On Mon, 03 Aug 2009 08:59:38 -0700, Darren New wrote:

> Jim Henderson wrote:
>> Yes, but that's one of the points of my definition for faith, that it's
>> based on a certainty that can feel like knowledge that comes from
>> within rather than from external sources.
> 
> Certainly. But that doesn't make it knowledge, any more than being
> deluded into thinking you're Napoleon makes it "knowledge" that you are.

A fair point, still will have to think about this more.

>> There's a distinction between the two (I know this perhaps contradicts
>> what I wrote earlier in this post even), but "faith" is kinda wishy-
>> washy, a bit lower on the scale of certainty than "knowledge".  There
>> are some things that I have faith about, but I'm not bothered that the
>> associated feeling that accompanies that isn't as strong as some things
>> that I have a certainty about that I can't explain.
> 
> Still not "knowledge" in my book. "Random stuff I'm sure of without any
> evidence" isn't knowledge.

Many years ago, I had a very bizzare experience driving home from work.  
As I got on the highway headed home, things seemed wrong, and I had 
absolute certainty that if I went my normal route home, something really 
bad was going to happen.  I could even pinpoint where the badness was 
likely to happen - getting off one highway onto another with a very short 
acceleration lane.  It was very late at night, so not a lot of traffic.

I changed my route home, I was that sure that something bad was going to 
happen.

To this day, I know that I avoided a disaster that night.  Can't explain 
it, but the feeling even thinking about it now is much, much stronger 
than mere faith or belief.  I can't explain it.  Intellectually, I know 
it's unlikely anything was going to happen, but 15-ish years later, I 
still can't shake the feeling that the change in my route home was the 
right decision.

I suppose it's the sort of thing people who are more religious than me 
would attribute to "the protection of God" or something like that, but I 
don't.  I just instinctively knew that I needed to go home a different 
route.

>> In and of itself, it's difficult to explain the difference - so this
>> discussion is good because it's helping me think about the idea more.
> 
> That's why I ruminate here so often. :-)

Same here. :-)

>> Will have to read that when I have more time.  It *sounds* interesting.
> 
> It's all very cool. SciFi helps too. :-)

That it does. :-)

Jim

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