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 Post subject: Re: I'm pretty sure there is no god
PostPosted: Sat Aug 25, 2012 4:44 am 
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turned2black wrote:
I have been on a spiritual "quest" for some years now. I really, really want to believe in something, anything. I have many christian friends that I truly respect and love that seem to have this depth to them that I don't have. That "depth" is spirituality. They have a quite reserve and calmness to them that is something to be admired. My mother is a Buddhist that attends Unitarian Universal meetings and after decades of soul searching, has really seemed to find an inner peace. I have many Mormon friends that I have respect for and even though I don't agree with the politics, most of them seem to have an inner peace that I just don't have.

Then my father died and I realized that he, like me, always seemed to be searching. And then it dawned on me, searching for the truth is a kind of spirituality. The search for meaning is what it is to be human and maybe us agnostics/searchers are really the most spiritual people on Earth. Maybe these people that have found "inner peace" or the "holy ghost" have really just given up or have let fear taken over. It would be a lot easier for me to believe in God, then to know that when I die, that's it. I won't see my family in the "afterlife."

So I have come to realize that this "depth" that religious people seem to have, the thing that makes them seem so stoic and full of inner peace, is really just emptiness. A void in their quest for knowledge.

None of this is to say that agnostics are better than religious people. I just think that this void - the void that allows really smart people to believe in god - is a built-in defense mechanism that allows people to get on with their lives.

I didn't sleep much last night...


Not that I'm saying this from a point of experience, but I've heard and read that meditation can bring you to your personal "god" and your own inner peace. So if its inner peace you want, and who doesn't, then maybe meditation can work for you.

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 Post subject: Re: I'm pretty sure there is no god
PostPosted: Sat Aug 25, 2012 5:16 am 
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People often forget that they are not all-knowing.
People often forget that their own brain power is limited.
People are so conceited, they often think that they are actually capable of understanding all that there is to understand about the universe/god/everything/all realms.
I suppose those with inner peace are capable of realizing you can't understand it all but you can come to your own inner understanding and can hang the rest up on faith.

That sounds like a good night's sleep to me.

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 Post subject: Re: I'm pretty sure there is no god
PostPosted: Sat Aug 25, 2012 5:25 am 
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turned2black wrote:
A void in their quest for knowledge.

...


THIS. but one must concede that this knowledge simply cannot be had.

so you have to hang it somewhere like on a flower or the rain. ha

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 Post subject: Re: I'm pretty sure there is no god
PostPosted: Sat Aug 25, 2012 7:02 am 
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malice wrote:
turned2black wrote:
I'm pretty happy.

Married 18 years.
2 kids with another on the way.
A good job where I get to be creative.
Vacation to Europe most years.
And lots of trail running.

Yeah, pretty happy.


great for you. However you exhibit a hidden dark and depressive side right here on this board in many of your posts that gives pause to the reader of such statements.
Search your posts in the release forum, that's some dark expression. Where's that come from if not from a basic unhappiness with one's life.
not to say most people aren't in possession of some variable amount of unhappiness, I'm first in that line - but I don't go out of my way to claim that an ongoing search for belief or my journey to discover the truth has enlightened and enriched me either.
You posted a whole discourse in the global warming thread about how none of that mattered because we're all gonna die in a meteor attack. Why? and ultimately, who cares? You have no greater insights into the future than anyone else, from my perspective, and in many cases, you have less than many people - how do you know that science won't develop some way to eliminate that kind of world destruction? How do you know god won't open up the sky and reign his terrible judgment down upon the world tomorrow? you don't. no one does.
That's how very smart people can believe in god, or the great green polka-dot kangaroo that's balancing the world on his tail right now...
what's it matter, really? It's just a bunch of mental exercise people employ because our brains have developed past the necessity to only care about food, shelter, and potential competitors.
you figure, hell, I have this big fucking brain, might as well, you know, use it?

Whatever, I don't have much of a point other than I do find it somewhat arrogant to proclaim your inner peace in the same breath as your burning desire to believe in something.


I just re-read my opening post, I don't see how anyone could see that as arrogant. Flaky? Yes.
I never proclaimed to have an inner peace.
And as far as my "hidden dark side" goes, I don't think it's hidden. I DO keep it away from my kids.
But it seems that an internet message board is a perfect place to bring it out.
If you think this dark side invalidates my views on the existence of god, then so be it.
And, yes, I do actually believe that an asteroid or some other natural disaster will wipe out a good chunk of humanity and probably in my, my kids' or my grandkids' lifetime.

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 Post subject: Re: I'm pretty sure there is no god
PostPosted: Sat Aug 25, 2012 1:33 pm 
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knee tunes wrote:
People often forget that they are not all-knowing.
People often forget that their own brain power is limited.
People are so conceited, they often think that they are actually capable of understanding all that there is to understand about the universe/god/everything/all realms.
I suppose those with inner peace are capable of realizing you can't understand it all but you can come to your own inner understanding and can hang the rest up on faith.

That sounds like a good night's sleep to me.



:thumbsup: It's a shame turned2black is hinged on arguing with malice and not just meditating already.

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 Post subject: Re: I'm pretty sure there is no god
PostPosted: Sun Aug 26, 2012 6:12 pm 
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 Post subject: Re: I'm pretty sure there is no god
PostPosted: Mon Aug 27, 2012 1:10 am 
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I believe in goat

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 Post subject: Re: I'm pretty sure there is no god
PostPosted: Mon Aug 27, 2012 3:15 pm 
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turned2black wrote:
I just re-read my opening post, I don't see how anyone could see that as arrogant. Flaky? Yes.
I never proclaimed to have an inner peace.
And as far as my "hidden dark side" goes, I don't think it's hidden. I DO keep it away from my kids.
But it seems that an internet message board is a perfect place to bring it out.
If you think this dark side invalidates my views on the existence of god, then so be it.
And, yes, I do actually believe that an asteroid or some other natural disaster will wipe out a good chunk of humanity and probably in my, my kids' or my grandkids' lifetime.

Image

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 Post subject: Re: I'm pretty sure there is no god
PostPosted: Mon Aug 27, 2012 3:36 pm 
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malice wrote:
Image


lol copyright "pit"

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 Post subject: Re: I'm pretty sure there is no god
PostPosted: Mon Aug 27, 2012 4:35 pm 
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malice wrote:
turned2black wrote:
I just re-read my opening post, I don't see how anyone could see that as arrogant. Flaky? Yes.
I never proclaimed to have an inner peace.
And as far as my "hidden dark side" goes, I don't think it's hidden. I DO keep it away from my kids.
But it seems that an internet message board is a perfect place to bring it out.
If you think this dark side invalidates my views on the existence of god, then so be it.
And, yes, I do actually believe that an asteroid or some other natural disaster will wipe out a good chunk of humanity and probably in my, my kids' or my grandkids' lifetime.

Image


Cute. But as your posts said, you didn't really have much of a point, so I can totally see how I would miss it.

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 Post subject: Re: I'm pretty sure there is no god
PostPosted: Mon Aug 27, 2012 4:41 pm 
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 Post subject: Re: I'm pretty sure there is no god
PostPosted: Tue Aug 28, 2012 11:17 pm 
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 Post subject: Re: I'm pretty sure there is no god
PostPosted: Wed Aug 29, 2012 12:00 am 
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 Post subject: Re: I'm pretty sure there is no god
PostPosted: Wed Aug 29, 2012 12:02 am 
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please report to the RNDM: RIP Pearl Jam thread. kthx


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 Post subject: Re: I'm pretty sure there is no god
PostPosted: Wed Aug 29, 2012 1:12 am 
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Skitch Patterson wrote:
please report to the RNDM: RIP Pearl Jam thread. kthx


Ha!

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 Post subject: Re: I'm pretty sure there is no god
PostPosted: Fri Aug 31, 2012 1:11 am 
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turned2black wrote:
So I have come to realize that this "depth" that religious people seem to have, the thing that makes them seem so stoic and full of inner peace, is really just emptiness. A void in their quest for knowledge.




Oh okay.


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 Post subject: Re: I'm pretty sure there is no god
PostPosted: Fri Aug 31, 2012 1:32 pm 
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There are Christians who believe that faith isn't faith without a healthy dose of agnosticism. I live as if there is a God, but I won't browbeat others into agreeing. If we stop searching, we grow stagnant.


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 Post subject: Re: I'm pretty sure there is no god
PostPosted: Fri Aug 31, 2012 1:39 pm 
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Harmless wrote:
There are Christians who believe that faith isn't faith without a healthy dose of agnosticism. I live as if there is a God, but I won't browbeat others into agreeing. If we stop searching, we grow stagnant.

define stagnant

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 Post subject: Re: I'm pretty sure there is no god
PostPosted: Fri Aug 31, 2012 2:00 pm 
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Alex wrote:
Harmless wrote:
There are Christians who believe that faith isn't faith without a healthy dose of agnosticism. I live as if there is a God, but I won't browbeat others into agreeing. If we stop searching, we grow stagnant.

define stagnant


Bored, hopeless, uninspired. Knowledge is everything -- and (for me) so is the possibility of something not capturable by 'empirical evidence'. Spirituality is there for those of us who want (not need) inspiration to carry on.


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 Post subject: Re: I'm pretty sure there is no god
PostPosted: Fri Aug 31, 2012 2:22 pm 
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My mother (the buddhist) is a member of the Unitarian Universalist church. She has invited us a couple of time, but we have never gone. After reading up on their beliefs, I'm actually inclined to take my family to a "service" the next time she comes out. Here's a line from their Seven Principles: "Unitarian Universalism draws from many sources including humanist teachings which counsel us to heed the guidance of reason and the results of science." I like that!

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