Everybody has a "deity."
Yes. Thankfully mine doesn't require a burka and he promotes Happy Hour at local establishments.
Why FAITH is actually a form of suicide
by Terry 99 Replies latest jw friends
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leavingwt
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PSacramento
I love irish deities !!
;)
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BurnTheShips
It starts with the use of words without actual referents to real things.
It starts with metaphors instead of definitions.
I flipped open a book on the history of Chemistry last night. Full of METAPHORS!
I write about science (in part) for a living. Guess how I try to make it accessible and easily digested? METAPHORS!
How do scientists try to fit things into a framework so that they can mentally work out solutions? METAPHORS!
But the greatest thing by far is to be a master of metaphor. It is the one thing that cannot be learnt from others; and it is also a sign of genius, since a good metaphor implies an intuitive perception of the similarity in dissimilars.
Robert Frost:
An idea is a feat of association, and the height of it is a good metaphor.
Computers don't get metaphors. They are strictly linear. Computers are also totally lacking in creativity and imagination.
BTS
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THE GLADIATOR
I have looked up METAPHOR but he or she is not listed among the Greek and roman god's. I can only assume this impostor is a false god.
You talk of a 'good metaphor?' Only my gods are good.
You say, 'But the greatest thing by far is to be a master of metaphor.' If metaphor has a master then he or she is not a god.
You talk in riddles to confound us, but to no avail.
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mindmelda
I was watching (again) the movie, A Beautiful Mind, and this bit of dialog between the two principles jumped out at me:
Alicia: How big is the universe?
Nash: Infinite.
Alicia: How do you know?
Nash: I know because all the data indicates it's infinite.
Alicia: But it hasn't been proven yet.
Nash: No.
Alicia: You haven't seen it.
Nash: No.
Alicia: How do you know for sure?
Nash: I don't, I just believe it.
Alicia: It's the same with love I guess Actually, I think it's been more accurately theorized, based on more advanced data, that the universe is NOT infinite, but finite, but back in the 60s, when Nash believed that, it was the current state of information, the most advanced thinking of his time, so he put faith in that. I'm hoping as the data changed, he was smart enough to change his belief with it. I started thinking that here's this brilliant guy, winner of a Nobel Prize in economics (His "equilibrium" theories and mathematics are the basis of much of modern economic theory and also have influenced other fields like evolutionary biology) and he says he BELIEVES that the universe is infinite based on the data he has at that time. He doesn't KNOW, he BELIEVES, and he's right...none of us will ever know everything, but we BELIEVE quite a few things based on what information we have available at the time. We're all like that...no matter how brilliant, well read or studied, we're at the mercy of the current state of available data. Data changes, belief changes. The mistake would be to not continue to gather data, and never change belief according to what is the best available information. -
myelaine
Terry has said many times that nature abhors a vacuum...
his stated objective is: "I consider it a moral duty to alert anybody who will listen about the self-destructive effects of FAITH and belief."
hopefully he doesn't want to fill the void with his brand of vitriol...
love michelle
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Terry
Terry has said many times that nature abhors a vacuum...
his stated objective is: "I consider it a moral duty to alert anybody who will listen about the self-destructive effects of FAITH and belief."
hopefully he doesn't want to fill the void with his brand of vitriol..
An argument without content is a sort of vacuum. It is easy to spot. Somebody disagrees with somebody else and then pastes a pejorative label on what they say rather than refuting them with a better argument.
I explain, describe, compare and contrast thoughts ideas and definitions and what do I get back from people who disagree?
Better explanations, descriptions, comparison, contrasts and defintions?
NO. Just pejorative labels.
Sigh. Why do I bother?
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myelaine
dear Terry...
"Sigh. Why do I bother?"...
I dunno...you want to be king?......
love michelle
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leavingwt
From yesterday's British press. . .
Theology is an excuse for grown men to spend their lives trying to convince themselves, and others, that ridiculous fairy tales are true. Some of them get paid for it. On my Sky Box there are dozens of channels under the heading "Religion". If you choose one of these channels at random you will either find someone wanting your credit card details or someone strolling around a stage carrying a large Bible before him. He will be explaining to his attentive audience the meaning of some of the more ambiguous verses in the good book.
Five minutes after tuning in to such a session, you will begin to wonder whether you've had one of those strokes that make your native language incomprehensible to you. You recognise individual words as English, but they have no meaning. Despite the shouting and the emphasis put on them by the speaker, you have no idea what he is talking about. And yet the people in the audience are nodding sagely, making notes and generally seem to understand what is being said. This is theology.
I look at it this way. If science disappeared from human memory, we would soon be living in caves again. If theology disappeared from human memory, no one would notice. Theology is a completely and utterly useless pursuit. It is self-indulgence of the first order. It grieves me that public money is spent on theological colleges while real education struggles to gain the funds it needs to maintain itself.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2010/may/26/theology-atheism/print
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agonus
Terry, there are scientists who have posited that the universe is holographic... nothing more than an illusion.
Even what we call "reality" is, in some sense, a matter of faith... no?