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Oh come on, Garth. Penn and Teller? Okay, I'll leave that one alone. They're making the world think by hawking their "gawdammed bible" on a video. Right. Sorry, Penn's a big guy but he's not that big. :biglaugh:

Yes, it was well thought out and set up and presented. VPW did some hella hot meetings in his day too.

Who's zooming who, and why, I ask? I'm going to consult my Tom Cruise calendar for further clarification, hold the line....

Okay, George - I think "their" guy did make a very good point at the end of the presentation, namely that to hold every account of the bible to some macroscopic lens of interpretation can miss the meanings and purposes of what's written. Which brings me right back to where I started - if it means that I have to have some blue eyed 30-something doctor-but-call-me-Dude guy tell me what it really means, I'm probably not going to be able to sit still for it. I'm a wiggler.

Only two other comments really come to mind off the top of my head:

Else those of us who don't believe will scoff, and make comments about how you help prove our points by doing that......

Scoff? I would hate to make anyone who doesn't already believe...scoff, that's got to hurt. Hopefully I will do no more damage than I already have and the scoffing will be reduced proportionately, logic will reign and cooler, smarter and better coiffed heads will prevail.

Some of the unbelievers I know can tell of accounts that will drop your jaw.

I think we're getting a little full of ourselves, aren't we? I know I am. (*urp*) I'm going to go find my own unbeliever and give them a great big hug and a kiss right now. C'mere Garth, let me love you up. :biglaugh:

Sorry, I'll stop. I need some Tums. Water. Rest. My Invader Zim doll.

Edited by socks
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Oh, and BTW, if religion and Godly worship and all that are so vital to a good, healthy, fulfilling life and all, why is it that life expectancy was only 28 yrs. in the time of Christ and is in the mid-70s today?
because, for starters, that phrase "the time of christ" does NOT equal what you imply that it does

not to me, not to many

Have we gotten that much more holy, closer to God, over the centuries?

yes, and no, for more reasons you probably care to hear..

- for one: finding out what one means when they say "God" seems higher priority than premature blah blah

- another: the notion that "god" is some "thing" here or there does not cover all concepts of "god"

- and then there is all kinds of other stuff...

And all throught the Dark Ages - even though people were building cathedrals and attending mass and paying obeisance to The Almighty, nothing improved.
again, comparing apples and oranges. and its not that simple

but also, making a very naive assumption that nothing improved in any category whatsoever

or that the "dark ages" is some sort of monolithic singular event with one linear cause and effect event

besides, evolution is a fox trot affair. it rises in waves and leaps at times, often including periods of evolutionary regression, which provides oomph for more leaps

But come the renaissance, and a rebirth of scientific thought and inquiry, lo and behold our quality and length of life improves exponentially. Gosh, I wonder why that is?

and like ive said before...but you continue to ignore...rational rugged individualistic thought evolved from the limits of mythic family structures...but this new stage has its own limits, which has produced higher (more effective) structures, which also have their new limits

but overall, the earlier structures do remain vital, for reasons you often seem quite disinterested in.

but a lot of it has to do with healthy community behaviour, and healthy childlike behaviour

as they come through the increasing higher structures

(just as rational thought and behaviour gets more valuable as it comes through even higher structures (such as greater equality, more inclusive rights))

geo, i think yer a very smart guy.

most clear with yer intent, of the skeptical and cynical crowd

maybe try reading and thinking outside of your comfort zone or something

i repeat...not all mentioning of "god" is the same thing

though i will agree that the flat groupthink mythic family aspects of culture

and the flat narcissistic personal magic friend aspects of culture

are getting out of hand, and are clashing with a lot of flat conventional wisdom right now

(which has a lot to do with the limits of all parties involved, when they are flat)

like ive said all along

skepticism is a vital part of our overall being

i promote greater skepticism

but in a way that does not reduce "truth"

but rather expands it

i have never said skepticism is to be marginalized

i love a really sharp set of knives

Edited by sirguessalot
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Sirguessalot (my, but that name fits you well),

ha! yet most all that comes out of his mouth is "crap! crap! crap! crap! crap!"

who cant see the "poop" everywhere

the elephant is in the room, garth

and your posts are that room

so i am going to return the favor

and crap on you, too

...say "cheese"

(etc., etc., ad nauseum)

Chief, you DO need a 2 week vacation. Really! You do! ... Get a grip, ok? :dance: You say you are an atheist? Funny, you don't act like one.

Socks,

"Some of the unbelievers I know can tell of accounts that will drop your jaw."

I think we're getting a little full of ourselves, aren't we? I know I am.

Full of myself because of that point I made about some of the crap that happens to unbelievers? Tell you what. Take this lil experiment. Move to a small town where you KNOW nobody knows you. At all. For about 2 weeks. Play like you're an atheist. Get to know the locals there; be nice and all (wouldn't want to be like me now, would ya? ;) ) As you're getting to know them and they bring up "Where do you go to church" or they invite you to church, make sure that you tell them that you're an atheist, and that you don't believe in any mythical god and such, and come up with a clearly non-Christian reason why. Do it nicely, of course, but be honest and straight forward about being an atheist. (Remember, this is is a part to play; I know that you aren't an actual atheist)

The lessons you will learn and the experience you will go through will be eye opening, of that I am sure about. :blink: You will get responses ranging anywhere from people (condescendingly) offering to pray for your soul, to saying that you will burn in hell for not accepting Jesus, to angry looks and mutterings under people's breath, to not being able to land a job because of it, to even the distinct possibility of threats and even violence upon your person. (Yes Virginia, all of this has occured in this free land of ours, it really has) Ie., its something you won't soon forget.

And you blathely discard this as 'being full of myself'? ... Yah! And Clinton never lied either!

Oh wait! That's right. Only Christians get persecuted now, don't they? Why you can just see it in Sircomplainalot's posts, while me, Sudo and other 'infidels' poop on their parade by simply responding on this thread why we don't believe.

Like I said, you folks are just going to have to deal with us and our unbelief, cause we ain't going away.

Doncha just LUV us Bearers of Good Tidings!

:biglaugh:

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Chief, you DO need a 2 week vacation. Really! You do! ... Get a grip, ok? You say you are an atheist? Funny, you don't act like one.
ha. i AM coming back from a vacation, Chief.

and to participate in this thread, specifically

and btw...just because YOU dont understand me (or care to), doesnt make me crazy, dude

in fact, that is kind of a crazy way to be, imo

..."i dont undertand you, therefore you hafta get a grip for my sake..."

classic dodge to go with your lame advice

by simply responding on this thread why we don't believe.

nice try...slick...but you dont do fake being pious very well, either

"what? what? i was just simply saying...."

yeah...right

Like I said, you folks are just going to have to deal with us and our unbelief, cause we ain't going away.

thanks for clarifying your intentions

but your unbelief does NOT apply to every time religious language is invoked

and your opinion of religion does NOT cover every kind of religious dialogue

Edited by sirguessalot
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(as I read Sirrantalot's posts, that song of "Get Over It!" keeps humming in my mind)

Get over it

Get over it

All this whinin' and cryin' and pitchin' a fit

Get over it, get over it

B)

Anyway, looks like you don't know me either, yet you make some of the most outrageous and knee jerk claims about me I've seen yet.

Go back on vacation, pop some pills, listen to some Lawrence Welk, but in any event, ... Get a grip!

((shaking my head))

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then dodge distract evade...like a smeagol with some kind of obsession

no, i dont know you, garth

i am addressing your written behaviour

with my written behaviour

which is neither you nor i

but what comes out of us

all yer whining and crying and pitching a fit about religion and things that confuse you...

yes indeed

get over it

get over it

get over it

especially "it"

cuz you too, are the proud owner of a boundless heart, imo

you just havent unwrapped it all the way yet

and try picturing me saying this as an atheist, if it makes you feel better, and helps you see

Edited by sirguessalot
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Uuhhmmmm ... okay

(as a last resort to ease Sirguessalot's needless pain and anger from my so-called 'poop' posts, I offer him a :beer: .)

B)

I do have a question for you tho' to consider whilst you are enjoying the Stroh's, Why do you say that I'm dodging and distracting? From what? And please be as specific and non-poetic as you can please, cuz frankly guy, a lot of what you posted in my direction either didn't make sense, or it doesn't even begin to address the points I made. Or that Sudo made for that matter. And I ask that in all honesty.

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as a last resort to ease Sirguessalot's needless pain and anger from my so-called 'poop' posts, I offer him a
yep...clink, thank you

i like yer last resort a lot

i wish you would use it more often

lets make believe we are sharing a beer

:)

tho, i am curious how you decide whose pain is needful and whose is needless?

I do have a question for you tho' to consider whilst you are enjoying the Stroh's, Why do you say that I'm dodging and distracting? From what? And please be as specific and non-poetic as you can please, cuz frankly guy, a lot of what you posted in my direction either didn't make sense, or it doesn't even begin to address the points I made. Or that Sudo made for that matter. And I ask that in all honesty.

imo, an example of your distraction is when you bring something entirely new to the argument...outta the blue...without addressing whats already on the table..simply adding to the burden of the existing discourse

you dodged most all of the issues ive raised

you offered a distraction...a memory to convey something you seem to want me to do

(which is quite beside the overall point, i think)

i want to know why you want to write about having a beer, here?

what does that have to do with clay's thread?

and...is it possible that you have assumed and continue to assume things in error regarding the original nature of the thread?

can you pretend for a moment, that something might be more serious or complex to others than they are to you?

and give more respect to that?

in this public space?

i dont know how i can be clearer than that

not everyone has a problem reading what ive written

don't you wonder why that is?

with all your funny hmmmm? hmmm? hmmms?

i believe there IS such thing as harrassment

conscious or unconscious

its not always hard to miss

i am doing it now, in fact

but i have also been focusing on a very specific context

such as this forum discussion

i am not harrassing you in the name of evil atheism everywhere

thats not my gig at all

i also know i am henpecking you like yer momma and papa

it was a decision i made to be this way, here, now

i had to barf somewhere, too

but tried to keep it more closely related to why i felt i needed to barf in the first place

im actually trying to help UP-level the dialogue around here

without always having to run through a gauntlet of scopes and knives

i would prefer things to be more brotherlylike

but that would require a more open equal way of interacting

as a first measure, too

not the darwinian discourse that usually takes place

again

im not sure why its mostly not clear to you

but mostly clear to not only a few others

again...thanks for the clink

Edited by sirguessalot
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Now had it been said like this;

how can you not believe in..

in the dirty air you breath

in the life you have to live

in the achey breaky heart

?

i wonder if anyone would have said anything at all

why are the strengths attacked rather then strenghtened?

the weaknesses are easy to attack i suppose...

and probably should have said

how can one (instead of you) not believe in..

would that make it easier too?

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No CM, I don't think we're even talking the same language.

There's obviously a huge disconnect between what we say and what the other perceives (especially so with Mr. SGaL, whose verbose prose I NEVER understand).

Maybe we exist on different ethereal planes?

Looky, EVERYBODY with a moderately functioning brain believes that we have AIR. What's not to believe?

Likewise with life. We all have one, more or less. Where do you get the notion that there are some who DON'T? And, as was pointed out earlier, "the boundless heart" or "unbinding" a bound up one (would Metamucil help with that?) is meaningless blather. Very poetic, but it communicates nothing.

So, what I got out of your post (and I think others of a skeptical bent got as well) was simply another smear, another swipe at the way I think. "How can you NOT believe in the stuff that I do?" "Don't you have any heart?" "Has the Devil blinded you?" "Are you so out of touch with the important spiritual stuff all around you that you can't see what I do?" - That's what I read in you initial post. Was I so far off?

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1 air, 1 life, 1 heart multiplied

infinitey diverse and rich without boundaries

when i said the air you breath

what did you picture in your mind?

you can't see it

when i said the life you live

what did you picture in your mind?

i can't see it

when i said the boundless heart

who sees it?

how can ONE not believe in...

air is there believe it or not

your life is there wether i believe it or not

when you were born you didn't know you were breathing air

at 3 you probably understood a lot about air

still can't see it

the boundless heart is there

believe it or not

todd i'm just wingin on a prayer

don't let me hold you back...

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O.K., my last try...

"air is there believe it or not

your life is there wether i believe it or not"

Absolutely, and NOBODY is disputing that, near as I can tell. So why ask the question?

Have you ever even HEARD of anybody who doesn't believe in air? Or life? I guess I just don't get it.

It strikes me as just silly. Trying to equate invisible things to spiritual is a stretch as well. Air and life can still be detected with the five senses. The fact that you can't sense them [/i]visually is hardly profound. There's lots of things I can't smell, or hear, or touch, but I still believe in them, because they CAN be sensed. Bah, I on a fool's errand here, trying to reason with someone who seems bound and determined to reject any such...

And if you could explain what you mean by a "boundless heart", MAYBE we could discuss it.

As it stands, well, I've already explained my position on that clearly enough, I think.

There ya go, it's all yours from here on...

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I liked the Penn & Teller

Thing about Elvis and

The inconsistencies of the

Theologians, but I don't know

Whether that makes the

Theologians the ones that

Are wrong or right or the

Folks who believe them

I am sad however to learn

There are some who doubt

The legitimacy of the tooth fairy

I know that teeth have brought

Many in Sudo's profession

Much gain in the bank account

So I'll choose to believe

That by typing like this

Edited by Tom Strange
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ok, dont let me stop you guys from leaving this one, this time

but maybe this might help you/us line things up and figure em out a bit more

(ok...imagine i'm speaking with a sleek mellow feminine european crystal clear computer voice, if you will)

:mellow:

it could be said

that simple subtle things like air

have long been found to have values

that are simply and radically more good, more true, and more beautiful

than your persent personal beliefs and cultural/social threshholds will allow

...as they are being represented

here

now

correct me if im wrong,

but you seem to insist that we must conclude that air be only merely true

or only merely beautiful

or only merely good

to be sane

or rational

which is just another flavor of crazy

and that you seek to intervene and repair and otherwise affect serves a true as purpose as anything else

but your typical limited partial prescription for healing and well being does not work as well as you realize, (or are willing to admit),

nor does it seem to provide an explanation for every available perspective and state of mind as they are becoming known to humankind, in general

yours is more like a half of the story (and constantly getting less) yet claiming to tell the whole shebang

besides,

not everyone in playing candlyland needs or wants an anal-probe or poolhall banter

(both of which are always just another man's candyland, anyway)

it has long ago been proven that a greater sense of self-awareness and mutual respect provides more leverage for greater reaches of most lines of intellegence, in general

and...again...thank you for going away

because

others

and i

just

want

to

actually

really

truly

have

this

kind

of

public

con

ver

friggin

say

tion

(oops...crazy man voice slipped in a sec...back to the alien tour guide)

...conversation about a boundless heart, air...invisible things one can only feel

(unless one changes lenses, of course...then we also see it)

yes...it is true, some genuinely feel they have a right to talk about mere air

and the possible reasons people cant believe there might something more to air that might be worth talking about more

:blink:

Edited by sirguessalot
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Tell me, Strange Tom, why do you ask about LSD?

and...is it also fair for me to ask what kind of drugs you have done in your life?

or ask what drugs you might be on now?

i mean, are you simply curious?

i want to know why you ask?

i dont want to assume anything

which is why i am asking you to clarify

so i can answer you better

also, the topic of drugs and consciousness is an interesting one

maybe start another thread and invite me to it

i will tell you as much as i can

if you are more clear

more specific

besides, this

when was your period of heaviest acid use?

is not an honest question

but a loaded one

wherz the luv in that, man?

:spy:

help me see

why you see

that it has to do with

a boundless heart

Edited by sirguessalot
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I might be wrong - or dense - or just hopeful......buuuuuutt.......

It seems to me that this thread is a sort of "tag poetry" the type of thread that song writers and poets would like to post on - not a doctrinal thing, not a complaining about the way thing at all (Which is why I never posted on it -I'm not a poet - But I have been reading it.)

So lets stop straining at gnats about what a "boundless heart" might be.

I don't

know

Am I

Right?

Guys?

:)

Edited by doojable
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Am I

Right?

partially...

which is good, imo

seems to me more like an attempt at the art and science of play at self-inquiry via discourse

in just about every culture and tradition, old and new and newer

there are all kinds of simple and effective methods for subjective and inter-subjective exploration and discovery

where asking better and smarter questions is more effective than coming up with final answers

though answers also abound

some thoughts...try not to let the answers upset you too much

or take anything as seriously

stay curious

and get as specific as you want

"tag-poetry" is a fun way to put it, though

but it can and does go way way beyond that

higher, wider, greater span and depth of dialogue and value for the participants

So lets stop straining at gnats about what a "boundless heart" might be.

yes..and...also...

why not find a way to get good at straining all the gnats we can without taking ourselves too seriously? without shadow-boxing ourselves into the same circular arguments?

personally, i cant wait to get the to subject of a boundless heart

:P

btw....wise old owl...

just how many licks does it take to get to the center of a boundless heart?

1 (lick...)

2 (lick...)

3 (crunch!)

hmmm

seems to be 3

or so

Edited by sirguessalot
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