dystopian
Veteran Member
That's circular reasoning.
What.
Are you just throwing terms around for the hell of it?
Stating that it doesn't matter how you define the god concept for the purposes of this debate because my argument will remain the same is not circular reasoning. Do you think it's circular reasoning to point out to the guy who thinks his car can fly if he puts in scented bath oil that it doesn't matter WHAT kind of oil he puts in the car, it's never going to fly? Because that's essentially what I've told you. I take issue with the core assumptions underlining what you're saying; core assumptions that are wrong no matter how much you change about the things that follow from them.
The point is to manipulate ourselves emotionally. We want to get away from intellectualising things. That's the whole point. So watching a documentary instead would have the exact opposite effect than the one I want.
Then go watch the movie again. Oh wait, that's not 'functional'. But wait a minute, there are plenty of documentaries that manipulate emotions. So just go watch those instead. Or you know, manipulate your emotions by asking an actor to pick a fight with you or something, whatever.
Or, realize that I brought the movie/documentary up as a way to point out that you can get the results you're looking for in any number of creative ways, instead of the specific ways you should do it.
Now, if you want a REALLY effective way to motivate yourself to do things, get yourself a shock-collar and find something that you really really enjoy. Aversion therapy! Reward therapy! Much more effective than religion at a fraction of the effort. Order now, and we'll throw in a free electroplay fetish.
...ok... now I think you're trolling me.
No, you were literally repeating my own argument; you just tried applying it elsewhere without realizing that you were proving an earlier point I made that you disagreed with.
Completely irrelevant.
Again, you seem to be just throwing things around without any regard for context. Whether or not religion/syntheism is actually an effective (or even moreso) way to do the things you say you want it to do is not irrelevant, it's the central fucking point we're arguing about.
I'm actually going to back-track here. The Syntheistic project isn't to take existing religions and strip away god. It's to create a wholly new religion. Each Syntheist co-creates it in whatever way they want. I just described what it is I'm doing. Because it works for me. Other Syntheists do it in completely different ways.
Yes, you've mentioned this. You're not doing anything new or special. And again, my argument doesn't change because the point of contention isn't that you're taking existing religions and stripping things away... it's that you're taking religion *at all*. It's an absurd thing to do. It's unnecessary. It convolutes things.
You're clearly reading these text like a fundamentalist would. I'm not a fundamentalist. So neither is my interpretation of religious holy texts.
Which again, has nothing whatsoever to do with my argument and doesn't change anything. It doesn't matter HOW you read the text; the point is that the text is at *best*, completely pointless. I don't really care *how* you interpret these texts. Let me try to break it down as simplistically as I can:
Imagine there's two car mechanics working on two different units of the same model of car with the same defect.
Mechanic A's process of determining the problem and fixing the car is to 1) open the hood, 2) looking to see if everything is in order, and upon seeing that the engine is missing a plug, 3) inserts said plug and thereby fixes the problem.
Mechanic B's process of determining the problem and fixing the car is to 1) spins around three times, 2) says 'please let me fix this car' three times, 3) open the hood, 4) looking to see if everything is in order, and upon seeing that the engine is missing a plug, 5) inserts said plug and thereby fixes the problem.
What I'm saying is that Mechanic B is adding steps to the process that are completely and utterly pointless. He is unnecessarily adding complexity. He doesn't have to do step 1 and 2.
You too, are adding steps to the process that are *unnecessary*; You are complicating the process; and that is what I'm pointing out. This is what you don't seem to understand (despite me having made it abundantly clear); because you focus on things that aren't at all relevant to what I'm saying. Essentially, what you're doing is the equivalent of Mechanic B responding to Mechanic A's criticism by accusing mechanic A of not looking at the spinning around three times the proper way. If only he wasn't looking at the spinning around from the perspective of someone looking at someone else spinning around, but as being the one doing the spinning! Mechanic B doesn't realize that that isn't the fucking point.
More trolling. I fine with you making fun of me. But make sure you're really funny when you do. Otherwise it's just tedious to read.
I'm not trolling at all; anyone who takes a look at my posting history should be able to tell that I frequently mix humor and serious arguments. There's no rule of life that says I can't dress up a valid point with argument or sarcasm.
I'm not trying to produce any evidence or convince you of anything. I'm just saying what works for me.
You have on multiple occasions claimed that religion is the best, most efficient way of inspiring and motivating people; and that's why syntheists are trying to create an artificial religion 'stripped of all the other nonsense'. You can't make a grand claim like that and then wave it off by saying you're not trying to convince people when someone calls you on it. When you make big claims, you have to be prepared to back them up. Otherwise you shouldn't make them.
All religions are fake and and all gods are fake. That doesn't make them pointless.
They're not pointless to the people who believe in them... because they actually, you know, believe in them.
They are, however, pointless to you or me.
I've convinced myself that Syntheism is a better and easier way to motivate me, than anything else. And that's all I expect or require from Syntheism. I don't care about the rest of you. We all need to sort out this shit for ourselves. We're all on our own journey in life.
This is a platitude thrown up only *after* you've spent a significant amount of energy talking up syntheism. If you don't care about the rest of us, if we all need to sort this shit out for ourselves and we're all on our own journey in life; then why not just do your thing and you know, *not* spend so much time telling us about it? It feels very much like the sort of thing a believer (whether it's a believer in a religion, or a diet fad or whatever) says to people after discovering to their dismay that someone didn't just smile and nod their head when taking the brochure but actually started bringing up trouble some arguments.
I'm not sure what your point is with this?
My point is that you should probably take the you from a couple of years ago a little more seriously.