I didn't see anybody tormenting anyone about being gay, I even told Soren not to be embarrassed about it.

Amadd wrote on Sep 1^st, 2009 at 3:32pm:




And, is this life real?

All of this too, could all be an hallucination.            




Amadd,

We all believe that we know what is real.

But do we?                  





Amadd,

We have both explored this topic before.....

All Aboard the Athiest bus ..
http://www.ozpolitic.com/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1225016818/10#10i

mantra wrote on Sep 1^st, 2009 at 1:29pm:



It's probably like farting. Skippy, possibly harbouring latent homo tendencies, deflects by shouting out at others, hoping to draw attention away from himself, all the while having a little frisson every time he types or thinks naughty things. He certainly seems more familiar with what he says is gay slang than anyone else.  

He probably picked me becaue he can't argue with anything I say. It's easier for him to regress to his schoolboy self. He is arrogantly ignorant, like the bullies who probably gave him hell or as the bully that he himself may have been. But as in every such case, it is a cover up of weakness, stupidity and of fear that comes from weakness and stupidity. To shout gay or some such non sequitor randomly and then to grin and sneer - any idiot can do that. He mistakes it for, or deploys it instead of, thought and erudition. He is certainly too thick to recognise the face of the Danish man on my icon and even if I told him, he would not have a clue about the man.

So he's shouting gay becausse he is a bit flushed at the thought himself and most importantly, because he is too thick to think of anything new since his schooldays. He is probably still typing most of his posts with one hand.

Gotta love men's fear of being gay.
The most fearful often have the odd homosexual thought that they can't deal with. But most men love their fantasies about lesbian women.
..not there's anything wrong with that.

mantra wrote on Sep 1^st, 2009 at 1:29pm:


I read about it somewhere. Don't take this for gospel, but apparently those who are most homophobic are usually unsure about their own sexuality - in other words, they have gay tendencies themselves and are petrified of being aroused.

I can't remember the source, but it was part of a psych class I was in once.

The subject of hearing voices, especially by those who are religious needs to be treated with a certain respect and sensitivity.

Many people from a Christian background  (particularly evangelicals) do experience voices.

My own view is that the brain is a very plastic organ. What we believe reinforces how we think. We all tend to instill and reinforce personal attitudes and beliefs, regardless of religious persuasion.  

I started a thread a couple of years ago about the objective of comparing notes with ex Christians over at the Brights forum. I deliberately avoided any ridicule or trivialisation of the subject, as it was a very emotional issue for many people. I think I managed to get a lot of people to open up and talk about these things. All too often, discussions on this subject degenerate into mockery (on both sides).  

My conclusion is that regardless of different religions, we're not really very different at all. We all experience things that are not totally logical. That's a consequence of being organic human beings and not robotic computer based machines.

Here is the link:

http://www.the-brights.net/forums/forum/index.php?showtopic=6797

Yadda wrote on Sep 3^rd, 2009 at 12:21pm:


Yes Yadda.  What  you are saying is a universal truth, shared by most  major religions and indeed many philosophies. I tend to talk in terms of the memes of cognitive psychology

Another example is in the Daodejing (Tao Te Ching), one of the central texts of Daoism. Basically it goes further than that:

Tao literally means "path" or "way" and can figuratively mean "essential nature", "destiny", "principle", or "true path". The philosophical and religious "Tao" is infinite, without limitation. One view states that the paradoxical opening is intended to prepare the reader for teachings about the unteachable Tao. Tao is believed to be transcendent, indistinct and without form. Hence, it cannot be named or categorized. Even the word "Tao" can be considered a dangerous temptation to make Tao a limiting "name".

So as soon as we name something - put it into words, we are already distorting the perfect dao/universe/path.

Think of a word as a fly fishing line thrown into a smooth millpond. The effect of the fly hitting the surface gently is to cause a system of ever more complex patterns of interference.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Do I honestly think it's intentional? No - not entirely. The way I look at life is that it is the consequence of an ordered universe. The only universe that can support life is one where all the physical constants and laws permit it.  (All the ducks are in a row)

To contemplate existence in another universe which is less aligned wouldn't work, because we wouldn't be there to discuss such matters.

But hey, I'm quite happy to sit and chat while I cast my fishing line into the millpond of the universe with you and to be amazed by the ripples that ensue. You see something different from me - and I find it interesting, even if I don't see things quite the same way as you.  

Neither of us may catch any fish, but chatting and making the best of life is what matters to me.