That is still pretty broad. It's nice that you're open, but what are you more interested in? In the past these threads get pretty full, chances are you will either not get to all of the recommendations nor be interested in all of them, so maybe we can narrow it down a bit?
Markfromcali
JoinedPosts by Markfromcali
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Read any good books lately?
by chrissy inso, i will be down and out for awhile after a little surgery this week and i am trying to get a few books to keep myself amused and i am looking for suggestions on something you may have read recently and enjoyed.
i prefer non-fiction, but will consider reading anything highly recommended, as long as it contains at least a spark of truth.
well, i will recommend a book to you alla few days ago, i finished reading into the wild by jon krakauera biographical story about a young man who, after graduating college, got rid of all of his belongings and hitch-hiked across the country in search of jack london-esque adventures.
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Question for agnostics and/or atheists
by sonnyboy ini've just recently declared my agnosticism to myself and to one other person in my life.
i don't necessarily consider myself an atheist because i believe there very well may be some higher power or non carbon based entities in existence with 'godlike' abilities.
my question is, do you still find yourself secretly believing in god?
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Markfromcali
Because "a man is defined by his actions". ; His actions are defined by his thoughts and morality. ; His morality is defined by.....?
Well, who is doing the defining? Who is defining it that way? That's the real question isn't it?
I agree your actions say a lot about you, and it says something about what you think and so on - but that is ultimately filtered down from some deeper principle as you have indicated so it is only a reflection of that.
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Question for agnostics and/or atheists
by sonnyboy ini've just recently declared my agnosticism to myself and to one other person in my life.
i don't necessarily consider myself an atheist because i believe there very well may be some higher power or non carbon based entities in existence with 'godlike' abilities.
my question is, do you still find yourself secretly believing in god?
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Markfromcali
If you just take a step back you see that this kind of discussion is always focused on what you believe, but it never really acknowledges the obvious fact that it's all about belief.
Another thing is while people do acknowledge that there's a matter of labels, beyond or before that there is the matter of identifying with that particular pattern of thought - even if you attribute no label to it. There can be that certain mental tension even if you did arrive at this point in a more or less natural progression. Now of course we use our minds to navigate through life, but that is very different from being identified with it.
Let me put it this way: Just because you have a particular thought pattern, what makes that something about you? Most people think mind-control is a matter of what you think, or how much conditioning there is, but I say it's really about who you think you are. After all, if you don't think of yourself as one of Jehovah's Witnesses, (not on some shallow level where you declare in words "I no longer consider myself a JW", but when there is no identification whatsoever) what impact will all that JW information in your mind have on your life? It would be just a bunch of data floating around at best. And yet that tendency to identify with a particular way of thinking is what persists, despite a change of content. If you can let identification itself go, that will be a real change.
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Hoochie mama's
by swiftbreeze inwell it's that time of year again ladies.....summer.
i went out yesterday with my husband.
it was hot.
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Markfromcali
Hey you know what ladies, regardless of how you are dressed you are noticed.. Maybe not by the same people, but with some they can be in the plainest clothes and I know I take notice.
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New video/DVD releases - updated thread
by Markfromcali inwe have these once in a while, but i thought instead of just asking everyone which ones they liked i will post a list of all the current new releases and then update it maybe weekly.
of course, this would be limited to the u.s. - but it would ultimately be an exhaustive list over time.
so little by little we can cover all the new releases and people can comment on it if they've seen it.
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Markfromcali
We have these once in a while, but I thought instead of just asking everyone which ones they liked I will post a list of all the current new releases and then update it maybe weekly. Of course, this would be limited to the U.S. - but it would ultimately be an exhaustive list over time. So little by little we can cover all the new releases and people can comment on it if they've seen it.
Here is the first list, in chronological order of release date:
Primer
Meet the Fockers
Birth
Lemony Snicket's A Series Of Unfortunate Events
Blade: Trinity
Assasination of Richard Nixon
Phantom of the Opera
National Treasure
Sometimes in April
Racing Stripes
Life and Death of Peter Sellers
Alone in the Dark
Team America: World Police
The Sea Inside
Black Cadillac
The Aviator
Boogeyman -
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Witnesses sit next to me at the theater last night
by seattleniceguy inhad a bizzare experience last night.
i went to see the movie mr. and mrs. smith (which, by the way, was pretty decent).
my girlfriend and i showed up about 20 minutes before the show started, so we picked out some seats and then each went to the restroom in turn while the other watched the seats.
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Markfromcali
It's experiences like this that make me think of the Williams character in Enter the Dragon saying: "Man, you come right out of a comic book!"
They're children aren't they? Terribly naive, after you've been out a while and have actually grown up you see that for what it is. It's like one of those really lame sitcoms, but hey that's their reality, such as it is..
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Demonology
by AuntieJane injust having fun...here is a book for sale on ebay, in case anyone is interested.
cheap shipping.
this seller is an 85 year old lady in kansas who keeps her shipping cheap and makes a lot of sales.. sorry, i don't know how to paste the actual website link.
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Markfromcali
Guess you're not bidding on it then?
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Markfromcali
Thanks for that Zen. I was just thinking yesterday everybody wants to kill the Buddha, but nobody wants to dispose of the body. After a while the carcass starts to stink, attracts flies and it's just not a pretty sight..
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Presiding Overseer Says They Will Ask If You Still Want To Be A Jehovah's W
by minimus inthe local needs talk on thursday discussed a few different things, according to my mom.
but the one that stood out most was that he announced that based on the new book, the elders will be checking on those that have not been associating with the congregation for some time.
they will ask, "do you still want to be a jehovah's witness?
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Markfromcali
"So, the separating work is just something going on in your mind isn't it?"
I'll give them a direct answer next time after they've had some time to think that over.
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We touch each other...
by MerryMagdalene in.
...in so many ways, some known to us, others remaining unknown and unrecognised, sometimes for years, sometimes forever.. so, my question is: would you rather know of the ways in which your presence effects others or would you prefer such things not be drawn to your attention?
recognition or anonymity?.
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Markfromcali
Most probably feel you need to know things about each other in order to be touched. Is that really true?
Certainly it tends to come through in SOMETHING that people say or do, but so much of what goes on doesn't really speak to who we are, you know? The JW experience may be one thing that quickly comes to mind, but I would say that only shows up because of how the experience ISN'T who we are. So it speaks to who we are indirectly, but of course that can be touched upon directly.
There are some expressions that simply speak for itself. These things do not speak to who you think you are, or take yourself to be, but you get the sense it speaks directly to you. Sometimes it is like something in the form of poetry, but it would be a mistake to think it's just beautiful words. We may go back to our self concepts or what have you, but if you saw clearly what was going on in those moments, or if you really touched into it, then you know it is something much deeper than exchanging a ton of information about your life.
So this is why I don't particularly think the details matter, because it is really secondary. Sometimes it is appropriate to go into our stories or whatever, but meeting in that deeper place is what I consider being really touched.