God

[kittymarmalade]

Re: God

but nothing can convince me otherwise that there is definately a spiritual realm/ parrallel universe where a war is being raged for each and every one of us.

then you seem to have a rather large amount of self-importance.

we're too busy speculating about nonsense to be focusing on developing ourselves into something of any worth.

myself included.

it's all about the number 42 though. for realz yo.

[lilsensa]

Re: God

^^Thanks for keeping it on the real yo.

[kittymarmalade]

Re: God

What good is feeling depressed? Just don't do it. There's no reason to be like that so it is a waste of time.

Not true. A good dose of depression & introspection can be a great eye-opener for someone who is unable to understand why they're generally not contented in life.

Of course, they could end up killing themselves when they don't like what their little epiphany of knowledge brings them, but hey-ho .. then Darwin claims another one.

[kittymarmalade]

Re: God

^^Thanks for keeping it on the real yo.

my pleasure





(hmn, I need an avatar)

[sammwalk]

Re: God

THE fundamental phenomenon that leads people to believe in gods (and all such superstitious nonsense) is the unwillingness to accept one's lack of understanding. Instead of simply ending one's own internal dialogue by saying "I don't understand" and calling it a day, people make judgments and draw conclusions from things they don't sufficiently understand. When a person or group has already made a judgment or established a false conclusion based on their imaginations, others are more likely to trust them (or at least entertain or consider their opinions) than retreat to a position of non-judgment or non-knowledge.

(a comet appears over the course of a few days)
primitive guy 1: "Did you see that thing in the sky? I don't know what it is. Well, it's not doing anything, so I guess I'll mind my own business."
primitive guy 2: "No- Harry says it's an omen. He says that the gods must be angry at us."
primitive guy 1: (thinks) "I don't know if that's true, but what if Harry's right?"

We can also combine this with the natural weakness many people have to believe and follow authority figures, especially concerning such seemingly important subjects. Many people don't trust their internal common sense as much as they trust established authority figures. They sadly do not sufficiently question the justification of someone else claiming to have such understanding, especially from positions of power.

Amplifying the problem is the pressure that we put on authority figures to have the answers. If they were to, instead, admit to not knowing if god exists, or why there are storms, or why all the crops have died, or why there are diseases, etc, they would lose power to rivals that claimed to have knowledge. Thus it is a cycle that is very hard (and in some cases, nearly impossible, like in the Middle East) to break.

[lilsensa]

Re: God

my pleasure





(hmn, I need an avatar)

That's awesome.

[rainman]

Re: God

i believe that god was created in a sense to keep people of a lesser mind in order. i do not have statistics to back anything, but if i had to guess, i would say that there are far more people who do not believe in god not versus hundreds of years ago. i think as we progress our minds develop in a manner that we don't necessarily need to have something to believe in. at the end of the day, what it comes down to is that people are going to do whatever they want regardless.

i don't believe in god because my mind will not allow it, i'm not that weak.

[Miroslav]

Re: God

The adoption of the concept of God is a major blocker to humans reaching their potential - scientifically, philosophically and behaviourally.

What a complete waste of life.

If evolution and Darwinism is all there is, then I don't see why I personally would be worried about us reaching some "potential" or defining what a "waste of life" is.

"Potential" and "waste of life" is already efficiently defined by the distribution of our collective attributes and activities; that which is truly "wasteful" and stands in the way of the "potential" will simply die.

And there is nothing left for any of us to consciously achieve, block, or waste...except as it pertains to our own survival and perhaps whatever individual conceptualization of "pleasure" our own neural firings have led us to.

Within this evolutionary context, any other personal statement on your part about what is generally "wasteful" or what "potential" should look like is meaningless and irrelevant (except maybe to your own pleasure).

[kittymarmalade]

Re: God

I
Within this evolutionary context, any other personal statement on your part about what is generally "wasteful" or what "potential" should look like is meaningless and irrelevant (except maybe to your own pleasure).

100% in agreement.

and as for this

If evolution and Darwinism is all there is, then I don't see why I personally would be worried about us reaching some "potential" or defining what a "waste of life" is.

and you see correctly, erm .. what I mean is, is that I agree wholeheartedly. You should worry about nothing.

The comments I made were just lamenting about humans not really being on the road to their full potential as a species [which is irrelevant to the individual] and the possibilities of what they could achieve if they collectively thought about it [again, all very irrelevant to me personally, but certainly worth thinking about when you think of what coud be achieved if people synchronised certain motivations collectively].[edit] Potential to achieve things much greater and far reaching as a collective species is there, but not necessarily a goal one should strive for to ensure personal satisfaction while alive, or for the survival of the species - because that is irrelvant to the individual.

I dont remember saying darwin/evolution is all there is. All there is is YOU [that is truly relevent], and one's consciousness [the most prescious thing on earth in my opinion]. And the good thing about being conscious is that you get to think about, and even experience, some truly beautiful and astonishing things [regardless of what the rest of your buddies are doing] - which to me is a key motivation in life.

"Waste of life" is a poor choice of words on my part. Waste of potential would fit better. And wasted potential is something I'm sure we all feel we have in bucket loads.

[DancingQueen]

Re: God

I am not sure what I believe...I don't really believe that there is one "being" that created everything so to speak, but I would like to believe there is a place we go after we pass on...the thought of death being the end of everything sucks.

If there is only one "God" then how come Greek Mythology references several gods and as jibs mentioned, the Egyptians believed in living beings as GodS. Also the Mayans and other cultures sacrificing to the GodS. There are just to many discrepancies.

With all the variations/beliefs out there, it is hard to decide which is right. I think people should simply focus on the now and live life the best way they can and to the fullest potential.

[picklemonkey]

Re: God

With all the variations/beliefs out there, it is hard to decide which is right. I think people should simply focus on the now and live life the best way they can and to the fullest potential.

if you're struggling to decide which group of people is "right" then I'd say you're athiest along with most of us in here. don't try to figure out which one is right. if you don't believe any of them then don't try to fool yourself or others

[ddr]

Re: God

if you're struggling to decide which group of people is "right" then I'd say you're athiest along with most of us in here. don't try to figure out which one is right. if you don't believe any of them then don't try to fool yourself or others

you mean Agnostic.

Agnostic is one who doesnt believe you can prove there is a god, but also does not deny it is possible a god may exist.

Atheist is a person who believes that there is no god or a nonexistence of a god. period.

[picklemonkey]

Re: God

you mean Agnostic.

Agnostic is one who doesnt believe you can prove there is a god, but also does not deny it is possible a god may exist.

Atheist is a person who believes that there is no god or a nonexistence of a god. period.

just because you consider yourself agnostic doesn't mean the rest of us do

she said she doesn't believe that there is one being who created everything. that's atheist.

[Miroslav]

Re: God

100% in agreement.

and as for this

and you see correctly, erm .. what I mean is, is that I agree wholeheartedly. You should worry about nothing.

The comments I made were just lamenting about humans not really being on the road to their full potential as a species [which is irrelevant to the individual] and the possibilities of what they could achieve if they collectively thought about it [again, all very irrelevant to me personally, but certainly worth thinking about when you think of what coud be achieved if people synchronised certain motivations collectively].[edit] Potential to achieve things much greater and far reaching as a collective species is there, but not necessarily a goal one should strive for to ensure personal satisfaction while alive, or for the survival of the species - because that is irrelvant to the individual.

I dont remember saying darwin/evolution is all there is. All there is is YOU [that is truly relevent], and one's consciousness [the most prescious thing on earth in my opinion]. And the good thing about being conscious is that you get to think about, and even experience, some truly beautiful and astonishing things [regardless of what the rest of your buddies are doing] - which to me is a key motivation in life.

"Waste of life" is a poor choice of words on my part. Waste of potential would fit better. And wasted potential is something I'm sure we all feel we have in bucket loads.

Fair enough...sry if I was being a bit snippy; it tends to happen when I wake up on 3 hours of sleep.

btw I don't actually subscribe to a view of life strictly based on what I wrote; I'm not an atheist (or a "religious person"). My main premise has always been that even the atheist's views amount to about as much belief/faith as the Christian's; a world strictly defined by science installs a lot of assumptions about some very important questions. And most people I personally know who call themselves atheists continuously use a lot of expressions that demonstrate alegiance to free will, love, beauty, and other emotionally-based value judgements about the nature of the world around them...all of which, in my opinion, are frankly inconsistent with the actual conclusions of atheism.

I love this topic, but I've already completely beaten this to death in like 5 other threads before...so I will do my best to shut up about it now

[ddr]

Re: God

just because you consider yourself agnostic doesn't mean the rest of us do

she said she doesn't believe that there is one being who created everything. that's atheist.

she didnt say 100% that she does.. she said she is "not sure what (she) believes"

but yea, different interpretation... i was just pointing out that agnostic is a 'not sure' type of thing while atheist is a 'for sure' i do not believe...