Why did Hemingway say that all thinking people are atheists?
Did he mean that agnostics and believers are not fully complete intellectually?
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He's a writer, not a scientist. This is his personal, private, subjective opinion, to which he is entitled. Do not forget that we are talking about writers of the military generation who were disillusioned with humanity, and the church before the war determined the face of the world. That is, there was the collapse of the Christian idea, the collapse of humanism and the collapse of relations between people. Certainly, what believers can think. In everything that does not concern God, they are quite sane. But the important point is: how many believers are there in the world? It is generally accepted that there are more of them than atheists. But it's exactly the opposite. For example, in Russia, 4% of the population comes to Orthodox churches for big holidays. And they shout that they believe, about 60%. That is, about 56% of the population “believe” in such a way that they do not even find time to visit their God on Easter. In fact, of course, they are atheists who are afraid to admit it to themselves, because they are comfortable with the theory of God. This position emphasizes a cunning, quirky mind, not degradation.
I'm not familiar with this statement from Hemingway, but of course it wasn't just him who made such statements…
The point here is not so much in intellectual abilities, but in the very need to think.
The unconditional acceptance of any religious concept from such a necessity, in fact, frees: the meanings are defined, the paths are clear, the end is known )
If you stick to the hypothesis that there is no God, and the meaning of life is not predetermined, then willy-nilly you will start to move your brains…)
I say this in the same way, but in a different way: when a believer says that “There is a God”, it is for him as an answer “Alpha and Omega”, that is, it completely answers all questions. When an atheist says “There is no God,” he is only going to answer questions.
A thinking person tries to understand the essence of a phenomenon, a process, a question, and a problem in itself. As it began to do first – Socrates. Socrates said that he only asks questions about people, trying to understand their motives, goals and desires; to understand the laws that people accept, but do not fulfill, and what prevents people from changing these laws…
Socrates was accused of disrespecting the gods and corrupting the youth. But Socrates recognized himself as a believer and even a “correct believer” who performs all the necessary religious rituals and rites. It is clear that the main fault of Socrates is that he allowed himself to think.
The same can be said about Seneca and Montaigne, for example. They were certainly religious people. But in their philosophy, they tried to dispense with references to God or gods and their best thoughts when they talk only about man.
That is, a thinking person does not necessarily have to be an atheist, but when he thinks, he thinks… as an atheist, that is, without any God or higher powers.
Maybe this is the meaning of Hemingway's words.
The writer was going in the right direction. But he didn't go any further, just stopped in the middle of it. A thinking person is not only an atheist, but also a believer and an agnostic in one bottle. A thinking person is, first of all, a living person. Behind its fragile back stands all of humanity, all the experience of civilization, all the untold riches that the human mind has developed over the entire history of its existence.
A living, thinking person is an actor who dresses up in different beliefs and concepts, tries on their clothes for himself, takes them off when he is tired of them, sews new ones, and sometimes just runs around like crazy just naked.
Does clothing exist? I think so. Are there people wearing a particular form of clothing? I think so. They identify with a single form of clothing, forgetting that they are living, thinking beings. Forgetting for a while. But they will always remember themselves naked, crazy, and frantic.
Continue with old Man Ham's case. Go even further.
It was not Hemingway who said this, but the writer put this phrase in the mouth of one of the characters in his central work “Goodbye to Weapons!”. As you know, the narrative there is conducted in the first person and if the author wanted to express his personal position with this phrase, he would put it in the mouth of the hero, who also participates in a conversation where one of the officers mocks the regimental priest. However, this is said by another officer. The full phrase goes like this:
“All thinking people are atheists,” said the Major.
So read the novel and you'll find out for yourself. Of course, Hemingway was not a believer, otherwise he probably would not have committed suicide, but this phrase does not quite express his thoughts.
If you think about it, it doesn't matter to a person whether there is a God or not… tk whatever the answer, your lifestyle will not change-God will not help you either. People don't think about such questions.
It is difficult to say what exactly was the starting point for Hemingway…
It is unlikely that he considered believers to be intellectually inferior. Since intelligence is a diverse concept, Psychologists distinguish many types of intelligence.
Types of intelligence (according to G. Gardner)
1 Logical and mathematical intelligence
2 Verbal and linguistic intelligence
3 Visual and spatial intelligence
4 Naturalistic intelligence
5 Interpersonal or interpersonal intelligence
6 Intrapersonal intelligence
7 Musical and rhythmic intelligence
8 Kinesthetic (tactile or physical) intelligence
9 Emotional Intelligence
And only if we consider the “main” form of intelligence – logical and mathematical, then yes… We can agree with Hemingway that all thinking people are atheists.
The fact is that both logical and mathematical intelligence,
and atheism has its methodological basis – rational thinking and scientific method of cognition.
The scientific method of cognition, in turn, is based on the method of scientific skepticism – that is, the REJECTION OF FAITH (as an uncritical way of accepting information).
This creates a cognitive dilemma: either think or believe…
And from here we come to Hemingway's ” All thinking people are atheists.”
But in practice, people are able to split their psyche in the most schizophrenic way: to combine their atheism in everyday life, with the absence of it in their philosophical picture of the world. For example-to be a scientist, a chemist, a physicist-realizing that there can be no divine intervention in the laws of nature. That everything that exists in reality is purely material and miracles do not happen. And go to church on Sundays…
These are not stupid people, and not even sick (although for some, such a split psyche can actually lead to mental illness) – they just, for their mental comfort, DIVIDE the real world and the imaginary for themselves. Without connecting them together.
Living like an atheist… When crossing the road, they look to the left and right… They fasten their seat belts in the car and don't expect the chemical reaction to go in the opposite direction after the prayer is read…
And, at the same time, they prefer to lull their minds to sleep with fairy tales for adults… In those matters that are not related to their practical activities.
But really big natural scientists are usually spared such “deism”after all. Because they are too well versed in the SCIENTIFIC METHOD of COGNITION. Therefore, they banish all irrational things from their consciousness.
The fact that a person can write does not say anything about his ability to think and draw correct conclusions. So it doesn't matter if he's a writer or not.
But with what fright did you put an equality between “thinking” and”inferior”? In fact, the ability to think is what distinguishes a person from other living beings. A thinking person has more right to be called a person than a non-thinking person!
It wasn't Hemingway who said that) This was said by one of the fleeting heroes of his book. However, I completely agree with this expression.
Because to compare and analyze something, you need to have extensive information. Just read the Bible and Charles Darwin's The Origin of Species by Natural Selection.
And make an INDEPENDENT conclusion to understand which worldview is more logical and plausible…))
All thinking people are atheists, and all deep-thinking people are either believers or skeptics. Atheism quickly ends when a person's thinking reaches the essence of God, as the Supreme Mind of the Creator of the laws of the universe. An atheist at this level is powerless and must recognize atheism as a belief in the miracle of self-creation of everything from nothing.
“Why did Hemingway say that all thinking people are atheists?” “Because I ended my life in the world of vanity and material things by committing suicide. – Predestination. Christians who are the Creator's chosen ones ask for a DECENT death several times at each liturgy. They know what they're doing. Now imagine how Ernest felt when HE SAW that there was no death, “but eternal punishment for the wicked (unbelievers)”, that there would be no change – it was only possible “in time”. – Time, the world “low” – material-the place of realization of the granted Freedom of choice – to be with the Creator or an eternal slave of demons. Get Freedom in the Truth, Eternity and the Kingdom, or eternal torment. …And no one will give a new body – he had to “wear out” the decaying material body for as long as he was allowed time in the world. And these places are not at all happy – I saw them on a “tour”..
Here the writer most likely meant that there are fewer dogmas in the thoughts of atheists than religious people. And indeed, his opinion is confirmed by my observations of my environment of people. Although, in order to think, it is not necessary to reject the higher forces. It's just that dogmatic one-god Avramic religions and atheism are two radical poles, and not everything is divided into black and white.
A thinking person asks very uncomfortable questions and is not satisfied with the answers to such questions as “So it pleases God”. Therefore, those who really think independently stop believing in God.
I just said something stupid.
It was necessary to put it more correctly, i.e. – “all atheists are thinking people”
I don't think he thought so. I adore his work, which shows through the life principles of the author. He never retreated from them, and at some point simply lost the opportunity to do it physically and mentally,and therefore the opportunity to develop. The horrors of war also played an important role. There is a sense of fatal doom in the hills of Africa. Once he had accepted and declared that sane people were strictly atheists, he could no longer refuse. Lucky for him, he didn't see our vile time.
Because he didn't understand what faith in God was. Even God himself does not approve of blind trust without verification. You read the Bible, where He repeatedly calls people to test His faithfulness to His words. The faith of the Bible is not blind and rejecting reason, quite the opposite! The fact that people call themselves believers and true Christians does not in itself make them so. It is unfortunate that when it comes to science, people say: … “justify, prove, provide facts…” and so on, and when it comes to faith in God, they do not disdain to be guided by gossip, without resorting to the original source ( the Bible ). How many years do you need to study physics for your words about this science to have any weight? Unfortunately, not everyone (to put it mildly) who calls themselves Christians can explain the essence of their faith. But it is precisely such “Christians” who are taken into account. That is why they talk about the collapse of the Christian idea. In fact, it was not the idea that failed, but the understanding of Christianity. The Christian idea itself is alive, and there are thinking Christians on earth. As for Hemingway, he simply did not know the essence of Christianity. It's a pity…
If you think, it means that you analyze, build a system based on facts and experience, look for contradictions in this system, and as a result, you come to a model of being or the object of knowledge that has cause-and-effect relationships that do not cause you doubts. Religion is a conservative philosophical concept of being based on dogmas/canons. No thinking person can agree with the dogmas of archaic religious worldviews that contradict common sense and the discoveries of the scientific world. It's like deceiving yourself.
And if you witnessed a Miracle, what does God have to do with it? You simply do not see all the connections and patterns in nature and supplement your unwillingness to think, know, analyze – with God. When you appeal to scientists who are unable to explain a particular phenomenon, you are referring to the wrong people. Science studies the laws of nature, not magic tricks. Phenomena with hidden cause-and-effect relationships are becoming the subject of discoveries in the scientific world. There is a time for everything.
Thinking people are successful at work and in business if the result requires analytical thinking, and not stupid risk-taking or template copying. In a full-fledged society, different people are needed, including religious, stubborn, and conservative people.
Well, about Hemingway. As a thinking person, he thought the same way as it is written above.
Answer to the first one …non-question (?). It is not set, but it is present. Author, read books. Many. Different ones. The same Ham. And you won't have any such questions. Because people who think, are well-read, develop intellectually)), are at a higher level of contact with the ethical paradigm, in order not to divide the world into believers and atheists, their own and others'. Black and white – finally!)) Hence, in essence, the answer to the second question. For a person who thinks, is well-read, and has developed morally, as a result, it is quite obvious that Hemingway, although far from being an authority as a thinker, is not so limited as to consider someone flawed by virtue of his beliefs. If you had read at least his works, you would probably have considered this statement of his for, as it is fashionable to say now, subtle banter (irony, sarcasm, witty wordplay), aimed primarily at yourself.
Good luck to you, the author, conquering the austere and unimaginably clean peaks of Kilimanjaro shining in the distance.
An alcoholic, a womanizer, and a cynic, he certainly wasn't happy about someone telling him that his life wasn't right. How did he justify himself? It's about what he thinks. Even an honest man becomes blind in sin.�
What did he care about agnostics and believers when it came to his beloved?
He said this when he was young, at a time when he was favored by fame and popularity. The last years of his life, he was unhappy, misunderstood, even by his loved ones. As a psychiatric patient, he needed special care. He was unable to work, depressed, paranoid, and increasingly suicidal. Moreover, he wanted to die in an unusual way (for example, an unexpected jerk towards the propeller of an airplane, etc.)…Yes, he was too much of a thinking atheist and did not want to submit to fate and accept reality.
But if he believed in God, he wouldn't have shot himself without even leaving a suicide note.
Said so and shot himself from the void.
Can we start learning how to drink vodka from him?
People are already made fools of themselves and they don't understand what kind of world they live in
they live.
But everyone has a chance.
Because he didn't say so.
This quote is an excerpt from the speech of one of the characters in his novel “farewell to arms”:
“All thinking people are atheists,” said the major –
“I recognize Freemasonry,” the lieutenant said. – It's a noble organization.
Someone came in, and through the open door I saw snow falling.”
But a lot of atheist publics do this – they turn famous people into atheists.
And quite primitive:
take a photo of a famous person, and attach to it a quote torn out of the context of the work for his authorship.
And-they send the result over the network.
I don't think the question was asked correctly. Intelligence is inherent in a person from birth. And about the usefulness in intellectual terms, you need to understand.
Because he's an ordinary person. A great writer, but still an ordinary person with his own subjective opinions. It was his subjective opinion, nothing more.
And it would be possible to understand exactly what he meant if we could ask him. But we can't, so there's no point in guessing.
Because he was drinking, or because he put a bullet in his head afterwards. But in any case, not because he thought a lot – because Plato also thought a lot, but was not an atheist.
A little delusional and completely subjective opinion, to put it bluntly.I personally do not believe for a long time, but simply do not doubt that each of us is a single whole of the Divine ,there is a soul and reincarnation,without a doubt.I myself am engaged in regressive hypnosis and dozens of sessions conducted only strengthen this knowledge of mine.By the way,I can name dozens of names of scientists who believe in God.Are they unthinking?Nonsense, of course.)It is always amusing,of course, to read comments under some posts or die-hard atheists who do not even think that we are not only a body,but above all a soul in a material shell,or religious beliefs. fanatics, for whom a step to the right, a step to the left of dogmas-shooting.That is, a direct road to Hell, where the devils will fry you in frying pans!)…Listen to yourself,all the knowledge we have inside, in the soul, you just need to open this door and then you will realize who we are and why in this life.Not immediately, but gradually, but it will come.Although many, of course, and so it is good to live, without even thinking that we are much more than the body.This is their choice,of course.
but…To such people I want to say:live according to your conscience and strive for spirituality at least a little.Do not hope,the light after death will not turn off and the continuation will follow already on the subtle plane and you will have to work out your Karma.
All love, kindness and awareness.And there is reincarnation, do not hesitate!)
“The fool said in his heart,' There is no God.' Drink, have fun because tomorrow you will die… ” If there is no God, then there is no point in living either – everyone will die and everyone will have the same result. The shortest and most correct sermon: “There is a God! And we need to find Him.”
Lotorea, this is an opportunity to make a person pray to one ruble, putting God away-a big win can only be created in front of a person who is indifferent to the ruble. Isn't that cheating? “Did you pray to God when you bought the lottery?” There will be a negative answer, one hundred – a hundred.
And in intellectual terms, it is more difficult for an atheist, although he is more free in elections, and both God and the authorities think for the believer . I don't envy a believer – why believe and pray to the last penny of the ruble? He won't see God – someone is already thinking for him……
For thinking people, thoughts sometimes make such fancy monograms and drive into such a deep ass (this also applies to Hemingway) that it is a rather dubious virtue to be a thinking person:~)
Because Hemingway was tricky. Atheism was convenient for him: you could drink a lot of alcohol, use a lot of women and eventually shoot yourself with a gun. Nothing to do with a thinking person.
Thinking people come to the faith of God, observing the world around them, passing it through themselves, understanding and admiring its expediency and order. To think,like atheists, that the world came into being by itself,from a random “game” of atoms and molecules,is like thinking that a brick can turn out of a handful of sand,clay and water by itself. It is hard to imagine a more stupid , non-logical and non-scientific philosophy than atheism.
He said this without thinking.
I'm telling you this as a former atheist who had a mystical experience, as they say, and then, after thinking about it carefully, became a believer.
Hemingway led a peculiar lifestyle, richly laced with tobacco, alcohol, adultery, hypocrisy and delusions of his own glory, so where could he go, except for the embrace of atheism?!! And how is it decent, opposite to call all people who believe in God “non-thinking”, Spanish PTSD?!!
Because when you think about it , you realize that God has no place in our world . Perpetual motion is impossible. Well, plunging into thinking about the Creator, based on the concept that someone should have created everything ( well, not by itself), you come to the idea that he should have a Creator and so on endlessly .
Atheists are people who don't believe in a fictional God. Believers are people who “search the scriptures” to understand God. Everyone else is just fanatics-for or against.
It is believed that Hemingway was recruited by Stalin and the KGB of the USSR. He received from them a generous allowance for propaganda among Western “useful idiots” (Lenin's expression). One of the possible answers to why he said this is that he propagated materialism and socialism. Worked out, in general.
All atheists say so, their intolerance is quite religious 🙂
If you read Ham's biography, look at what crocodiles he fraternized with, there is a question about his ability to think.
“Did he mean that agnostics and believers are not fully complete intellectually?”
It's hard to say exactly what he meant, but if it were me, I'd mean it.
Almost the overwhelming majority of believers, in my opinion, simply do not have the opportunity to think about what they believe in.
Either because of the circumstances, or because of the absence – sorry! – mental capacity for this purpose.
And atheists are also not all “thinking” people, but most of the thinking people are atheists.
Faith does not imply thought. On the contrary, it denies the right to it. And Khem is not original in this conclusion. Long before him, the philosopher Tertullian was the most convincing in his characterization of faith: “Credo quia absurdum (est) -” I believe because it is absurd.”
Hemingway, like any other person, has the right to say whatever he thinks or feels it necessary to say. He is a writer, that is, a colleague of most of those who write or criticize people who write or speak in Yandex Zen. I don't even know what to comment on? To think as he thinks is his right and he is always right in relation to himself!!! With respect.
It's just the first stage for thinking people. Because modern man is still somewhat more knowledgeable about the structure of the universe than at the time when religions were born. Therefore, the first reaction is the rejection of ancient “fairy tales”. But then the thinking person just begins to understand that all evolution, from galaxies to protozoa in the oceans, is not a random process, but a brilliantly conceived and flawlessly implemented one. By whom or what? Everyone decides for themselves.
I'm an atheist. Seeing the world around me, the question comes to mind – how is this done? What laws and natural forces were involved in this? I'm looking for literature and trying to understand how it works. I'm a believer. Seeing the world around me, I know from books that someone, out of nowhere, created all this out of nothing. That's all.
Because when you are able to reason more or less critically and logically, then inevitably sooner or later you will be able to begin to distinguish the supernatural from the real. What people with a religious and mythological mindset can't do.
Reducing the “symbol of faith” to its natural limit: “I believe that God exists.” Is everything clear?” But I don't.
Who is “I” (A favorite Buddhist “torture” question: “Who are you?”) Is my name “I”? Is my body “Me”?… (you can continue for yourself).
Who is ” God ” (Please define it)
We then attribute the “existence” operator to God… well, you already understood the next question.. What is “To Be”? For whom “To Be”?
And finally, we introduce another operator “Faith” (Well, my question: What is “Faith”?
total: We have connected two subjects that we cannot define with two operators whose meaning we do not fully understand… and we argue among ourselves.
What am I saying this for? The exoteric (open) tradition has never existed, does not exist, and will not exist, it is a deception and self-deception.
You can't give a drunkard's neighbor a certain year's worth of burgundy, because you'll be drinking burgundy and the neighbor will be drinking “vinishche”from the same container.
This is not true, many of the greatest scientists who literally created science were religious people. Currently, about 20% of Nobel laureates are religious, and 80% are atheists and agnostics, respectively. Yes, believers are in the minority, but there are many of them. And this is even surprising, I speak as an agnostic.
This is just the opinion of an individual, even a great writer.Let's assume that he is right.So what?
I'm an atheist, but I don't feel very happy about it.
In addition, Hammingway's quote does not imply that all atheists are thinking people.Think about it.