The meaning of life
tliet
– December 24, 2008 06:31AM
We are driven by many things, what's your view on the meaning of life?
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tliet
– December 24, 2008 06:37AM
OK, here it goes. A thread about religion.
Re; religion held me back a long time.
Let me put it this way; I had questions about things at an age where it was not appropriate to discuss these things until you were a certain age and after you got married. My parents are still fairly religious and I certainly don't hold it against them, but I feel that once I was able to shake off the feeling of guilt that is implanted in ever so subtle ways, I could finally be who I was.
But having said that, I'm glad that my parents taught me to be compassionate. That is one aspect that's forgotten sometimes in our times. Although I cannot see a lot of compassion in the more extreme versions of religion that are plagueing our world.
John Willoughby
– December 24, 2008 07:06AM
Cyberdyne Systems Customer Support
Assuming that life has a meaning is like assuming that purple has a meaning.
tliet
– December 24, 2008 07:11AM
That first book looks interesting indeed, we are fundamentally irrational. I believe humans are primarily driven as biological beings, once you let the idea go that we are somehow completely disconnected from our physical beings (mammals) a lot of things are much better understandable.
edit; John, LOL.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/24/2008 07:12AM by tliet.
John Willoughby
– December 24, 2008 07:18AM
Cyberdyne Systems Customer Support
I don't believe in a supernatural. But I believe that everything about being a human, and growing up in a human society, pre-disposes us towards a belief in higher powers. When we're kids, we can ask our parents to provide for us. As adults, we've manufactured deities that we can ask for favors beyond our own powers. Ten thousand years of this has shaped our society on a very fundamental level. Even our atheists seem to be defined almost as much by what they reject as what they believe.
I think that the trappings of spirituality, Joseph Campbell's Hero, various archetypes of divinity can play a powerful and comforting role in human life. By reducing the complexities of string theory and sub-atomic physics to a pantheon of more-or-less human figures that can be addressed by mortals is putting a warm and friendly interface on top of the complexities of the universe.
When your crops are dying, you don't want to be contemplating Chaos Theory, butterflies in China, the physics of evaporation and condensation. You want the Holy Virgin to smile upon you, bless your crops, and bring the rain.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/24/2008 07:20AM by John Willoughby.
ddt
– December 24, 2008 08:26AM
that's an interesting observation, JW. i'd add to that the hardwired propensity of humans to find patterns, even when there are none. (ooh, found
this article by old bike buddy michael shermer.)
ddt
John Willoughby
– December 24, 2008 09:07AM
Cyberdyne Systems Customer Support
Yes. We are hardwired to search for patterns, so that we can categorize and deal with situations. We've got so much extra cranial horsepower that we apply it to intangible issues and shoehorn our observations into compartments we are comfortable with.
I've always thoughts that the gods were just the UI for the universe. Well, at least since I started programming. It's so much more satisfying to swear by/to/at a personage than a phenomena.
Dr Phred
(Moderator)
– December 25, 2008 05:12AM
owned by the mothership.
Bill sums it up for me pretty well.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/25/2008 05:13AM by Dr Phred.
ARL
(Moderator)
– December 28, 2008 07:43PM
I whinge therefore I am!
Damn, I missed religulous at the cinemas.
rino
– January 01, 2009 02:34PM
In America, the only respectable form of socialism is socialism for the rich.
In case you want to see it:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1839369108234002661
Religulous at Google Video. You can d/l a tiny copy for ipod/phone...
---
Funny. Was just at bookstore. Wanted to buy The God Delusion (not that I need convincing) and at the same time had an interest in picking up Deepak Chopra's book on Buddha.
I put the latter down and came home with only the Richard Dawkins' book.
tomierna
(Admin)
– January 04, 2009 05:11PM
Hideously Unnatural
Speaking of
Deepak Chopra...
ddt
– January 04, 2009 06:14PM
oh, i cringed just looking at his name and the link name.
eta: okay, i read it through to the last few lines and now like the author.
ddt
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/04/2009 06:16PM by ddt.
Alan Lehman
– January 04, 2009 07:29PM
Yeah it's never bad to have another reason to hate Deepak Chopra. Sorry, hate to be a hater but some people...
rino
– January 05, 2009 12:49AM
In America, the only respectable form of socialism is socialism for the rich.
Agreed! That is funny.
John Willoughby
– January 16, 2009 10:28AM
Cyberdyne Systems Customer Support
"How can I believe in God when just last week I got my tongue caught in the roller of an electric typewriter?" -- Woody Allen
John Willoughby
– February 13, 2009 12:44PM
Cyberdyne Systems Customer Support
Eden must have been a beautiful place:
Historical comment on the ability to fart at will is observed in St. Augustine's The City of God. Augustine, not otherwise noted for his levity, mentions men who "have such command of their bowels, that they can break wind continuously at will, so as to produce the effect of singing." That mankind in general has lost this ability he attributes to the first sin of Adam and Eve and its consequences with respect to body control.
tomierna
(Admin)
– February 13, 2009 01:12PM
Hideously Unnatural
This control was not lost:
Le_Pétomane
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/13/2009 02:24PM by tomierna.
ddt
– February 13, 2009 01:12PM
check out the last line of
this canto of dante's inferno.
ddt
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