VoidEater

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Posts by VoidEater

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  24

  AMAZING SPEECH by Stephen Fry

  by iknowall558 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  http://atheistnews.blogs.fi/2010/04/15/stephen-fry-s-magnificent-speech-in-the-intelligence-debate-8376219/.

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  VoidEater

  Check out "Fry and Laurie" - Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie ("House"), along the lines of Monty Python but more intellectual - where I first saw him. He's also in some of the "Black Adder" series with Rowan Atkinson (as is Hugh Laurie). Then there's Peter's Friends (film, Hugh Laurie also appears) and Last Chance to See (a Douglas Adams connection).
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  18

  You really DON'T KNOW LOVE at all

  by Terry in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  love is spoken of as though it were an actual.....thing.. the discourse surrounding "love" is a dishonest framing of an argument based on a non-context.. .

  love is an emotion.

  it is the strongest possible positive emotion.. where does it come from?.

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  VoidEater

  It comes from your values.

  That is a kind of love. But you miss the domain where the more powerful experiences of love take place. Thinking is but one domain - and one source - of emotions. You must not ignore the unconscious physiological source of emotions. To do so makes you a two dimensional caricature.

  But I love the sentiment: "Love is an echo, not a voice." The way in which it is a voice, is that it is a teacher. Once you love, you can see what your behavior would be if you loved more.

  The point is HOW we receive our values

  We always inherit them at first. It is through self-examination and conscious choices that we can grow effectively. And you certainly don't need Rand for any of that (to the extent Objectivism promotes it, it is good).

  We acquire information, analyse it, and come up with our visions of the way the world is and values that promote them. We love those things.

  Well...we find *satisfaction* in them. I think you understand the difference between "love" and "satisfaction".

  But THE BEST PART of this thread is the title: you are 100% right, you can't "know" "love", not in the way you use "know" - it takes place in a different domain from the mind (it literally takes place in the body). And, as any emotion, it provides feedback to the mind.
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  4

  Angels In America

  by WuzLovesDubs in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  its an hbo special that i rented.

  6 hours long... gosh its...profound, enthralling.

  a-list actors, al pacino, meryl streep and more.

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  VoidEater

  I saw it onstage in San Francisco in the mid-90's - it was all of those things you mention.
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  123

  Are you single and looking? Or Do you consider yourself to be available?

  by Scott77 in

  1. social
  2. relationships

  are you single and looking for a soul mate?

  or do you consider yourself to be available?

  please, declare on this thread..

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  VoidEater

  I have had great loves and great times. I've been happily pair-bonded for going on 23 years (we've known each other for 40 years).

  Single is fine for those that desire it.

  Whether glandular, societal pressure or wish fulfillment, the reality of going through life together with another person at your side has been extraordinarily satisfying for me.
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  22

  Why do even inactive Jw's play the shunning game?

  by AK - Jeff in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i have contacted a half dozen people thru facebook.

  all of these people i have known for 2 decades, most more than that.

  in every case, i have not been overly apostate in my statements - just a simple hi, hello, and how ya' doin' type message to them in private.. nearly all of them fall into one of two categories: never been a jw, just studied, maybe attended meetings for a while, likely not doing so nowadays.

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  VoidEater

  I agree with your assessment, Jeff.

  Their minds, running on automatic, Believe.
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  93

  What---if anything---can we learn from AYN RAND'S philosophy?

  by Terry in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  consciousness.

  primacy of existence vs. primacy of consciousness.

  prior certainty of consciousness.

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  VoidEater

  What I learned from Ayn Rand:

  She could not apply her philosophy to herself. Her philosophy didn't save her from being sexist and homophobic, and she can be seen as promoting sexism and homophobia which, in a strict sense, Objectivism should eliminate.

  Her philosophy mandates economic peons. It is predicated on the theory that men are inequal, and it is foolish to promote the advancement of others. Without peon consumers, there is no market for the Objectivist business owner (not everyone can nor should be Objectivists - you need a caste system for the philosophy to work on a large scale).

  An extension of her philosophy: inheritance is ill-gotten gains that an individual did nothing for, and should be outlawed.

  An interesting, if flawed, promulgation of Objectivisim can be found in Terry Goodkind's works. Like the original philosophy itself, it breaks down around the issue of "greater good": on the one hand, Objectivisim purports to recognize no "greater good" beyond the individual; on the other hand, when establishing rights of conquest and acceptable targets of violence, the "greater good" banner comes into possession of the state or nation that proclaims itself "right".

  The true Objectivist can be viewed as little more than an amoral anarchist when you really look at it.

  There's a bit of loose playing with terms in this thread: subjectivity, objectivity (lower case), perception...indeed, I have met few people that are capable of pure perception, they can only access their interpretation.

  There are some good things to take from Rand. It's dangerous to adopt her ideas whole-hog.
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  17

  Sex Issues

  by XPeterX in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  my sis has been studying for the past 4 months with a female jw and the same jw started whinning that she couldn't have sex with her hubby coz he's on medication,another female pioneer would tell her that she wanted to get laid but her other half is not horny or wouldn't satisfy her.isn't it wrong to talk about such things with a person who's just started associating with jws?.

  p.s when my sister told me that,anger was what i felt.

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  VoidEater

  Gossiping about your own mate?? Now, that's classy.
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  282

  What accusations do you have about us JWs? AND what group are YOU a part of?

  by theMadJW in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

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  i'm one of the few jws that freely admit our faults and mistakes.. let's compare notes!.

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  VoidEater

  Leolaia has presented on the board some very fine scholarship showing the evolution of myth-forms over time that eventually made it into Genesis. The identifiable motifs are striking.

  As an XJW, I am often surprised at how the religion made me feel so much smarter than I actually was on the subject of comparative religion.
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  66

  What's your Favorite TV show of all time?

  by serenitynow! in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  if you can't tell from my username, i am a seinfeld fan.

  seinfeld is the best show ever!

  law and order is second.. jada.

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  VoidEater

  The original Outer Limits.
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  23

  Virginia's gangs now embracing Satanism

  by Weeping in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  my prayers will be with them, but to me it seems too little, too late.. .

  the virginia gang investigators association will host a training seminar april 30 on the subject of occult and ritual crimes at the accomac elks club.. .

  the speaker will be don rimer, who has been involved in many high profile cases involving this subject matter.. rimer will discuss several topics including, new case studies, satanism, witchcraft, goth, animal abuse, fantasy role playing, death/metal music, etc.. the seminar is from 9a.m.-5pm at the accomac elks lodge, 22454 front st... for more information contact kelly miles at 757-339-5204..

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  VoidEater

  I do not lightly dismiss the concerns of poor children with single parents; however, me thinks condemning all such to a future of no choices, no options, fated commitment to murder and death at the hands of cops is a wee bit much. Just Google "famous children of single parents."

  To the OP, a lot of this Satanism-as-springboard-to-all-badness is just hysteria, and every case of "gangs of Satanism" roaming the dark streets of small town America that I have ever followed up on has been one or a few kids goofing off. The solitary ones have often been distrubed to the point where they really need professional help, but hardly ushering Hell into Earth.

  The Satanists I have known have been rather typical people (LaVeyan).

  I think we have here the making of a "horrors of Rock 'n' Roll" event, or perhaps "Reefer Madness": a lot of tempest in a pot of tea. Organized Satanist revolutionaries are much less common, and far better company, than Christians like the Westboro Baptists.