From: "Bob Leihy" 
To: "Darwin Bedford" <Darwin@atheists.net>
Subject: Re: Common Ground
Date: Tue, 12 Mar 2002 11:46:22 -0800

Darwin,
 
The "Mystery" paper is on the net at http://pages.prodigy.net/bobleihy/mystery.htm.
 
It has also been submitted for publication.
 
Bob
 

 

From: "Bob Leihy" 
To: "Darwin Bedford" <Darwin@atheists.net>
Subject: Re: Common Ground
Date: Tue, 12 Mar 2002 09:03:08 -0800

Hi, Darwin,
 
I live in Santa Rosa, California, and I do not have a site as yet.   I am planning one soon.
Glad you liked the paper.   There has been plenty of interest in it, so I am quite sure it will be published eventually.   It is very surprising to me that the main idea appears to be something brand new.  Seeing God and the rest of existence as a total mystery  appears to me as a normal and reasonable everyday concept, and I have carried it around for years.   A philosophy professor I know said that no classical or current professional philosophers have explored the idea!!! Yet as far as I am concerned (as well as folks who have read the paper so far) it seems to be a completely legitimate, useful,  and even non-controversial point of view.   It seems to me that so far everyone has been trying to explain the mystery rather than to simply concede that it is there.
 
Anyway, I certainly don't feel that I have a mission to transform the world or anything.   But I think my thesis is a valid one and I would think that thinking reasonable people everywhere would enjoy exploring it.   If it changes the world for the better a little in the process, that would be wonderful.
 
The paper is still a work in process.  As a matter of fact, I have added a few new ideas to it recently.   I am starting to see that it could be expanded quite a bit, but right now I would like to keep it concise so that readers won't get lost in details.  28 pages is plenty.  What I am planning is to make a web site of my own very soon so that I can keep it updated.  I will send you the link once it is done.   You are certainly welcome to add the link to your web page if you like.  Thanks for offering to put the paper on your web page.
 
If God is mysterious, I am sure his wife is even more so.  Even regular human women can't be figured out :-)
 
Thanks for your reply, and please keep in touch.   I will send you the link.
 
Bob Leihy
 
 
 
----- Original Message -----
From: Darwin Bedford
To: Bob Leihy
Sent: Monday, March 11, 2002 11:07 PM
Subject: Re: Common Ground

Hi Bob,

I can't find anything about you on the Net.  Where do you live and do you have a site, etc.?  I thought your paper was well worth reading.  I was thinking of writing something about a definition of God that would appease both the devoutly religious and the devoutly atheistic a while back.  Some common ground would certainly go a long way for setting the stage for positive transformation of the state of the world. I hope you succeed in getting it published.  (If not, I would be willing to post it on my site.)

Somewhere in this talk about not being able to prove whether God exists or not, I wonder if you could mention about it not being possible to prove whether God's wife exists or not.  (Just my latest rebuttal tactic.)

Darwin Bedford
www.atheists.net


At 11:50 AM 3/10/02 -0800, you wrote:
I saw the article in the Chronicle about "mixed marriages"
 
I think I have found some interesting common philosophical ground between the devoutly religious and the devoutly athiestic.  Attached is a paper which has been submitted for publication.
 
The main ideas are:
 The existence of God cannot be proved or disproved.  There, He is totally mysterious.
 Both creation and existence are complete mysteries.

 
If you or any of your colleagues care to pursue the topic, I would appreciate any feedback.  Maybe I can improve the paper before it finally gets published.
 
Thanks,
 
Bob