V.V. Raman | The Global Philosophy of Religion Project | Metaphysics and Religion

How do the world’s religions argue for or against the existence of God? How do different traditions value mystical experiences? How do they view ultimate reality?

Varadaraja Venkata (V.V.) Raman is Emeritus Professor of Physics and Humanities at the Rochester Institute of Technology. In this interview with host Robert Lawrence Kuhn, he discusses metaphysics, God, and reality.

The Global Philosophy of Religion Project aims to make the philosophy of religion a truly global field by promoting the scholarly work of researchers from underrepresented regions and religious traditions. It is led by Professor Yujin Nagasawa and hosted by the University of Birmingham.

This project was made possible in part through the support of a grant from the John Templeton Foundation. The opinions expressed in this video are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the John Templeton Foundation.

[hershchat]

Good discussion.

It is a good point that there isn’t a current “western religion”, the Native American faiths set aside.

Religion is a difficult subject. What Hindus mean by religion, “dharma”, is not the same as what Robert thinks of as religion. Robert is looking to a central church prescribed book and ecclesiastical order, with relatively uniform following as a religion. In Hinduism, mythology— stories, festivals, and practices— passed down generations, is what constitutes the core of lives religion.

[waldwassermann]

We are “the One”. It is just that it is not good for One to be alone. That being said. I applaud this brilliant man.

[CalamariSauce]

I just want more shots of Robert pondering the meaning of life. Like a long montage of them

[preethiuday]

There is no God or Evil as person..But in time, persons exhibit these exceptional attributes as a fraction.
Highest state of consciousness is Godly and impersonfied, but can be experienced inside us and becomes personified through us. Similarly Evil is personified inside us as a lowest state of consciousness or lack of awareness
Natural tendency of this era for humans is to exhibit the lowest state of consciousness and end up becoming artificial beings. A few work hard otherwise..

[neffetSnnamremmiZ]

Like Nietzsche explained: "Die Grenzen zwischen Wissenschaft, Metaphysik und Religion verlaufen ganz anders", als die Begriffe es suggerieren.

(The borders between science, metaphysics and religion run quite different as the words suggest.)

[eponaalbion]

11minutes in, no religions of Europe or Eire or Britain

[indfilesp]

It's a pity he is just an amateur philosopher. Cultured, nice, but lacking the professional training.

[stevecoley]

X-Files
The real Mission Impossible

The wall of lies saying that "life is business" (greed) must crumble... so that the truth that "life is art" (cresting joy) floods the earth and washes away it's ignorance (hate).

Then life can become a celebration with joy spilling out of the smiles of everyone. Like good (god) intended for life to be in the first place.

Darkness (business) exists so that stars like US have a place to shine in heaven (joy, beauty and harmony).

Stars like US don't exist to be sucked out of heaven by a giant black hole in space called "greed" and it's ignorance (hate).

Also, Love spent billions of years creating this paradise planet lifeboat so that her miraculous works of fine art called "life" have a place to "be".

Love didn't spend so much time creating this paradise planet lifeboat to be depreciated, polluted and destroyed in a brief moment by hostile alien vampires (greed) and their ignorance (hate).

[bluelotus]

Can someone mathematically prove how much their parents love them? No, because love is not a measurable entity. God is one such unmeasurable entity.

[Graviton-ccbn]

Advaita vedanta is NOT hinduism. This philosophy actually failed in India and was revived by british just because it seemed exotic to them.

[havenbastion]

Theology is attempting to explain the impossible in terms of the improbable. There's no meaningful content in religion.

[Graviton-ccbn]

Your hindu guests don't seem right to Hindus themselves. They are highly colonised like this fellow. I mean there is nothing traditional or hindu about what they say.

[Paulus_Brent]

In fact "God is an experiential dimension". It is not just faith.

[bluelotus]

The laws of karma are made and managed by God. The concept of a mechanical cosmic consciousness is as impersonal as most hindu concepts. There's no such word as 'hindu' in the ancient vedic texts.

[NeverTalkToCops]

Present your god thingy, right now, theists. Let's ask it some questions.