There cannot be evidence that this is anything outside of a quirk of subjective experience. That you feel better when you feel loved is not a statement about existence, it is a statement about perception.
It may be useful, it may apply to every human being, but it is not verifiable. I have an equally strong claim that following this guidance makes me miserable and you cannot confirm or deny my subjective experience.
Regardless of verifiable fact, subjective experience is worth improving. So let's do that. How do you know this is the best way to do that?
You have not tested any alternatives. What is your subjective experience when you believe that you are triumphing over an adversarial existence? That your previous life was a holy one and that this is heavenly reward? That life is a dance, no plan, lessons, or goal, only to be improvised and enjoyed? That emotions are unreliable yardsticks and that living up to an ideal provides a more reliable path to flourishing?
All of those are equally valid experiments and have common cultural supports and history. Why have you neglected them in favor of new age theism?
These are great objections! I'm working on a memoir where I go through the series of alternatives that I tested before getting to this place. In short, I tried a lot of those and will show what happened when I took them seriously.
I started to respond in a comment, but it was getting lengthy. I'll publish a short post instead.
There cannot be evidence that this is anything outside of a quirk of subjective experience. That you feel better when you feel loved is not a statement about existence, it is a statement about perception.
It may be useful, it may apply to every human being, but it is not verifiable. I have an equally strong claim that following this guidance makes me miserable and you cannot confirm or deny my subjective experience.
Regardless of verifiable fact, subjective experience is worth improving. So let's do that. How do you know this is the best way to do that?
You have not tested any alternatives. What is your subjective experience when you believe that you are triumphing over an adversarial existence? That your previous life was a holy one and that this is heavenly reward? That life is a dance, no plan, lessons, or goal, only to be improvised and enjoyed? That emotions are unreliable yardsticks and that living up to an ideal provides a more reliable path to flourishing?
All of those are equally valid experiments and have common cultural supports and history. Why have you neglected them in favor of new age theism?
These are great objections! I'm working on a memoir where I go through the series of alternatives that I tested before getting to this place. In short, I tried a lot of those and will show what happened when I took them seriously.