Originally posted by ThirdEyeofHorus
reply to post by NeverSleepingEyes
Well guy from Belgium you twisted the whole concept. Maybe it's just a language barrier? I'd like to hear your ideas on this prayer and experiment if
you can without resorting to criticism.
Here's what you said to another poster too
You are indeed entitled to believe in the fairy tale of your choice
So tell me, were you judging that person or no?
and then there was this
What do I have to lose by praying? My contact with reality, maybe
Spoken like a true atheist. Yes we all are entitled to our opinions aren't we?
Peace and sorry to upset you. I mean it, because there's been a lot of bashing on this thread when the intent was really to send healing.
(...)
here we go again...
"Well guy from Belgium"
that's pretty accurate.
"you twisted the whole concept."
I didn't. Proof to me that I'm wrong in this assumption.
"Maybe it's just a language barrier?"
quite possible. Wanna continue in Dutch, giving me the advantage of expressing myself in my mother tongue? Or do you prefer to continue to play a home
match?
"I'd like to hear your ideas on this prayer and experiment if you can without resorting to criticism."
Ah, a new rule in the game: I can participate if I confirm to your rule, leaving out "criticism".
Well, I won't. I comply to the rules of this site, since they make sense. I won't comply to yours because it lacks sense. Criticism is good.
My ideas on prayer:
- PROOF to me that spreading trembling air has divine qualities?
- prayer is like mental self-abuse
- the time wasted on uttering nonsense to the imaginary friend could be better spent studying reality, who much discomfort that brings you.
My ideas on the "experiment" are being addressed in the other posts so I'm not going to repeat in full detail:
this experiment was never replicated by other researchers and thus proves NOTHING. The guy who came up with it made a nice buck, because a lot of
silly people love this bull#. But hey, a lot of people think Justin Bieber is related to music.
"So tell me, were you judging that person or no? "
No I wasn't judging a person. I wasn't even cynical: everyone is free to believe whatever s/he prefers.
However, there's a difference between "being entitled to believe" and "having a license to spread whatever it is you belief in, presenting it as
FACT"
"Yes we all are entitled to our opinions aren't we?"
This is a difficult one. At first sight of course the answer is "yes".
The thing is, an opinion requires effort to get familiar with FACTS,
and no, FACTS are not in that book those believers base their lives upon.
The FACTS about those religious texts are that they are produced...
-... by humans who CLAIM to have received their manipulative and dogmatic messages directly tru their special P2P network with the god they like,
... thereby making us belief they KNOW stuff we can't know since we don't have the big g's email address
... thereby establishing a position of power
... serving political purposes
In the case of those christians those books were produced in the Near-east, by tribal representatives, who construct legitimation for whatever it was
they wanted to establish.
Next, these texts - written in obscure languages I don't understand - were carefully edited, translated and malformed in such a way that they keep on
legitimating the # they need it for.
Next, an institution pops up, searching for a way to do what every institution does: trying to grow in power and to establish itself for eternity.
As a consequence, the whole process started again: selecting and editing (oh no, we don't want texts that reflect positions of power taken by women!
you know what, let's invent some utter # about Eve, disguising our sexual anguish by raping an old symbol (turning the snake into satan, boy do these
guys have imagination).
After WW II traditional institutions started to collapse, losing their power to organize and mobilize people and thereby offering them some kind of
comfort (most people seem to prefer being part of an illusion, instead of facing the existential isolation and lack of certainty. I love being
there.)
Furthermore, scientific progress resulted in a further decline of "things we believed were true", leaving most of us with an even bigger feeling of
disorientation. (I do admit that at the moment science takes a position I (as a scientist) feel wrong. But than again the method science uses
guarantees the temporary nature of such a position.)
As a result, there grew space for our silly friends, the New Agers, who managed to mix the best of all bull#, render it acceptable for local markets
("hey, we live in a fast society, so why not organizing a course: get enlightenment in 6 weeks - or money back"!) and for the right audiences: those
bored middle class folks who fear thinking for themselves but luckily have the money to spend on the latest #. Yoga for cats, anyone?
So, if people base their opinion on this kind of stuff, I tend to disregard their opinion totally. They do whatever makes them happy, as long as they
keep the # to themselves and stop trying to force the rest of the world to join them. And the stuff I feel is repulsive is when those beliefs mix with
politics: I don't want any law to be based on a fraud. At best, they should be based on temporary agreement of a majority.
You don't ask a 4 years old to explain quantum reality, do you? Yet you don't blame the child for having "stupid" ideas, you do whatever you can to
give that child the means to grow up and start thinking for her/him-self. Well, why should I value the opinion of people who prefer to stick to the
mental age of a child? Needing the big daddy so they can escape taking responsibility ?
"Peace and sorry to upset you. I mean it"
Appreciated, but don't worry about me: I'm not upset, I like these things. Just do not pretend to know me and base statements about me on that. That,
you see, pisses me off.
edit on 2-4-2011 by NeverSleepingEyes because: forgot to answer the first question
edit on 2-4-2011
by NeverSleepingEyes because: cleaning malformed rendering