[ExI] Let's Canonize Samantha (Was Re: Other thoughts on transhumanism and religion)

[Samantha Atkins]

Go ahead.  It already was published on WTA.  Thanks.

- samantha

On May 31, 2007, at 8:33 PM, Brent Allsop wrote:

>
> Extropians,
>
> I think this post by Samantha should be Canonized.  I, for one, having
> had a very similar experience, would definitely "support" a topic
> containing it, and I have counted at least 10 posts full of strong
> praise.  Since there aren't that many topics in the Canonizer yet,  
> if 9
> people supported this topic it wold make it to the top of the most
> supported list at http://test.canonizer.com
>
> How many others would be willing to "support" such a topic in the
> Canonizer if it was submitted?
>
> Samantha, would you mind if I posted this post in some other forums
> (Such as the Mormon Transhumanist Association, WTA...) to find out if
> there is similar support and praise on other lists?
>
> Brent Allsop
>
>
>
>
> Samantha Atkins wrote:
>> I remember in 1988 or so when I first read Engines of Creation.  I  
>> read
>> it with tears streaming down my face.  Though I was an avowed atheist
>> and at that time had no spiritual practice at all, I found it  
>> profoundly
>> spiritually moving.  For the first time in my life I believed that  
>> all
>> the highest hopes and dreams of humanity could become real, could be
>> made flesh.   I saw that it was possible, on this earth, that the  
>> end of
>> death from aging and disease, the end of physical want, the advent of
>> tremendous abundance could all come to pass in my own lifetime.  I  
>> saw
>> that great abundance, knowledge, peace and good will could come to  
>> this
>> world.  I cried because it was a message of such pure hope from so
>> unexpected an angle that it got past all my defenses.  I looked at  
>> the
>> cover many times to see if it was marked "New Age" or "Fiction" or
>> anything but Science and Non-Fiction.  Never has any book so blown my
>> mind and blasted open the doors of my heart.
>>
>> Should we be afraid to give a message of great hope to humanity?   
>> Should
>> we be afraid that we will be taken to be just more pie in the sky
>> glad-hand dreamers?   Should we not dare to say that the science  
>> and the
>> technology combined with a bit (well perhaps more than a bit) of a  
>> shift
>> of consciousness could make all the best dreams of all the  
>> religions and
>> all the generations a reality?   Will we not have failed to grasp  
>> this
>> great opportunity if we do not say it and dare to think it and to  
>> live
>> it?   Shall we be so afraid of being considered "like a religion"  
>> that
>> we do not offer any real hope to speak of and are oh so careful in  
>> all
>> we do and say and dismissive of more unrestrained and open dreamers?
>> Or will we embrace them, embrace our own deepest longings and admit  
>> our
>> kinship with those religious as with all the longing of all the
>> generations that came before us.  Will we turn our backs on them or  
>> even
>> disdain their dreams - we who are in a position to begin at long  
>> last to
>> make most of those dreams real?   How can we help but be a bit giddy
>> with excitement?   How can we say no to such an utterly amazing
>> mind-blowing opportunity?
>>
>> - samantha
>>
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>>
>
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