Debate: Is there God?
Side: No

Superstition? Here is a quote from Neil DeGrasse Tyson, who is an atheist: "Not only are we in the universe, the universe is in us. I don't know of any deeper spiritual feeling than what that brings upon me."A spiritual feeling can pretty much be summed up as a feeling of oneness.It can be, definitely, and in that sense I suppose you could say I am spiritual, but generally spirituality is associated with superstition.No. If he has always existed, he would not have come from anything. He would be the ultimate source of intelligence.So intelligence exists, without it having to come from intelligence itself?No, we have intelligence always existing. Maybe, like energy, consciousness can be neither created nor destroyed. Maybe it isn't intelligence being created, maybe it is the same intelligence just multiplying, or growing. This at least fits for my idea, which is that God is our higher Self.So an intelligence that doesn't need another intelligence behind it?You just haven't found a reason. There is a difference. By your mindset, we can say that it is safe to assume that there is no reason to believe anything regarding what created us, agreed?Unless a reason is provided.This sort of stuff only sounds crazy to people because they haven't taken enough time to think about it.Intelligence came from an intelligence that has always existed, that is what I believe. However, I don't think our intelligence is separate from the ultimate intelligence. So, the intelligence that has always existed, is the only intelligence that has ever existed.Think of it like water. I can pour water into separate cups, I can mix the water with different ingredients, I can make the water evaporate, I can freeze the water, I can do so many different things with the same water, and disguise it from what it ultimately is. When you drink tea or coffee, you don't think water... But the water is still there. Water from one bottle used to make coffee, tea, ice, steam... Is still the same water. So, like water, intelligence can be found "hiding" behind many different things... Humans, animals, insects... Some people even think that plants have some sort of intelligence, but what if it is all just one intelligence/consciousness that has taken several different forms?I see what you are saying here, but by asserting that intelligence needs an intelligence behind it, wouldn't that also apply to an eternal intelligence? To assert intelligence needs intelligence behind it, you make eternal intelligence itself a paradox. Furthermore, we don't have evidence or reason to think intelligence requires intelligence behind it. We assume that because the product of our own intelligence, is the result of intelligent things, purposeful things, but that doesn't mean that all things that act intelligently need intelligence behind it. Also, does whatever intelligence need a GREATER intelligence behind it? We have created computers which are intelligent, not conscious, but intelligent, and in some ways more intelligent than us, we actually did come from an intelligence, the organism that we evolved from which was less intelligent, and the organism before that, being less intelligent, and so on. Intelligence doesn't necessarily need a GREATER intelligence, nor a less intelligence, and thus the most minimal intelligence could result from non-intelligence, no?There may be. Without food and water we'd die. Without plants and animals, we wouldn't have food. Without the sun and water, we wouldn't have anything. Really, the conditions are just right... But the question is, is there a purpose behind all of it, or did we just luck out?Luck out? the conditions that allow us to live, are the only conditions where we would be alive to be able to say "we lucked out" which is true, however slightly misleading. Of course we should find that the conditions that allow our lives exist where we live, that's just logical, but to allude to that being intentional... well... there is no reason to. 99% of the universe will kill us, millions of black holes are flying around the galaxy that would tear us apart, as well as stars that would obliterate us, meteores and asteroids, here on earth, life is about eat or get eaten, do or die, cretures bigger than you that want to kill, creatures smaller than you that can assissinate. We have removed ourselves from that to a good extent, but the universe isn't convenient for our existence. It is easy to look at all the things that are coincidentally convenient and go "gosh this world is so convenient" as easily as one could look at all the inconveniences of the world and go "gosh this world is so inconvenient", it's practically subjective either way.