[mrnoodle]

Shattered said

Something MADE those shadows, though, and while the shadows were not the totality of what was out there, they were made by something DID exist in reality.

Spirituality is like that...we can only see shadows. You're insisting that the shadow itself does not exist.

If I see a shadow of a flower, and believe that is the totality of the flower, I may not be entirely correct in that belief, but it doesn't mean that the flower doesn't exist. It merely means that I have not yet grasped the totality of the flower's existence, only a limited part.

It seems that you are comfortable only with what you can experience with your senses, and are thus closing yourself off to other experiences. It's your choice to do that. If contemplating something greater than yourself makes you uncomfortable, that's your issue. But others, INCLUDING Plato, DID believe in one or more gods, ie, a conscious creator, and merely because you can't prove it to your satisfaction does not mean that it does not exist, and doesn't mean that those who DO believe in such a being are being silly.

And I think that's a good place to start