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Anything else I don't know about? Please help!

What's on your mind?
General interest discussions, not necessarily related to depletion.

Re: Anything else I don't know about? Please help!

Unread postby Peak_Plus » Sat 01 Apr 2006, 10:21:59

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Carlhole', '
')If it were absolutely proven that there were no god, people would go on surviving just as they always have done. Since people seem to be wired to construct some higher unknowable, intangible, non-physical, illusory reality in order to face our sometimes dire conditions, they would simply make up some new belief to use as a crutch despite the proof to the contrary. It's just a useful lie to deal with extreme difficulty.

That's all belief has ever been is a delusory crutch.

Did I try to prove GOD ?
God is not "something" to be proved or disproved, except as a philisophical excercise. Or can you answer "what color is 27?" To quote a Carlhole: Empty set.

I said in comparison to getting to know / search for God, Peak Oil is trivial.
I said without a spiritual side to life, our whole world is meaningless.
I don't think our whole world is meaningless. And a view of the world which is only concerned with the MECHANICS about what is going on is very shallow indeed. Mechanics have no meaning. 5=5. The petri dish runs its course. Again: you are in the petri dish and it is running its course. WHO CARES? You die, and that's that. The Earth's ecosystem survives or dies after us. WHO CARES? If you can't answer the question to what it's all for (or search for the answer) - i.e. the spiritual side of life - then no event, action has any meaning whatsoever EXCEPT ON A MECHANICAL LEVEL.

Funny, I believe (Albente - WHAT does dogma have to do with personal belief?) and I don't know what my belief is supposed to be crutching?!?! It is certainly an enrichment.

Back to Bochen: Look for wisdom in all things...
This is the way the world ends,
Not with a bang but a wimper!
T.S. Eliot
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Re: Anything else I don't know about? Please help!

Unread postby Ludi » Sat 01 Apr 2006, 12:09:31

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Peak_Plus', '
')But one last question: If there is no God / spiritual reality behind all of this, then why bother at all?


Guess I'd have to ask what you mean by "spiritual reality."

I personally have no clue if there is "spiritual reality" or "reality" at all, but that doesn't mean things don't have profound personal meaning to me and others. Why does meaning need to come from "outside" to be "real?"

I just don't get that way of looking at things. Never have, probably never will.
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Re: Anything else I don't know about? Please help!

Unread postby turmoil » Sat 01 Apr 2006, 12:11:58

As someone who is also 21, I'd like to add the following:

"Some men storm imaginary Alps all their lives, and die in the foothills cursing difficulties which do not exist." Edgar Watson Howe

http://www.wow4u.com/worry/index.html

(most of them are good, a few push the limits of our times)
"If you are a real seeker after truth, it's necessary that at least once in your life you doubt all things as far as possible"-Rene Descartes

"When you have excluded the impossible, whatever remains however improbable must be the truth"-Sherlock Holmes
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Re: Anything else I don't know about? Please help!

Unread postby PenultimateManStanding » Sat 01 Apr 2006, 12:19:16

Yellowstone is due to blow up. It's a "super volcano" which will cover the US in ashes and kill everybody. Hope this helps.
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Re: Anything else I don't know about? Please help!

Unread postby aldente » Sat 01 Apr 2006, 13:03:06

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Peak_Plus', 'A')lbente - WHAT does dogma have to do with personal belief?

Have a look at the Dogma thread that I started, quote, the term dogmatism carries the implication that people are upholding their beliefs in an unthinking and conformist fashion, end quote.
Where to be found? In religious playground all over the world! Remember the islamic cartoon scenario recently? The worry quotes are excellent BTW. found this one: Today is the tomorrow we worried about yesterday."

And in regards to the Yellowstone Caldera I found an even better one located in South America (less messy in its initial impact for the US population... I am laughing out loud while typing this....)
http://www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft/erde ... 22,00.html
(sorry only for the German speaking audience), I added it to my Doomsday Device thread http://www.peakoil.com/fortopic17534.html
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Re: Anything else I don't know about? Please help!

Unread postby bochen787 » Sat 01 Apr 2006, 15:38:37

Thanks again for some of the comments!

I don't blame this entirely on the American government. The people in China are getting the same mentality too; human nature is avaricious and ruthless, give the right opportunity.

Gvil, I respect your believes in a higher power and I don’t want to turn this into a religious discussion. But to let you know, I have been on both sides of the fence. I know
How it is to live a ‘Christian’ life and the essence of what it means to be a true believer, and I can also see things from the strong atheist’s point of view. And finally I see things from just MY own personal perspective, with my own taint on things. I could defend religions just as well as I could denounce them. But the truth is Gvil, there is no god.
I could debate this with you, but I see no need to. Of all the uncertainties in this world, I am certain of the fact that a supposedly omnipotent and perfect all loving ‘God’ who takes on human characteristics and who intervenes with the affairs of mankind, who creates a universe that even allows imperfection on any level is a direct contradiction and absolute absurdity beyond all reasonable and/or unreasonable doubt.



http://brainsump.50megs.com/vintage/as/yhwh.html -- (logical and common sense proof that God is impossible, proof by contradiction)
http://www.evilbible.com/Impossible.htm - Her invisible Pink Highness!

http://www.geocities.com/evoatheism/main.html -- (shows how it was actually man who made God, and not the other way around)

http://www.mwillett.org/atheism/atheism1.htm -- (an insightful view of a much clearer perspective of reality)

http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/ -- (shows just how many error, fallacies, absurdities, and self contradictions that are contained in a supposedly perfect work of God)

I’d like you to take a good hard look at those five links above before you argue with me.

I would be less offended if people who have their own beliefs would keep it to themselves. Instead, lies are spread as truth, missionaries preach the gospel twisting and convoluting what is reality that even the most intellectual of people will fall for these ridiculous bullsh*t. Smart person are skilled at defending ridiculously believes derived from non-smart reasons. So I feel that I have the prerogative to spread a little ‘truth’ of my own here, especially since Christianity really has no ground.

It should also be noted, that on a practical level our world would be a lot better off if religion never existed. But I think that religion and the eternal human denial of reality and believe in unwarranted optimism (Iraq war/ peak oil situation anyone?) is hardwired innate in our mind, and what is going to screw us all.

HEY -> Maybe this world is just a dream? Maybe there is a ‘divine’ ONENESS of all existence and we are part of it but we just don’t know? But the Christian God with all his doings and teachings (there are more errors in the Bible than any other book ever written)
Are just bullshit and UNDEFENDABLE!

~ Yeah, humans are superior and all the animals and plants are put here for us to have dominion over, we are to be fruitful and multiply and thank heavenly father for all the blessings which he has given us, and don’t forget all the stars in the universe were put into place so we could have some light to see at night, and humans exists for the sole purpose of GOD’s good pleasure~ (why doesn’t he just masturbate for good pleasure?)

Sorry for my ranting guys, I just can’t tolerate bullshit much these days anymore.
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Re: Anything else I don't know about? Please help!

Unread postby bochen787 » Sat 01 Apr 2006, 17:15:16

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Peak_Plus', ' ')But one last question: If there is no God / spiritual reality behind all of this, then why bother at all?
We're all going to die. Also your children are going to die, and humanity will someday be extinct. Who cares?


$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Peak_Plus', 'I') said without a spiritual side to life, our whole world is meaningless.


Peak_Plus,

I don't think it has to be that way. At least not for everybody.

Back in the day, around 95' when personal desktop PC's first became very popular I was playing the Titanic: An Adventure Out of Time game. It was considered pretty decent at the time. I've always be in love with Titanic, long before the 97' blockbuster. Anyways, the point is:

I know the story..
I know the beginning..
and I know the end..
but what's happening in between .. is up to me!

And this is true also of life.

20 billion years ago at the moment of the big bang, all existence was ONE.
The four forces, matter, energy, space and time AS ONE!
..
5 billion years from now the sun will become a red giant. Oceans will evaporate, the atmosphere will disappear. The earth will be scorched and then altogether engulfed into the dieing sun.

Our galaxy is on a collision course with the Andromeda galaxy.

100 trillion trillion years from now protons will have decayed, matter will evaporate, and radiation will have once again taken dominance over matter in this universe.

But what happens in between is up to you and me.

there is a difference between knowing and experiencing.
the atmosphere and environment, the intimacy and immersion.
the richness of the raw stimulus, experience of 'life'.


Frankly said, there is no meaning, purpose, destiny in life!
Life exists because it can, but its up to you to give a subjective meaning, purpose, destiny to life.

What is the ultimate reality? And why is it of any importance?
We can only know what is given to us, through our perceptions and observations.
So even if a higher level of truth or a completely different layer of reality exists beyond
what we associate with, does it truly exist? Does it matter if it exist?

I believe both the question and answer to the above is completely pointless.
For how can we imagine something which by its very definition we cannot imagine?
We can’t, and will never be able to do so.

So I’ll stick with just ‘perceptions and observations’. Everything we
Know, everything we think we know, and our believes, values, concerns,
Ways of thinking stem from what we have perceived and observed throughout
Our life’s.

Is it possible to prove that a physical world exist at all? How do we know that its not
Just some sort of ‘consciousness’ universe of existence and all perception just that, a perception but with no actual ‘physical’ object or reality behind it? Essentially we cannot know so. But again does it matter? I don’t think so. Everything stays and acts the exact same whether we believe we are thought forms or actual physical matter. So this question is also completely pointless and useless. .

Can ‘consciousness’ exist without any sensory input at all? If I suddenly become blind do I lose self awareness? Of course not. What if I lose my hearing and sight? Still it does not matter, I can still be self aware. (perhaps even more so now that distracts are diminished)
What if I lose all five of my known senses? I would imagine that as long as my body still existed (as a platform to run the OS of the ‘mind’) I would always be conscious and self ware no matter what. So consciousness and self aware is not dependent on sensory input.
It exists by itself, stand alone.

Perhaps asking ‘why is there consciousness at all?’ is similar to asking ‘why does existence exists at all?’, to the later question the answer is because it HAD to exist. There were no other alternatives to existence. (here I am talking about totality of all existence, not mere human existence) Pure ‘nothingness’ is impossible. So perhaps consciousness exists because it also HAD to exist, and non-consciousness was not an option.

Well, what is the illusive thing we call ‘consciousnesses and ‘awareness’.
I think it just is. It’s one of those things that you just ‘know’ it. I also believe that consciousness and awareness is the ultimate fabric of reality, much more real than ‘physical’ real OUT THERE.

To answer the original question, the ultimate reality is just consciousness, awareness, and self awareness itself. But why is it important? Because now we are conscious, aware, and self aware of that particular fact that we are conscious, aware and self aware! Its like we lose ourselves to find ourselves again. All the answers are really truly only within us, ourselves.

So what is the meaning and purpose to life? It’s simply what you make of it. There is no ‘objective’ meaning and purpose OUT THERE, simply because there is no meaning and purpose of OUT THERE!! (Literally and figuratively both) If meaning is what YOU give to it (particular object, person, event, idea, etc) then isn’t it a little reflective of the fact that the meaning is also yourself? And since your ‘true’ self is the deeper part that part that is independent of the events and happenings and sensory input of the ‘physical’ world, meaning is nothing more but you. You are the meaning of everything.

Indeed, without the subjective you, the entire universe has no ‘existence’. This universe may have existence 20 billion years before you were born, and it will continue to exist 100 trillion trillion years after you die. But since you neither asked to be born, nor can control the fate of your death, it sure seems that all you really have, and all there really is is yourself.

In fact it is even more logical and rational for me to say in addition that I am the only person/being that exists at all!! (Of course, you have every right to think the same of yourself, but I still think that “I” am the only ‘real’ person/consciousness/awareness)
There is no way to prove or disprove this of course, but one doesn’t necessarily have to.
Because I will be forever in my own subjective world, and like I said above; it does not matter for how can we imagine something which by its very definition we cannot imagine, and how can we feel through another when everything is ultimately still
felt through us? We can’t. As infinite as this timeless universe is, everything happens only once, and each individual is unique and irreplaceable, each atom is unique and singular, distinct. There will never be another anything once its gone, so in that sense everything is special. Awareness and consciousness being the highest layer and ultimate fabric of existence, the meaning and purpose of life being life itself, awareness itself, the inner self, to be conscious and ‘experience’ existence (whether by external or internal means), and simply to exist to be. This is the way it was meant to be, and the events in the universe could NOT have played out any other way.

Everything is perfect.


Peak_Plus: have you ever considered/thought about the mind-body problem? The consciousness paradox & quilia?? Lucid dreaming, NDE, Out of Body projections, salvia divinorum, quantum entanglement, inner light / meditations?

I have no problem with people believing in God, just like I have no problem with people believing in 'love'. But know the truth first, then believe what you want to believe, despite what you have discovered. It makes all the difference in the world. There is no meaning in life, but that doesn't mean people don't fall in love, or that people don't have anger, hatred, fear, jealousy. know the truth first, then believe what you want to believe, despite what you have discovered. It makes all the difference in the world.

The Bible is just a waste of trees.
Last edited by bochen787 on Sat 01 Apr 2006, 17:30:11, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Anything else I don't know about? Please help!

Unread postby Peak_Plus » Sat 01 Apr 2006, 17:23:05

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ludi', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Peak_Plus', '
')But one last question: If there is no God / spiritual reality behind all of this, then why bother at all?


Guess I'd have to ask what you mean by "spiritual reality."


Actually, I'm not asking the question of reality - we could spend a lifetime splitting philosophical hairs and still end up not knowing what the subject was. My question is to the consequences.

What makes a difference if we do good or evil? If we live in a solely material world with no "other" or afterlife, and no God that we can come to know, then there are no moral consequences whether we steal, cheat our spouses or ruin our planet for life. It will all die anyway.

Now, as the Police would say, "We are Spirits in a Material World". That means that there is a significance (a "reality") which goes beyond the material world. Then it DOES matter if we do good or evil. If we destroy ourselves, our neighbor or our planet.

It is not the place here (PO.com) to try to figure out exactly what this reality could be. That is why there is meditation, prayer and religion. I would just say that this is probably the most important question for every conscious person alive.
This is the way the world ends,
Not with a bang but a wimper!
T.S. Eliot
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