Moderators: Three Stars, dagny, pfim, netwolf
Kraftster wrote:It took me a long time to not be paralyzed with fear when thinking about the nothingness that likely awaits us all after death (kind of awkard to say that since we don't "experience" the nothingness). I think its the scariest thought imaginable.
shmenguin wrote:it's gonna be tricky with my future kids. my wife is a catholic, and i'm an athiest who doesn't lie when asked straightforward questions. i don't mind raising my kids catholic, and i'll accompany them to church, but if i get some questions from a 6 year old about heaven and jesus and whatever other supernatural business is brought up in their day-to-day life, i don't know how i'm going to answer. it'll be a lot of work.
Kraftster wrote:shmenguin wrote:it's gonna be tricky with my future kids. my wife is a catholic, and i'm an athiest who doesn't lie when asked straightforward questions. i don't mind raising my kids catholic, and i'll accompany them to church, but if i get some questions from a 6 year old about heaven and jesus and whatever other supernatural business is brought up in their day-to-day life, i don't know how i'm going to answer. it'll be a lot of work.
Same - wife is episcopalian and I'm with you. I won't be able to lie to my daughter, but I am happy to discuss the various views on the meaning of human existence with her. If she ultimately finds as much meaning in life from religion as I feel I have from whatever you'd call what I think, that's be great, and I'd look forward to the spirited debates
shmenguin wrote:Kraftster wrote:It took me a long time to not be paralyzed with fear when thinking about the nothingness that likely awaits us all after death (kind of awkard to say that since we don't "experience" the nothingness). I think its the scariest thought imaginable.
the way i look at the infinite abyss of nothingness is this. death is simply a permanent loss of consciousness. we lose consciousness literally every day. the only difference between 8 hours of unconsciousness and an eternity is how you perceive it after you wake up. while it's happening, you don't care about anything.
i guess that might make death MORE scary for some, but the finite nature of this perspective of the seemingly infinite is more soothing to me.
Willie Kool wrote:shmenguin wrote:Kraftster wrote:It took me a long time to not be paralyzed with fear when thinking about the nothingness that likely awaits us all after death (kind of awkard to say that since we don't "experience" the nothingness). I think its the scariest thought imaginable.
the way i look at the infinite abyss of nothingness is this. death is simply a permanent loss of consciousness. we lose consciousness literally every day. the only difference between 8 hours of unconsciousness and an eternity is how you perceive it after you wake up. while it's happening, you don't care about anything.
i guess that might make death MORE scary for some, but the finite nature of this perspective of the seemingly infinite is more soothing to me.
Was just writing a very similar reply - but you said it better.
doublem wrote:Until you see a death first hand and deal with the aftermath of all that, I'm not really sure you can understand it. I used to come into these threads and say things, but nothing can really prepare you for the sudden loss of life.
doublem wrote:Until you see a death first hand and deal with the aftermath of all that, I'm not really sure you can understand it. I used to come into these threads and say things, but nothing can really prepare you for the sudden loss of life.
The great argument against the anarchists has always been that of the esteemed Thomas Hobbes: That humans are brute beasts, and that left to their own devices, they will break, steal, rape and murder in a never-ending orgy of death.
Anarchists always presented examples of cooperation to counter Hobbes, but images of bloody fear sell much better than images of cooperative workers. And beside, every powerful and authoritative voice on the planet says Hobbes is right, and not many people would dare cross them.
So, most people became comfortable in their conclusion that, while the anarchist next door was a nice guy, his ideas could never work in the real world.
Last week, however, science lined up on the side of the anarchists. On January 16th, the Medical University of Vienna released a serious scientific study that produced this headline:
People Behave Socially and 'Well' Even Without Rules
Millions of human interactions were assessed during the study which included actions such as communication, founding and ending friendships, trading goods, sleeping, moving, however also starting hostilities, attacks and punishment. The game does not suggest any rules and everyone can live with their avatar (i.e. with their "game character" in the virtual world) as they choose. "And the result of this is not anarchy," says Thurner. "The participants organise themselves as a social group with good intents. Almost all the actions are positive."
Kraftster wrote:“The struggle itself…is enough to fill a man’s heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy.”
Still one of the most accurate and profound statements I've ever read.
Kraftster wrote:"Living with the voluntary consciousness of death, the heroic individual can choose to despair or to make a Kierkegaardian leap and trust in the sacrosanct vitality of the cosmos, in the unknown god of life whose mysterious purpose is expressed in the overwhelming drama of cosmic evolution."
Starting to read Denial of Death. Really like that quote. Reminds me a lot of the Camus quote I popped in here to post a while ago.
One sacrament are consecrate, the earth Not we alone hath passions hymeneal, The yellow buttercups that shake for mirth At daybreak know a pleasure not less real Than we do, when in some fresh-blossoming wood We draw the spring into our hearts, and feel that life is good. . . .
Is the light vanished from our golden sun, Or is this daedal-fashioned earth less fair, That we are nature's heritors, and one With every pulse of life that beats the air?Rather new suns across the sky shall pass, New splendour come unto the flower, new glory to the grass.
And we two lovers shall not sit afar, Critics of nature, but the joyous sea Shall be our raiment, and the bearded star Shoot arrows at our pleasure! We shall be Part of the mighty universal whole, And through all Aeons mix and mingle with the Kosmic Soul!
We shall be notes in that great Symphony Whose cadence circles through the rhythmic spheres, And all the live World's throbbing heart shall be One with our heart, the stealthy creeping years Have lost their terrors now, we shall not die, The Universe itself shall be our Immortality!
(Panthea, Oscar Wilde)
Benny Fitz wrote:would you look at it as unlocking your true orientation?
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 4 guests