Posts by JamesThomas

13

praying to Jesus - an analogy

by TheListener in

jw
friends

for those who are christians,.

as a witness i never prayed to jesus and would have felt icky and evil had i done so.. .

as a christian who is no longer a jw i still haven't prayed to jesus.

praying to Jesus - an analogy

by TheListener in

jw
friends

for those who are christians,.

as a witness i never prayed to jesus and would have felt icky and evil had i done so.. .

as a christian who is no longer a jw i still haven't prayed to jesus.

The disease of religion brought on by shrinking and reducing the Divine to some conditional circumscribable entity which you now need to appease and keep happy. Why belittle God to some object or thing that has a propensity of being a pain in the ass? Throw the tattered and mildewed baggage of religious beliefs out the door, and be present with your genuine desire to know and befriend your Source. You already have what you need.

Be still, and know...

j

13

praying to Jesus - an analogy

by TheListener in

jw
friends

for those who are christians,.

as a witness i never prayed to jesus and would have felt icky and evil had i done so.. .

as a christian who is no longer a jw i still haven't prayed to jesus.

JamesThomas

Do you honestly feel that the true Source of an indescribably wondrous, beautiful and infinite universe is so childish and small as to be influenced by what you call it? If you have a heartfelt desire to pray, then pray. Religion is messing with your mind.

59

Big Question

by choosing life in

jw
friends

i know there may not be an answer to this question, but i am truly interested in other's views.

i know many are of various beliefs and some do not believe in god at all.. the question is: why does god not stop the suffering?

i watch so many suffer for no reason and no matter how i try to figure it out, i always come back to the fact that a loving parent would not allow their child to suffer needlessly.

JamesThomas

Beautifully said, Sid,

81

A SIMPLE EXPLANATION of why TIME TRAVEL doesn't work

by Terry in

jw
friends

energy and matter are neither created nor destroyed.. consequently, the building blocks of existence are actually finite parts.. to create things in "tomorrow" which are new, something has to be dismantled to leave spare parts for the new thing.. the old thing deteriorates, (dies) and the parts become the new thing.. time travel requires going to a place where all of today's parts are completely dismanteled and are being used (or not) to maintain yesterday/tomorrow.. ever see the film primer?.

said slightly differently...... you go into a room.

on the table is a box of dominoes.

JamesThomas

new boy:

What if there is no such thing as time! And everything is happening in the same instant! The the one and only eternal moment!

and we look as if through a straw at an infinite mural.

Who is it that would travel through time? Is there really an isolated-individual-entity separate enough from phenominal time/space existence that he or she could truly venture to move through it? Or is it all just a wondrous story preformed by, and for, the same unmoving consciousness which looks out every eye?

The unending ocean of Is-ness and Being watching bubbles within in itself, which are itself. There is no other; and so no real passing or travel.

Too many Bloody Marys, perhaps. (sounds British)

28

Bush on the Couch: Inside the Mind of the President by Dr. J. Frank

by frankiespeakin in

while spending time at the whitehouse official web site and reading and listening to gw bush's interviews, i started to see signs of mental illness in the president, such as paranoia, denial, megolamania, and detactment from the suffering he is causeing thousands of innocent people.. so i did some google searchs to see if any reputable psychologist have written anything about the pres.

behaivor.

i came up with a good amount of material here is just a small sample:.

JamesThomas

We agree again. Perhaps we should start dating.

It seem we all identify way to much with thoughts; especially religious and political colored ones. So if thoughts are too different we feel a total isolation and separation from that person; totally oblivious to our inherent and far more significant -- unity.

j

4

In search for truth...thinking freely or free thinking?

by NYCkid in

jw
friends

in a reading for one of my college classes, i came across a passage which i immediately thought i'd share with my friends on this board:.

"truth gains more even by the errors of one who, with due study and preparation, thinks for himself, than by the true opinions of those who only hold them because they do not suffer themselves to think...there have been, and may again be, great individual thinkers, in a general atmosphere of mental slavery.

but there never has been, nor ever will be, in that atmosphere, an intellectually active people.".

JamesThomas

Interesting quote, to which I agree, and don't.

Agree that in an atmosphere of slavery, the free will be rare.

Stuart gives credit to thinking, as the way out. However, it is thinking that creates the slavery in the first place, as we become dominated by narrow and suffocating patterns of "self" weaved within the already restrictive confines of the mind.

May I suggest -- a crazy as it may sound -- that it is not thinking or thought that is the road to freedom; but rather a quiescent mind, free of commentary and thought, which then brings forth acute nonjudgmental conscious-awareness of the reality of the present moment. Here, arises preexisting wisdom, understanding and freedom, far more vast than the mind could ever comprehend.

j

28

Bush on the Couch: Inside the Mind of the President by Dr. J. Frank

by frankiespeakin in

while spending time at the whitehouse official web site and reading and listening to gw bush's interviews, i started to see signs of mental illness in the president, such as paranoia, denial, megolamania, and detactment from the suffering he is causeing thousands of innocent people.. so i did some google searchs to see if any reputable psychologist have written anything about the pres.

behaivor.

i came up with a good amount of material here is just a small sample:.

JamesThomas

Yes, Frankie, hopefully you are correct.

I would like to add that personally there is no hatred here for anyone. In fact I feel certain that Bush thinks his course is the best for his country and the world. It is ill conceived cultures of the mind, dangerous patterns of thought, that I am addressing here.

j

28

Bush on the Couch: Inside the Mind of the President by Dr. J. Frank

by frankiespeakin in

while spending time at the whitehouse official web site and reading and listening to gw bush's interviews, i started to see signs of mental illness in the president, such as paranoia, denial, megolamania, and detactment from the suffering he is causeing thousands of innocent people.. so i did some google searchs to see if any reputable psychologist have written anything about the pres.

behaivor.

i came up with a good amount of material here is just a small sample:.

JamesThomas

Generally do not like quoting others as I've done already on this thread; but sometimes there are those whose expression is so perfectly said.

Here is another:

"He who joyfully marches to music in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would fully suffice. This disgrace to civilization should be done away with at once. Heroism at command, senseless brutality, deplorable love-of-country stance, how violently I hate all this, how despicable an ignorable war is; I would rather be torn to shreds than be a part of so base an action! It is my conviction that killing under the cloak of war is nothing but an act of murder." -- Albert Einstein

Edited to add:

The Iraq war was most certainly ignorable. The blood of everyone who has died and been injured in that war, stinks on George W. Bush, no less than if he had cut their throats himself. It is difficult to come up with actions more insane.

20

Mid-Life Crisis?

by jt stumbler in

i'm 42. tired in my career of 17 yrs.

taking anti-depressants because i can't deal with my jobs pressures.

my give a damn is busted but i have loved ones who depend on me.

JamesThomas

Try checking books on "changing careers" at Amazon.