vehicle for meaning [...]
Satanism
I have been writing some copy for the Dutch Wikipedia in the last few weeks. Most interesting was some work I did on articles on Satanism, specially the contemporary Satanism of Anton LaVey (Church of Satan) and Michael Aquino (Temple of Set).
I have come to respect the satanic philosophy, specially as developed by Michael Aquino. [...]
The Philosopher and the Mystic
Academic philosophy and mysticism do not go hand in hand. One of the first subjects in any philosophy course in the analytic tradition is logic. Students are taught the strict rules of reasoning, as applied by philosophers for about 2500 years. Students are also taught that every philosophy must comply with these rules.
These strict rules [...]
The Epistemology of Religious Experience
The question of the epistemology of religious experience deals with the question whether information obtained through religious experiences can be considered valid knowledge. For a brief introduction into different forms of religious experience, see my paper on that subject.
Information obtained through religious experiences, which I shall further refer to as Revelation, is not considered valid [...]
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