Pole

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Posts by Pole

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  28

  Forget the 10 Commandments Follow the book of Tao instead....

  by EvilForce in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  as another thread rages on and on over whether we'd be better off following the 10 commandments i would posit that we would be better off following the tao te ching (the holy book for taoists) rather than the bible or 10 commandments.

  how many holy wars have been carried on by christians.

  how many christians are engaged in war right now?

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  Pole

  JT,
  

  The value of intellectual "input" is in realizing it is not the significant Reality we desire. We may not know or be clear on what it is we seek, but we know words and thoughts don't suffice.

  
  OK. No problem with that. I guess the problem of language and cognition has been recognized in Western philosophy as well.
  

  Why not see for yourself? Nothing I say means anything.

  
  What I meant was that once you reach that stage, being Christian or whatever is the label you stick onto yourself ceases to make any sense.
  

  Can consciousness shift it's gaze upon itself? Can a bottomless vastness be entered? Is there a Self so limitless, pure and pristine that it can not be labeled or confined within any phenomenal identity? You tell me.

  
  Again - a problem tackled, although not solved in Western philosophy. Some "definitions" of "the Absolute" would be close to what you seem to be describing. Nothing new under the Sun.
  Actually, there are no definitions of the Absolute by definition. LOL. Ain't that just funny? So, please don't ask me to reveal the mystery of super-consciousness and the Absolute in a single post. LOL. thanks for your thoughts though. i do appreciate them. And I do have to cope with those challenges you've identified on a daily basis ;-)
  Big Dog,
  

  JT, I understand the advice you are giving, but I think that outside of possibly a handful Tibetan or Shoalin Monks very, very, very few people can achieve the type of introspection you prescribe, especially those that live in Western societies.

  
  There is not even this handful of superconscious humans. Just as there are no monks mystics who "truly" understand the "meanining" of father Pio's stigmata. And there is no bunch of men in Brooklyn who are God's sole channel of communication. It's all mystical bulshit. Trust yourself, as JT teaches us. So with the exception of this reservation, I guess I agree with you.
  Pole
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  41

  Who is the Faithful and Discrete Slave?

  by Etude in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  recently, i've had memories about that topic, which i had suppressed for a long time.

  my original question came up when i encountered a few members of the "anointed" in my congregation (we're talking almost 30 years ago).. there was one sister who partook of the "emblems" who had come from cuba.

  i learned from her that her health was frail because she had smuggled some expensive jewelry in a condom and stuck it up her colon.

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  Pole

  http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/12/94909/1.ashx
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  32

  End of the World Near?

  by love2Bworldly in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i am wondering how many people out there still believe that in the next 100 years or so that this world/earth is going to be destroyed?.

  my husband is a christian, and sometimes he is obsessed with world events in the middle east and he thinks one day soon all the christians are going to be raptured away to heaven while the antichrist rules here on earth.

  i am extremely uncomfortable when he talks about it because it reminds me of the jws.. any thoughts out there?

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  Pole

  Humans are so megalomaniac. We always think the time we live in are very special. As if we knew what it felt like to live in any other time. But I must admit it is very very difficult to imagine how the Universe will continue to exist without me. I guess Jesus will be back just before I pass away, right? LOL.
  
  Environmental crisis? I don't know. Maybe.
  
  A theological end of the world is a fantasy of human megalomania, though. And a survival technique perhaps.
  
  Pole
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  28

  Forget the 10 Commandments Follow the book of Tao instead....

  by EvilForce in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  as another thread rages on and on over whether we'd be better off following the 10 commandments i would posit that we would be better off following the tao te ching (the holy book for taoists) rather than the bible or 10 commandments.

  how many holy wars have been carried on by christians.

  how many christians are engaged in war right now?

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  Pole

  Daunt,
  
  Yeah, I guess I'd have to do some more research to come up with "a final" judgment. ;-)
  
  JamesThomas,
  
  

  That said, it is not about following or believing anything, for this rout will lead again and again to division. It's about letting go of everything believed, followed and thought, and seeing unequivocally what you really are, just under all which we believe ourselves to be...be it man, woman, Taoist, Christian, or atheist.

  
  
  I haven't responded to your other post on a different thread, because I wasn't quite clear what you meant, but now I am beginning to se a certain consistency in your views. So, you wouldn't over-estimate the value of "input" whatever form it may assume, right?
  
  A small question. Can you remain Christian or Taoist after applying your advice to the full, though? (You can certainly remain a man and a woman, or not?). LOL.
  
  Pole
• 
  28

  Forget the 10 Commandments Follow the book of Tao instead....

  by EvilForce in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  as another thread rages on and on over whether we'd be better off following the 10 commandments i would posit that we would be better off following the tao te ching (the holy book for taoists) rather than the bible or 10 commandments.

  how many holy wars have been carried on by christians.

  how many christians are engaged in war right now?

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  Pole

  Ok, here is personal opinion:
  Honestly, I've had a cursory look at some aspects of Eastern philosophy a few times and they just seemed sssoo boring to me as a philosophy. Like Western poetry. Sometimes good poetry, sometimes poor poetry, but it's all about poetry. The licentia poetica is omnipresent in their ramblings. Whoever has read a good Western work on the psychology of metaphors must smile reading these wisdoms. (Now my post is getting condescending and inflammatory - go get me). ;-)
  I find the dialectic nature of Western philosophy so much more interesting. I love the fine distinctions between psychology and philosophy. Theology and science. yeah, I think I've just put my finger on it. I love verifiability. If something cannot be verified I want to admit it.
  Of course most post-pagan western religion sucks in a big way. But this is because at some point they mixed up philosophical verifiability with licentia poetica. And so every word attributed to Jesus is taken with utmost seriousness. Decisions are taken based on it, athough noone can provejesus actually uttered these words. Lives are sacrificed. So this is where Eastern philosophy is better than Western religious philosophy.
  The trouble is that I don't need religious philosophy. No thank you. Philosophy yes. Religion and religious philosophy - no more.
  Having said that, I am sure some of you find it fascinating to read into the kind of metaphors you've never heard before. Kind of like a European classical musician learning the rythmics of Latin-American scores.
  Pole
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  44

  World War III - Has It Started?

  by truthseeker in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the enemy is invisible.

  there are no rules.

  they wear no uniform.

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  Pole

  googlemagoogle,
  
  CORRECT! I got 4 of their CDs again recently. So good to be "allowed" to listen to this demoooonic music again.
  
  
  He broke the laws of the elders
  So they plucked out his eye,
  Took his land and fortune,
  Left him to die...
  
  \m/
  
  LOL.
  
  Pole
• 
  49

  If you're vegetarian...look away..

  by MidwichCuckoo in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  .

  what's the strangest or most exotic food you've ever 'experienced'?.

  for me, i suppose, it was badly cooked (i cooked it myself, say no more) crocodile....i'd like to try swan, and if i can find a loophole in the law, i will.

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  Pole

  Right, so while most soups end up in the intestines, with this one intestines end up in the soup which ultimately ends up in the intestines anyway.
  
  ***wondering if this sentence even makes sense***
  
  Pole
• 
  49

  If you're vegetarian...look away..

  by MidwichCuckoo in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  .

  what's the strangest or most exotic food you've ever 'experienced'?.

  for me, i suppose, it was badly cooked (i cooked it myself, say no more) crocodile....i'd like to try swan, and if i can find a loophole in the law, i will.

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  Pole

  Do you guys have a soup made of intestines in your respective countries? It's fairly popular here (we call it "flaki"). I love it!
  
  Pole
• 
  44

  World War III - Has It Started?

  by truthseeker in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  the enemy is invisible.

  there are no rules.

  they wear no uniform.

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  Pole

  Hmmm.......interesting, but I don't think that's why they're bombing everyone. I think it has mostly to do with their screwed up religion and culture-----these guys really think they're doing Allah a favour by blowing up "infidels".......I mean, for crissakes, they just set off a slew of bombs in Egypt, which is a Muslim country, so it's gotta be about more than our "excessive life-styles".........

  
  Religious indoctrination is only a means. The religious ends in this "war" are only a smokescreen. Of course the brainwashed bombers truly believe they have a religious goal to achieve. I can easily see how some varieties of Christianity could be used quite similarily. Our highly civilized western culture is more of an illusion than you may think.
  Pole
• 
  152

  Are You For or Against Abortion?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends
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  Pole

  Evesapple,
  
  Well I have enjoyed the debat and have learnt something. Small corrections to my view are now being considered. This thread is not futile at all.
  sonnyboy,
  Just a little point here: Europe and many other developed region of the world are not overpopulated. The opposite is the problem here. And abortion is mainly an issue in developed countries.
  
  Cheers,
  Pole