i saw this and immediately thought about how this relates to us.
once you've learned how to ride the ttatt-bicycle it's almost impossible to ride the "truth"-bicycle again.
https://youtu.be/mfzdabzbll0.
Well that was interesting but it wasn't very scientific. Anecdotal evidence is never more than intriguing at best.
Also, his conflation of motor skills with cognitive biases is unsupported by any neuroscience which I know of. If someone can provide an important scholarly study supporting this claim I'd love to read it.
And the concluding comment that "welders are often smarter than engineers" is just dumb.
if you are a current practitioner of some religious faith i would appreciate it if you abstained from this thread entirely.
im curious if anyone has had what could be discribed as a spiritual experience.
i'm currently reading sam harris book waking up and it's very good so far.
JD, great thread. Thanks for starting it.
I'm a big fan a Sam Harris. Although I don't agree with everything he says or promotes, I appreciate that he gets dialogues going on topics which a lot of people tend to avoid for what I think are obvious reasons: they are controversial because they challenge people's beliefs.
You should have quoted the full title of Sam's book: Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion
What I appreciated most about his book was the frank discussion of our "spiritual" nature. I also understood why he had to spend (several pages?) explaining just what HE means by the word "spiritual" in his discussion. I don't have a copy of the book handy, but as I recall he discusses how that word can mean so many different and often conflicting things--ideas and beliefs which he certainly does NOT hold. Nevertheless, we don't really have an appropriate word in English for the ideas which he has come to believe and want to share. And so, within the constraints of meaning as he explains it, that is the word he uses.
I also like the fact that he exposes how susceptible we are to charlatans and scam-artists (can you say WTBTS?) because of our innate desire for the spiritual.
As much as I really enjoyed his book for the reasons I listed above, I had a couple of gripes about it.
One, he talked a lot about the illusion of self. He used this and similar expressions all throughout the book but never clearly articulated exactly what he meant by them. This is, I have found, a common trait of his writing and speaking. It's a little odd because he clearly understood the need to define what he means when he uses the term "spirituality," so I expected he would have done the same regarding his idea of "the illusion of self," but unfortunately--at least as far as I could tell-he never clearly did.
His 2012 speech on "The Delusion of Free Will" has similar problems. He is clearly using the expression free will to mean something different than what most people mean when they use it, but he never clarifies or defines those shared meanings or differences. Alas, the curse of knowledge.
Finally, and perhaps this explains his omission regarding the self, the organization of the book was kind of clunky; it didn't flow. It felt like he cobbled together a bunch of essays, notes and blog posts to create a book, yet didn't take the time or effort to edit it for flow and continuity.
All that being said, I think this is an important book for ex-JWs that are well on their way out of the cult and into a life of purpose and meaning without the baggage of religion. Although not definitive on the subject, Harris' book is thought-provoking and intriguing. While not claiming to provide final answers, it will definitely get you asking the right questions for yourself, which is ultimately what I think Harris is after in this book as well as his general body of work.
Two
ok... my other thread i cant respond.
we went to shut up our family... but myhusband is seething and said his brain has shut off.. the stupid is amazing.. they are playing videos that are lame and pointless for the first symposium.. for the first symposium... they asked why the bible has no pictures.
because it was before photography...jesus used word pictures!!
AFS: void of anything uplifting
That pretty much sums it up!
in the video, they repeatedly talk about these big ugly misunderstandings that have taken place between the circuit overseers and the elders,, at least partially, leading to their current money problems fiasco.. if the governing body were intentionally lying, wouldn't they lie to make themselves and their elders look better, instead of worse?.
what would the motive be for them to tell everyone about these big misunderstandings?.
FT: the video explicitly says that the individual members of the Congregation are not to blame at all.
Again, could you please provide specific quotes? Include links and timing references to the video. Thanks!
if you cant put two and two together, (the bachelorette having sex before marriage and the fact that we are living in the last days) then youre just going to lose your life.
period!.
thats what i was told by two old jw ladies working the bus stop with their magazines.my question;.
If someone having sex before marriage is "evidence" that we are living in the last days, then we have been living in the last days since the beginning of homo sapiens.
in the video, they repeatedly talk about these big ugly misunderstandings that have taken place between the circuit overseers and the elders,, at least partially, leading to their current money problems fiasco.. if the governing body were intentionally lying, wouldn't they lie to make themselves and their elders look better, instead of worse?.
what would the motive be for them to tell everyone about these big misunderstandings?.
FT: In the video, they repeatedly talk about these big ugly misunderstandings that have taken place between the Circuit Overseers and the Elders
Could you provide some specific quotes, please? Be sure to include links and timing references to the video. Thanks!
the parody video is being released before the "official" release on sunday!.
video being re-edited...stand by.. edit: here is the re-cut with wingcommander's excellent input.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5h1cj527s4.
i apologize for how rantish this is but please hear me out.
anyways i'm a 15 year old girl and i've never really wanted to be a jw.
its just never been something thats made me feel happy or loved.
BlackWolf: My dream is to go to art school but everyone seems to look down upon me for it.
It's not true that everyone looks down upon you. We don't.
Your dreams can happen, they can come true. But you must make them, it's up to you. Hold on to your dreams!
to all brothers and sisters reading this site: "and i love you so" (remember the don mclean song?
)...is the feeling most of us had with regard to the watchtower and the brothers leading it.
but truly, who did we get baptized for?
a watcher: We have a banquet of spiritual food
I agree the GB provide an "abundance" of literature: books, magazines, web-content and now cartoons and video broadcasts.
There problem is: It's all full of lies, deceptions, half-truths, no-truth, greedy, manipulative, controlling trash.
i remember the days when jws were proud of their religion, they walked tall and carried their big stick, their bibles, proudly.
now, it's embarrassing for a witness to admit their faith to others.
the average witness can't explain their beliefs, as they have changed so many times.
Something wrong with that picture. I mean imagine having to ask some authority what YOU believe. Can it really be called a belief if it was assigned to you by someone else?
Excellent point. The "beliefs" of JWs are dictated to them by uneducated, isolated, paranoid and delusional psychopaths.
