"The World As I See It"

by onacruse 48 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  onacruse

  Mark, and hello to you too! Likewise, been a while since we chatted.

  silly me thought of commenting at the meeting with some quotes

  LOLOL, I can just imagine! There were always some oddballs hanging around in the KH, raising their hands at every WT study question.

  frankie:

  I think that means we have no free will to want anything it is all prearranged.

  On the contrary! What it means is that everything is "out in the open," nothing is predetermined. This is exactly why Einstein initially inserted the cosmological constant into his relativity equations, and why he had a problem with quantum mechanics (he hated it); but, as time went on (and it always does, eh?), he figured out (as have innumerable other mathematicians and physicists --turned philosophers) that life, and our existence...the very nature of our being, is indeterminate.
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  ApagaLaLuz

  Thanks for sharing Ona.... This is very insightful. It's easy to forget sometimes the rols that beauty, art, science, and especialy the kinship of men play in fulfilling our lives
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  onacruse

  Scott:

  Craig, this however is the beggining of a slippery slope.

  Yes, in some ways it seems so; in another way, it's simply realizing that we've been on that "slippery slope" our entire lives, and may not have realized it.

  Unpredictability is one thing, but refusing to take accountability for our own actions is very dangerous.

  In fact, this perspective requires, requires! that we individually take complete responsibility for our own actions. And here's a "cut of cake" from being in a religiously-controlled environment: If we can blame the Pope, or the bishop, or the elder, or the governing body, and say :"I did what I did (or didn't do what I didn't do) because they told me so...then personal responsibility flies right out the window and into the mud. But when we face the fact that we each, one each and only one each, for ourselves, make a decision, by which we must live (with others), and die (by ourselves?), then that's true personal responsibility.
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  onacruse

  Chevy

  Here's another, that touches on the posts above:

  Einstein (Mein Weltbild):

  When we survey our lives and endeavors, we soon observe that almost the whole of our actions and desires is bound up with the existence of other human beings...The greater part of our knowledge and beliefs has been communicated to us by other people through the medium of a language which others have created...The individual is what he is and has the significance that he has not so much in the virtue of his individuality, but rather as a member of a great human community, which directs his material and spiritual existence from the cradle to the grave.
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  ApagaLaLuz

  The greater part of our knowledge and beliefs has been communicated to us by other people through the medium of a language which others have created...

  This is true. I have long wondered about the significance that language plays in fulfilling our lives as well.
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  onacruse

  Chevy:

  This is true. I have long wondered about the significance that language plays in fulfilling our lives as well.

  This very slowly dawned on me as I studied other languages, and then studied about the "meaning" of language," including symbology (studies, which I must say, continue, with increasing personal "revelation." )

  One aspect: How do we think? With words (try, for just one second, to think without "words" in your head...) Where did those words come from? From others. Who, or what, "defined" those words? Webster? He was just a collater. The "words," and the concepts they incorporate, with which we think come from ancient sources beyond our individual memory; yet we utilize them every moment of every day, as if they are a reality.

  Which led many a philosopher to believe that "personal revelation" was the essence of individual being.
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  ScoobySnax

  Craig

  I see nothing to dispute from your reply......that was exactly as the point I was making. You just worded it better, we all must take personal resposibility for our own actions. As I said, the danger occurs when we start to blame external factors, thats not taking personal accountability. We might be a victim to them, but we can't become a victim of them and let that influence what we become, if we do then we are truly lost.

  Of course I could be thinking with my heart rather than my head again.

  Scoob
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  onacruse

  Scott:

  if we do then we are truly lost.

  I think the topic of this thread offers an opportunity to discuss this, if you are willing; perhaps an opportunity to explore together?

  Sincerely,

  Craig
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  frankiespeakin

  I disagree!

  We are not responsible for any of our life and neither is anybody else. That is a fallacy,,for to who or what then are we responsible to!!!!

  obsurd!!!
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  onacruse

  frankie:

  We are not responsible for any of our life and neither is anybody else.

  On the contrary! As I said above, we are responsible to ourselves.

  Is that too much, or too little, to expect?

  If so, why?