Uploaded August 2020 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
This video, recorded on Zoom on 30th August 2020, includes the 8th of a series of short stimulus talks on the Middle Way by Robert M. Ellis, followed by questions from the audience.
Agnosticism is an aspect of Middle Way practice that is interdependent with scepticism, provisionality and incrementality, but involves the distinctive challenge of decisively resisting absolute beliefs on both sides. Once we recognise that we ‘don’t know’ and can’t know anything perfect or infinite, the challenge is that of not being either unnerved or seduced by those with absolute beliefs who will constantly try to either dismiss or appropriate any kind of Middle Way position. These absolute beliefs may be about God, or about a whole range of other claims of infinite scope. Resisting these absolute beliefs requires having confidence in our embodied experience as a basis of judgement, as well as the application of critical thinking skills.
Agnosticism, like scepticism, has been much misunderstood and straw-manned by many philosophers and theologians, who then influence others’ views of it. It has been unfairly associated with indecisiveness, when it actually requires a good deal of decisiveness. It has been appropriated by those on both sides, who use its arguments, but then over-extend them into a claim that it positively supports their own absolute position. Agnosticism about God’s existence has also often been appropriated by atheists, who conflate the mere failure to believe in an absolute with belief in the opposite, often by redefining the terms in a way that tries to make any Middle Way unthinkable.
Alongside the avoidance of belief in absolute claims, we can maintain even-handedness by also having a full acceptance of their meaning. This means that we can engage as fully as we wish with the archetypal power of absolute ideas, or of the images and concepts associated with them, as we encounter them in experience. In our attitude to religious traditions, a Middle Way thus allows us to combine a resolute agnosticism with a practical appreciation of all the valuable inspiration and practical guidance that can be found in these traditions. A further video exploring the distinction between absolute belief and archetypal meaning can be found here.
This video, recorded on Zoom on 30th August 2020, includes the 8th of a series of short stimulus talks on the Middle Way by Robert M. Ellis, followed by questions from the audience.
Agnosticism is an aspect of Middle Way practice that is interdependent with scepticism, provisionality and incrementality, but involves the distinctive challenge of decisively resisting absolute beliefs on both sides. Once we recognise that we ‘don’t know’ and can’t know anything perfect or infinite, the challenge is that of not being either unnerved or seduced by those with absolute beliefs who will constantly try to either dismiss or appropriate any kind of Middle Way position. These absolute beliefs may be about God, or about a whole range of other claims of infinite scope. Resisting these absolute beliefs requires having confidence in our embodied experience as a basis of judgement, as well as the application of critical thinking skills.
Agnosticism, like scepticism, has been much misunderstood and straw-manned by many philosophers and theologians, who then influence others’ views of it. It has been unfairly associated with indecisiveness, when it actually requires a good deal of decisiveness. It has been appropriated by those on both sides, who use its arguments, but then over-extend them into a claim that it positively supports their own absolute position. Agnosticism about God’s existence has also often been appropriated by atheists, who conflate the mere failure to believe in an absolute with belief in the opposite, often by redefining the terms in a way that tries to make any Middle Way unthinkable.
Alongside the avoidance of belief in absolute claims, we can maintain even-handedness by also having a full acceptance of their meaning. This means that we can engage as fully as we wish with the archetypal power of absolute ideas, or of the images and concepts associated with them, as we encounter them in experience. In our attitude to religious traditions, a Middle Way thus allows us to combine a resolute agnosticism with a practical appreciation of all the valuable inspiration and practical guidance that can be found in these traditions. A further video exploring the distinction between absolute belief and archetypal meaning can be found here.
