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Maxrebo
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10 Apr 2008, 9:11 pm

thanks slowmutant cool your canadian, because I am french canadian and lakota sioux that us new englanders prefer logic over superstion they are barely any scientologists and pentocostals are a fringe group up here. General custer never stood a chance


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Pixel8
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11 Apr 2008, 5:35 pm

I mentioned Taoism, but it's not a religion it's just a philosophy
I think organized religion makes people cynical about anything spiritual
and they naturally rebel and this often leads them into an empty materialistic alternative.
In the "Tao de Jing" Lao Tsu said this:

Throw away holiness and wisdom,
and people will be a hundred times happier.
Throw away morality and justice,
and people will do the right thing.
Throw away industry and profit,
and there won't be any thieves.

and also

1. THE EMBODIMENT OF TAO
Even the finest teaching is not the Tao itself.
Even the finest name is insufficient to define it.
Without words, the Tao can be experienced,
and without a name, it can be known.

To conduct one's life according to the Tao,
is to conduct one's life without regrets;
to realize that potential within oneself
which is of benefit to all.

Though words or names are not required
to live one's life this way,
to describe it, words and names are used,
that we might better clarify
the way of which we speak,
without confusing it with other ways
in which an individual might choose to live.

Through knowledge, intellectual thought and words,
the manifestations of the Tao are known,
but without such intellectual intent
we might experience the Tao itself.

Both knowledge and experience are real,
but reality has many forms,
which seem to cause complexity.

By using the means appropriate,
we extend ourselves beyond
the barriers of such complexity,
and so experience the Tao.

Another translation says it another way:

1
The tao that can be told
is not the eternal Tao
The name that can be named
is not the eternal Name.

The unnamable is the eternally real.
Naming is the origin
of all particular things.

Free from desire, you realize the mystery.
Caught in desire, you see only the manifestations.

Yet mystery and manifestations
arise from the same source.
This source is called darkness.

Darkness within darkness.
The gateway to all understanding.

I found this helpful, I hope this is helpful to you too.



Last edited by Pixel8 on 11 Apr 2008, 5:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Greyhound
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11 Apr 2008, 5:38 pm

I believe in the God of the Bible.

I don't know why I am who/what I am, but I will serve God.


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Odin
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11 Apr 2008, 9:01 pm

Pixel8 wrote:
I mentioned Taoism, but it's not a religion it's just a philosophy
I think organized religion makes people cynical about anything spiritual
and they naturally rebel and this often leads them into an empty materialistic alternative.


Materialism isn't "spiritually empty," that an anti-atheist BS meme.

http://www.naturalism.org/spiritua1.htm


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slowmutant
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12 Apr 2008, 6:27 am

Materialism not spiritually empty? Isn't that a very good way of describing materialism? Worshipping Mammon? Or maybe materialist spirituality is the deification of earthly pleasures. BTW, there's an awful lot of anti-religion memes floating around on this board. WTF is meme? :?



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12 Apr 2008, 7:09 am

I've always been atheistic. In the literal sense. Granting that few people bother to trace the etymology, I actually wrote this up recently to overexplain it: http://newsofthestoopid.com/content/view/61/2

For the tl;dr crowd: I'm without theism. Possibly because, by the time I first heard about deities, I was too old to believe in things like Santa Claus. I remain this way because I have yet to see any evidence of deities, souls, design, et cetera; and, obviously, if any such evidence is ever discovered, the big hint'll be that someone's got the Nobel for proving it.

That said: it would be neat if deities were discovered to exist in fact. And probably to dissect one and work out what it had evolved from.


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slowmutant
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12 Apr 2008, 7:24 am

Gremlin wrote:
I've always been atheistic. In the literal sense. Granting that few people bother to trace the etymology, I actually wrote this up recently to overexplain it: http://newsofthestoopid.com/content/view/61/2

For the tl;dr crowd: I'm without theism. Possibly because, by the time I first heard about deities, I was too old to believe in things like Santa Claus. I remain this way because I have yet to see any evidence of deities, souls, design, et cetera; and, obviously, if any such evidence is ever discovered, the big hint'll be that someone's got the Nobel for proving it.

That said: it would be neat if deities were discovered to exist in fact. And probably to dissect one and work out what it had evolved from.


You believe in Odin? Do you have photos of Odin's dissected remains? Why don't we share some crayons.



slowmutant
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12 Apr 2008, 7:27 am

Greyhound wrote:
I believe in the God of the Bible.

I don't know why I am who/what I am, but I will serve God.


As will I.



Chibi_Neko
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12 Apr 2008, 10:29 am

I am Pagan. I am sure that the god of christans exist, we just don't get a long very well.
In Paganism, autistics and AS and the most powerfull magick users and abilites to see and speak to spirits.


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slowmutant
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12 Apr 2008, 11:24 am

Chibi_Neko wrote:
I am Pagan. I am sure that the god of christans exist, we just don't get a long very well.
In Paganism, autistics and AS and the most powerfull magick users and abilites to see and speak to spirits.


That's cool. I respect your pagan beliefs. :thumleft:



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13 Apr 2008, 1:48 am

I'm an agnostic, mostly because i'm disgusted with organized religion and also because I feel there's something up there, but it isn't angels and white light like my Catholic upbringing led me to believe. I'd love to believe in God, but it's too illogical. I however, do not critique religion and look down upon people who practice religion its their right. I flirted with Wicca for a while and respect their belief system (I kinda have to, considering my girlfriend - and several close friends - are). I also jokingly say I worship the Sun, because unlike some gods, i can see it (it's an old George Carlin routine).


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can_o_worms
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14 Apr 2008, 1:13 am

slowmutant wrote:
Jellybean wrote:
I used to be a Roman Catholic but I didn't like some of the bizarre 'rules'. Also stopped beliving in God after going through my Granny's death, 4 years of non-stop bullying and 8 years of abuse from my father.


I'm sorry to hear about your troubles, friend. For what it's worth, God never promised us a perfect life or a perfect world. A lot of folks who go through tragedy and loss end up with a stronger faith in God.


that is the best scam of all "god never promised us a rose garden, but if he wanted to, he could stop all the suffering, but he doesn't want to and we are warned it could get worse if we don't shape up."

would you buy a car under those conditions?



slowmutant
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14 Apr 2008, 1:32 am

can_o_worms wrote:
slowmutant wrote:
Jellybean wrote:
I used to be a Roman Catholic but I didn't like some of the bizarre 'rules'. Also stopped beliving in God after going through my Granny's death, 4 years of non-stop bullying and 8 years of abuse from my father.


I'm sorry to hear about your troubles, friend. For what it's worth, God never promised us a perfect life or a perfect world. A lot of folks who go through tragedy and loss end up with a stronger faith in God.


that is the best scam of all "god never promised us a rose garden, but if he wanted to, he could stop all the suffering, but he doesn't want to and we are warned it could get worse if we don't shape up."

would you buy a car under those conditions?


No, but I might re-evaluate my life. I might shape up and try looking on the positive side of things, and everyone can do that if they choose to. This world seems like a scam only if you believe it should've been perfect all along. Maybe "stopping all suffering" is up to us and not entirely up to God. The way I see it, a suffering world is God's way of calling us into action.



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14 Apr 2008, 3:40 am

can_o_worms wrote:
slowmutant wrote:
Jellybean wrote:
I used to be a Roman Catholic but I didn't like some of the bizarre 'rules'. Also stopped beliving in God after going through my Granny's death, 4 years of non-stop bullying and 8 years of abuse from my father.


I'm sorry to hear about your troubles, friend. For what it's worth, God never promised us a perfect life or a perfect world. A lot of folks who go through tragedy and loss end up with a stronger faith in God.


that is the best scam of all "god never promised us a rose garden, but if he wanted to, he could stop all the suffering, but he doesn't want to and we are warned it could get worse if we don't shape up."

would you buy a car under those conditions?

No - I can't drive a rose bed :lol:


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LadyM
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14 Apr 2008, 3:46 am

Atheist here as well.



velodog
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14 Apr 2008, 8:23 am

Well Bekkles, this thread you started has got some longevity to it. Maybe it can go into May. Or even Summer.