Considering I often think I’m just a nuisance around here,
Thank you.
If I don’t respond to a post of your’s CC, it’s not that I don’t care about it, it’s usually that it’s a lot to a absorb and I want to spend some time thinking about it before responding. Then I get sucked into an argument with some drug addict or something.
If I don’t respond to a particular post of yours, CC, it is probably, usually, because I think that it is sufficient to itself without further comment or questions.
"As for acceptance of death, I’m 64 and i watched my mom into her 90s watching her own body fail with no hope of reprieve, it’s like lets get there already – she was ready for death and the long sleep – I fully relate with what Patrick wrote. We get old and worn out, when sleep becomes more appealing that getting up and around, then you know your turn is about up. It’s okay."The inevitability and finality of death is tough to take. The idea that I wasn't aware of life before I was born and won't be aware of it after I'm dead, is pretty poor consolation in my mind.
Since we don’t experience anything while dead, the fact we can’t be unhappy takes the sting out of death for some. I see it from the other angle: I won’t be happy ever again. They’re different sides of the same coin but I can’t help but look at it this way.
I think that if I didn’t have kids and had done more with my life I wouldn’t be as anxious. Might be time to say “screw retirement” and spend the little money we have doing stuff with the kids (young adults now).
Holmes this thread is about cosmic jokes. That up there is a human joke on ourselves.
"His eternal power and divine nature–have been clearly seen,being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. …
Been clearly seen and understood by whom? Regular primitive humans who were busy trying to figure out how to survive and thrive. Seriously? Do you not recognize that we humans are dominated by our inner drive to survive and prosper? How do we get outside of ourselves enough to clearly view some “divine” nature? We don’t even have empathy for other humans most the time, how can we presume to appreciate the full breath of nature and the universe, let alone god?
What the heck is the “divine”?
How can a human know an eternal god - when most don’t even have the hardware to be capable of appreciating our planet’s long evolution. Mind you, scale Earth’s history to 24 hours and we human’s have been around for 4-5 seconds - where’s your sense of humility in the face of the real universe and whatever God might be behind it? Do you really think those limited desert people with their fraction of the knowledge or appreciation for life’s secrets that we have gained through science - had the wherewithal to comprehend universal eternal divinity. The conceit is amazing.
I’m asking you questions - why must you dodge them by disappearing into your fantasy world? Why can’t you answer any simple questions?
“Well know piece of scripture” so what?
You don’t think I know what it is? Why is that supposed to impress me?
It says nothing of substance.
It’s an exercise in self delusion - why are you trying to imply that mumbo-jumbo comes from God’s Mind???
How can a petty self-serving human (which fundamentally all of us are, biology and all that) know an eternal god?
Stop the whining and dumping your head trip onto me. You pretend to be discussion science but want to slip in scripture. FU. Why shouldn’t I have fun and point out the inanity in that scripture.
And what’s your scripture telling us? ‘neither did they glorified God’ - so wows be to them. You joker. Your sacred texts are nothing more than the writings of ancient tribal folks who were stuck slaving away or trekking over deserts all their lives. What do they know about the universe or time or god, beyond their very very limited experiences (environment) that others can’t arrive at. There’s nothing special or magical or important about that vailed warning. So I took the time to make that clear.
So Holmes, since you liked that scripture enough to share - how about explaining it from your perspective?
Care to describe your relationship with this supposed “God” that the ancient tribal text called the Holy Bible writes about?
I’m curious, do you believe in a judgement day after death and an eternal life in heaven for the chosen?
Just trying to get to know you better.
You could even have some fun with the heathens and try to explain your inside joke.
At least I do my damned to explain where I’m coming from and what it is and why I stand behind it.
I even invite intellectual challenges rather than run from them.
Sherlock Holmes said:
For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities–his eternal power and divine nature–have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.
Romans 1.
Then, when questions were asked based on that post, he posted:
I merely quote a well known piece of scripture and you begin to froth at the mouth and become highly emotional, please calm down.and,
I just quoted it, nothing more. I am not dodging anything, you did ask a stream questions each of which could be a forum topic in their own right but you didn’t ask those questions because you wanted an answer.They were I think rhetorical, intended to discredit me (“where’s your sense of humility”, “The conceit is amazing”) by conveying an impression about me purely based on the fact that I quoted a scripture. I thought the scripture poignant given the topic and some of the preceding posts, it was posted in a light hearted but thought provoking sense.
Once again, get over yourself.
Posting random Bible quotes is an odd way to participate in a forum.
On a completely unrelated note, is it possible for anyone so dense that they don’t know how constant feigned erudition and willful ignorance can drive even the most gentle and patient people to react angrily?
Personally, I find it impossible to believe, and feel people like that are working hard a martyring themselves by intentionally creating an environment where they are rejected purely due to their nastiness, but that they will twist to their purpose by crying they were unjustly censored or picked-on.
To reiterate, this is merely a random question and should in no way be interpreted as a commentary on anyone on these forums, especially this thread.
"But I did not get angry with him."Ha! You do have a sense of humour!
I wish we could have an actual conversation with you. Unfortunately that horse got out of the barn (and then the barn torched and the horse killed) ages ago, but it is still an interesting idea to think about (kinda like me wishing I could win the lottery but never buying tickets).
"I don’t see him that way, but that’s just me."Ya right. I'm sure you're just an innocent seeker of knowledge who everyone misunderstands. You know that's not true, and you know we know that's not true.
(kinda like me wishing I could win the lottery but never buying tickets).Oh yeah - but think of how much money you've saved by not buying losing lottery tickets. At least that's what I tell myself :-)
“we” perhaps it comes back to that scientific consensus thing. Discussing evolution, I often us “we know” because the facts are pretty well understood by those who care to learn about it. I have been convince by those facts, so it would seem silly for me to use the “I know” when it’s the lessons of others that have taught me what I know.
Sort like a salesperson constantly talking about “my” stock - when he’s just a dang employee and has had nothing to do with the merchandise purchasing or ownership.
Here’s some great merchandise I just got in. BS.
Here’s some great merchandise we just got in. Sounds way more proper to me.
Back to scripture
Lets not forget it was a silly quote - Holmes thinks it profound but can’t explain why,
so off into Distraction Land we hop yet again.
"Personally I see a set of individuals, I am not debating a group, you may feel some camaraderie with this or that person on certain issues but that’s a subjective thing, there is no “us” and “them” here."I am sorry if anyone here is upset that I used "we" when mentioning how some people seem to have a similar problem communicating with one other person on here. My assumption when seeing a number of people say the same thing to the same person and get the same response, was that we were having the same experience. My bad if you were all actually satisfied with your experience in spite of everything you posted.
"Oh yeah – but think of how much money you’ve saved by not buying losing lottery tickets. At least that’s what I tell myself ."That's what I tell myself too. "Vegas was built by losers", is not an exaggeration. Same goes for the winner of a lottery.
If playing the lottery was fun I might buy a ticket, but I get no satisfaction in donating money to someone I don’t know because they also bought a ticket.
My grandpa bought $20 worth of tickets every week from the early-80’s until he passed away in 2011. He never won more than $300 and I have no idea his total winnings, but there’s no way he won more than a total of more than $2000. He spend around $30,000. There are guys I’ve worked with who spent far more than my grandpa every week and never won either.
I know of no winners and know no one who knows someone who’s won. Do any of you know a big winner?
I know a lot of people who claim to have won big , but little evidence. Others claim to break even, but casino odds will tell you that you can’t break even for long. The odds are always in favor of the house, no matter how many people tell you they have a “system”. The real odds are that gamblers lie.
It’s more important what people who believe there is not one life but no life at all, since when you die you have never been, essentially and nothing is. I believe that, and I am terrified of it at odd moments. I was terrified at 12 for a long time and thought about it deeply. When I was 18 once I thought about it till dawn but when the blackbirds sang, something pressed me down to sleep. Therefore I believe in blackbirds 
Not that I think I won’t die, because of that experience, but I have a love to live until I do, of everything I can love, though that might not make sense. In other words, our drives drive us on. Weak drives in someone must be pitied, but what they tell us is none the less true. We come from nothing and to nothing we go.
The trouble is that we are using our 3D mind to validate the great universe beyond.
We are using our one tenth conscious to supersede the nine tenths sub conscious. It cannot be done and what flies back is the word ‘joke’
Why does mankind think that they are the jurisdiction of the universe?
Coming back to the original post. I really like it. I wonder why we think we’re somehow different from the stuff of the universe? Why is that in our heads - cultural probably? A more straightforward expression of the OP is from Carl Sagan, paraphrasing - We are (just one of) the ways the universe thinks about itself.