Xanthippe

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Posts by Xanthippe

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  23

  Quick hello and recent baby pic.

  by Darkknight757 in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  just wanted to say a quick hello.

  this was a pic yesterday on nurses week at henry ford with one of izabella’s primaries.

  the first pic was at her nicu graduation.

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  Xanthippe

  You and your wife have been through so much! I'm so pleased for you now with your healthy daughter 🎈🎉👍🌺
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  17

  Enlightenment, Will It Be A Rather Common Experience In The Future?

  by Brokeback Watchtower in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  it has been said by some that an enlightened being came/happened once every 500 years, but now they seem to be popping up all over the place.. the buddha had to meditate like hell, he even starved himself to attain it.

  monks spend many years doing some are successful some are not.. i think with science looking into these nirvana states of mind that they will figure out a way to end suffering for the human species which will usher in a whole different way of life with higher intelligence running things.

  from my understanding of enlightenment it is a sort of rewiring of the brain where the signals go up pleasure side of the amygdala where as painful emotions and sensations go up the other side.

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  Xanthippe

  BW it does strike me that after 2 1/2 thousand years of philosophy and a hundred years of psychotherapy we don't seem to have worked out what makes humans really happy. I don't like the ideas of messing with brains chemically, too much damage is done by drugs already.

  I find the idea of changing the wiring of the brain with mediation and mindfulness interesting. I've done meditation and ended sessions feeing very happy, the whole room looks more beautiful at the end of it. I've had a couple of 'peak' experiences, one during stress but one on a wonderful trip to mountains and lakes, looking at beauty all day.

  The brain is fascinating, I just wish we could work out what it really needs to be happy. We were apes but we are more than that now, with very complex needs. Sometimes it feels like evolution has created a monster, one that is never satisfied, never content, you know?
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  17

  Interview with an Apostate : humbled : not-a-captive

  by humbled in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  tell us a little about yourself and your family.. born in 1952 second oldest of the family of nine children.

  as you see, my family was thoroughly catholic.

  dad was in the army.. were you a born in or a convert?.

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  Xanthippe

  I loved reading your story humbled, it was good to get a woman's perspective. That CO saying pointedly in a talk women should mind their place after you'd done all that research!

  You are very humble, saying you have nothing to teach here, that others can do it better, but I don't think that's true. I enjoy your posts and like that you are real, a genuine, no nonsense person who has really lived, raised a large family, dealt with marriage problems, earned a living. Good stuff, keep posting please.
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  226

  Wealth, Poverty, and Morality

  by SecondRateMind in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i am interested in the approach this forum takes to money.

  apart from sex, (which i am quite relaxed about) it seems to me that wealth is the surest divider between those who are moral, and those who are not.. it seems jesus thought so, also.

  luke 16:19-31 kjv describes well enough his dusty attitude to the rich who do not succour the poor.. and this world has many poor: so many, it might seem that we can do nothing about it, and twist his words; 'the poor ye shall have always with you, but me, ye shall not have always.

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  Xanthippe

  We've had decades of Oxfam, Comic Relief, foreign aid to dictators, etc. and still there are millions upon millions of desperately poor people.
  Something is seriously wrong.

  Complex problems take time. You've done voluntary work for Cancer Research? Cancer research was founded in 1902. People are still dying of cancer.
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  226

  Wealth, Poverty, and Morality

  by SecondRateMind in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i am interested in the approach this forum takes to money.

  apart from sex, (which i am quite relaxed about) it seems to me that wealth is the surest divider between those who are moral, and those who are not.. it seems jesus thought so, also.

  luke 16:19-31 kjv describes well enough his dusty attitude to the rich who do not succour the poor.. and this world has many poor: so many, it might seem that we can do nothing about it, and twist his words; 'the poor ye shall have always with you, but me, ye shall not have always.

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  Xanthippe

  The people responsible for the poor are:
  1. poor people themselves
  2. the governments they live under.

  Do you really believe this, honestly? So you never give to charities like Oxfam? The worst thing about being in that cult in the eighties was seeing the Ethiopian famine on TV but being told not to donate to famine relief. I felt really bad about that after leaving.

  I think helping the poor is everyone's responsibility just as it would be if you knew them personally. Would you let kids with pot bellies and stick limbs starve if they lived in your street? It doesn't make any difference that we don't know them.

  Perhaps I'm misunderstanding your post but I hope you do believe in famine relief, and making the world fairer for everyone. Some desperately poor people just need a leg up to work their way out of poverty.
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  226

  Wealth, Poverty, and Morality

  by SecondRateMind in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i am interested in the approach this forum takes to money.

  apart from sex, (which i am quite relaxed about) it seems to me that wealth is the surest divider between those who are moral, and those who are not.. it seems jesus thought so, also.

  luke 16:19-31 kjv describes well enough his dusty attitude to the rich who do not succour the poor.. and this world has many poor: so many, it might seem that we can do nothing about it, and twist his words; 'the poor ye shall have always with you, but me, ye shall not have always.

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  Xanthippe

  Buttons pushed, anger and mayhem created, mission accomplished. Too easy for someone who's been observing this forum for four years.
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  32

  Why I don,t believe in reincarnation.

  by jam in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  it,s simple, i can not remember crap from my previous life.. the wife told me today if you come back in the next life, please.

  take some science classes.. if i could remember a small percentage of my life today, just a little.

  bit, man would it make a difference.. in school i would be 100% nerd, geek, book worm.

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  Xanthippe

  • If we are in some kind of computer simulation. Then there are lots of possibilities that are not provable by
    our understanding of the way things we see work but could work by a computer program.

    Too deep for me
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  43

  Did You Ever Luke ANY Songs From The “Songbook “?

  by minimus in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i went on line looking for old jw songs and some of them were pretty good and some were just awful!.

  did you ever like any of those songs?

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  Xanthippe

  Nah, the Devil has the best tunes. I always preferred Jerusalem, but not so much now.
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  49

  "You owe Jehovah humility and HONESTY" - an email from a JW

  by Wake Me Up Before You Jo-Ho in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  hey forum goers.

  i'd like your opinions on constructing an email reply to this shocker below.

  bit of background about the sender: she is a middle-aged, cheery uberdub whose siblings left when a schism occured in her congregation in canada way back when.

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  Xanthippe

  By the way, my son pulled through his operation - we are back from hospital now . Thank you for the well wishes. xxx

  That's very good news Wake Me 😄
  
  
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  226

  Wealth, Poverty, and Morality

  by SecondRateMind in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i am interested in the approach this forum takes to money.

  apart from sex, (which i am quite relaxed about) it seems to me that wealth is the surest divider between those who are moral, and those who are not.. it seems jesus thought so, also.

  luke 16:19-31 kjv describes well enough his dusty attitude to the rich who do not succour the poor.. and this world has many poor: so many, it might seem that we can do nothing about it, and twist his words; 'the poor ye shall have always with you, but me, ye shall not have always.

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  Xanthippe

  Humbled, my daughter uses Kiva micro finance charity and has been lending small amounts since she was a teenager. I support Save the Children and UNICEF with very small amounts every month because it's true small amounts of money go a very long way in developing countries.

  Also those charities are part of the DEC that provides relief in natural disasters and war zones. UNICEF do amazing work vaccinating children against preventable diseases. Our tiny amounts given regularly are often an undreamed of sum to a person trying to work their way out of poverty or get medical help for their children.

  I believe we have power and we shouldn't give in to the idea it's hopeless. There are seven billion of us after all so in that sense 2RM we can all contribute to ridding the world of poverty but it is complex. Overpopulation, as you mentioned because of the lack of a social structure to finance people in old age.

  Religion is a large problem, the Dalits, the untouchables in India are still only able to get menial work - this is God's will apparently! They don't blame people for the caste they are born into according to the Indian guide on my trip there. Really! Corrupt governments that steel all the aid that is donated or insist on bribery for even education. Many, many problems still to be overcome.