Search results for query: *

I think untermensche has introduced some realism to this discussion. We experience a world of physical matter, via the 'Ghost in the Machine' that we call consciousness. Physicality and consciousness are the sum total of our experience. Many ancient cultures knew that consciousness is not...

"A theory is the highest form of certainty that exists in science, migrant." Thanks Elixir, I know that, but if I may correct you, there are no degrees of certainty, it is an absolute. This would be mere pedantry, were it not the very nub of my point. Thanks joedad, complacency is exactly what...

Television ..... ah yes, I remember. That little screen in the corner that used to steal my hours and give nothing in return. I recommend Gerry Manders' book '4 reasons for the abolition of television.' If you can still read....

The official reason for going to war is always, of necessity, a cause that people will willingly fight for. Men will fight willingly for romantic heroic notions like democracy and freedom, but for global conglomerates - not so much. The fiercest fighter is willing to die for a religious ideal...

Yes, the bible refutes the Christian belief in one god, Genesis refers to multiple gods.

I'm sure the other protagonists will wait for the USA to get its war machine prepared - and it's not as if America has any other enemies, is it?

Dr Z writes - "But then we're not in disagreement. We just have different definitions of "religion". That's cool. But the important thing is what we mean. And we seem to agree?" I prefer to inhabit the space between agreeing and disagreeing. Some ideas resonate with me, others don't. When an...

I've known religion to be a useful guide, because it incorporates things which can be part of a secular life. I think Buddhism is not a religion for the reasons I've stated. Utility is not a sign of religion. So you are wrong in these assumptions also. Consistent, but wrong. Perhaps rather than...

Dr Z, your questions contain so many misunderstandings of my position that I fear responding further would only worsen the situation. I prefer it when you bring something positive to the debate, rather than trying to squash opinions which you disagree with. That's just insecurity.

abaddon - If you remove the question mark which you seem to have infiltrated into my quote, it is clear that I am saying what Buddhism is not. What it is, is a much wider field, and open to much interpretation. If you believe it to be a religion, can you tell me to whom they pray? And to repeat...

As this dreadful man begins to wreak havoc within government, I wonder what results we might expect. If I understand correctly, the Second Amendment allows Americans to have the power to remove a rogue administration through making the possession of guns a right. From where I'm standing, this...

My inborn nature also resonates more with the second choice abaddon, but as to religion (as in belief in and worship of a superhuman entity) I find it hard to imagine that as innate. Buddhism is not a religion by that definition, and its spread from its roots in India, its subsequent growth in...

Hope for whatever you like Lumpenproletariat. Hope is just another thing you can die of.

Thanks Dr Z -- Your final sentence exploded into my head like the morning sun through the windows of my little cortijo. "Religions have made the banal observation that we're primarily emotionally driven creatures. The modern secular world operates on the erroneous assumption that we're...

I haven't had enough opium to make your question clear fromderinside -- would you expect the metaphysical to make sense to the physical? My own idea of belief is that it immunises me against subsequent data if it conflicts. And requires a total understanding of the subject. So I avoid it...

I've heard an explanation which holds that early translators used 'virgin' when 'young girl' would have been more accurate. So Joseph knew her before she became a virgin ... I can quite see the translators wishing to make a point about the dangers of sex -- after all, it can lead to dancing.

The photons go faster fromderinside - That's 'cos they're travelling light ....

Juma, you de-rail the thread with spurious and aggressive questions, you distort ideas in order to refute them, you try to 'win' points, and resort to insults when you fail. You are therefore a Troll, and that is why I shall ignore you in future.

I think the closer the glass to the binoculars, the better. As a kid I was told that glass is a liquid, and flows over time. Now I'm assured it doesn't. Do you live in an old house repoman? Is the glass original? My house in England has a variety of qualities of glazing, from ripply to crystal...

Michel Quiost was being metaphorical rather than metaphysical when he coined the phrase "God-shaped hole" back in the Sixties. I don't think it's an unhelpful phrase if we eject Jehovah from the equation. You could even say it's what De Botton is writing about - and surely Browning was not...