Posts by myauntfanny

47

A challenge to all atheist?

by meggidon555 in

i love rpgs .

here is the setting.

a time ago proof beyond a shadow of a dought that god does not exist was released to the world.

myauntfanny

Oh well, I'll accept the challenge. I'll probably be sorry.

A) Belief in God is not enough to stop people from murdering, on the contrary, it's an excuse that's been used rather often to murder people. The bible is full of God's chosen wiping out pagan nations. After all, we currently have a very devout president, but that hasn't stopped him starting a war.

B) You don't know what the man in the boat would have done if he had been atheist. You may be right that people who don't believe in God are more inclined to utilitarian arguments in trying to solve difficult ethical problems. But it's not logically necessary, and I have seen altruistic atheists and very calculating, self-centred believers.

12

THE HOLOGRAPHIC UNIVERSE.

by Blueblades in

jw
friends

.

just bought this book, has anyone else read it yet, if so, what are your thoughts?.

blueblades

myauntfanny

I really enjoyed it, although he drove me a little crazy with his "and if you think that's amazing, this next thing is even more mind-boggling!". Towards the end of the book he was running out of breathless adjectives and had to repeat himself a lot.

If you like it you should try Zero Point Field by Lynne McTaggart. It's good too, slightly harder going but a bit more substantial on the science side.

56

Are you an atheist? ...

by Nicolas in

jw
friends

personally, i consider myself as a "soft-atheist".

i don't believe in god but i keep an open mind and if someone can come with a real proof of god's existence, i'll take it.

for now, i consider that believing in god, is just as silly as believing in santa claus.

myauntfanny

I was an atheist for 20 years and quit. There is no rational reason to believe in god, but there is no rational reason to believe that the universe is strictly rational either. I sense the underlying existence of whatever it is that James Thomas is trying to describe. That's as far as I'm willing to commit myself, but it's quite a ways from being an atheist.

106

Should Anything Exist????Says Who???Should Nothing Exist?? Says Who?

by frankiespeakin in

should anything exist?

that is a question that nobody can answer with authority.

if any one says they have the answer, i ask:"says who?

myauntfanny

Frankie

We for the most part atribute ownership of thoughts to this imaginary "I".

I wouldn't necessarily call it ownership, but thoughts by definition have an origin in a thinker. We might not be thoughts, but if we are, we are by definition thought by somebody.

Are you just having fun with this thread, or are you really worrying about whether or not you exist?

106

Should Anything Exist????Says Who???Should Nothing Exist?? Says Who?

by frankiespeakin in

should anything exist?

that is a question that nobody can answer with authority.

if any one says they have the answer, i ask:"says who?

myauntfanny

Frankie

Your'e all probably just thoughts delluded into thinking you are real and seperate identities.

Whose thoughts? Does the person thinking us exist?

Narkissos

According to him it is our connection, not to this "Father" actually but to "his" absence (the "name of the Father"), which determines our symbolical position as speaking subjects ("I").

Headache time. Is it just me, or is this really hard to grasp? Do you get it intuitively?

Yet I think we could not exist as speaking beings without some kind of "hole" in reality, without connecting to "something" which is not part of the real world and which actually does not exist. Delusion, yes, but without it I believe we would choke.

Interesting. I can't quite see why it has to be non-existent, as opposed to merely inherently unknowable. In fact, if it must be non-existent, then it can only be a human construct or artifact, and wouldn't that defeat the purpose?

12

Lao Tzu.......a modern translation.........

by Sunnygal41 in

alright, i know there are people here that have studied/read lao tzu.

i had an email that put some of his comments into "modern vernacular"............i just began reading some of them today........here's my favorite, so far.

share your favorite lao quote........... when people lose touch with tao,.

myauntfanny

Looks good. I have Steven Mitchell's translation, that's beautiful, very poetic.

When a country obtains great power:

it becomes like the sea

all streams run downward into it.

The more powerful it grows,

the greater the need for humility.

Humility means trusting the Tao,

thus never needing to be defensive.

A great nation is like a great man:

When he makes a mistake, he realizes it.

Having realized it, he admits it.

Having admitted it, he corrects it.

He considers those who point out his faults

as his most benevolent teachers.

He thinks of his enemy

as the shadow he himself casts.

If a nation is centred in the Tao,

if it nourishes its own people

and doesn't meddle in the affairs of others,

it will be a light to all nations in the world.

31

Morons who steal my laundry detergent.

by Nancy Drake in

i thought the bottle was feeling a little light one day, but i thought maybe my boyfriend did a couple loads (yeah, right.

) then after i bought a full bottle, did one load, and came back to an almost empty bottle, i knew it was theft.

since then, i have to lock it up.

myauntfanny

Bleach seems a bit too harsh to me. What if it's some poverty-stricken, exhausted, single mother of four who then has to send her kids to school in bleach-spotted clothes, where they will be psychically scarred for life by the mockery and humiliation? I'm a big fan of fantasy revenge, but in real normal everyday life "bad" people usually turn out to be sad, incompetent yumps who aren't worth taking serious revenge on. Them being them is usually bad enough. I'd just lock up the laundry soap up.

20