Please bring back RATIONALISM into our lives!!!

Jason P

JonnyPistachio wrote:

pandora wrote:

I have seen many non believers believe as they are passing from this world
a sudden revelation, a path complete who's to say

Really?! That's fascinating. How many? What did they say?

If a plane is experiencing trouble, I'll bet there is a dramatic increase in people praying.

Same thing occurs with game-ending field goals as well.

brianlux

Jeanwah wrote:

brianlux wrote:

Rationalism, critical thinking and skepticism seem to be viewed as too much trouble, too much "wear and tear on brain tissues" as Edward Abbey once mused. It's so much easier to rely on myth or to not think at all. This is a troubling characteristic of our time.

We wouldn't want to hurt our brains by actually thinking, Brian!

Ya know, now that you mention it... I think I'm getting a headache. So I think I'll log off and go watch TV for a while. Just kidding!

Oh, but I do have to run!....

later gators!

Jeanwah

Jason P wrote:

JonnyPistachio wrote:

pandora wrote:

I have seen many non believers believe as they are passing from this world
a sudden revelation, a path complete who's to say

Really?! That's fascinating. How many? What did they say?

If a plane is experiencing trouble, I'll bet there is a dramatic increase in people praying.

Same thing occurs with game-ending field goals as well.

http://vi.sualize.us/view/8f555e91f8539 ... a2c41b5a6/

whygohome

brianlux wrote:

Rationalism, critical thinking and skepticism seem to be viewed as too much trouble, too much "wear and tear on brain tissues" as Edward Abbey once mused. It's so much easier to rely on myth or to not think at all. This is a troubling characteristic of our time.

So sad, but true.

whygohome

(Tangent alert)

What's the difference between Christianity and Greek Mythology?
Judaism and Egyptian Mythology?
Islam and Mayan Mythology?

Godfather.

whygohome wrote:

(Tangent alert)

What's the difference between Christianity and Greek Mythology?
Judaism and Egyptian Mythology?
Islam and Mayan Mythology?

faith.


Godfather.

he still stands

Godfather. wrote:

whygohome wrote:

(Tangent alert)

What's the difference between Christianity and Greek Mythology?
Judaism and Egyptian Mythology?
Islam and Mayan Mythology?

faith.


Godfather.

those religions don't have faith?

Godfather.

he still stands wrote:

Godfather. wrote:

whygohome wrote:

(Tangent alert)

What's the difference between Christianity and Greek Mythology?
Judaism and Egyptian Mythology?
Islam and Mayan Mythology?

faith.


Godfather.

those religions don't have faith?

well you did not use the word mythology when you mentioned Christinity and was going to say "mythology"
is the difference but I knew how you might counter that so I just posted "faith"
but yes I am sure everybody has faith in something ..even you might have faith in something right ?


Godfather.

MayDay Malone

he still stands wrote:

If the right would just go back to being classically liberal (like the party was in the 18th century) it would be a lot more respectable. Nobody wants to hear about your damn "moral compass" or the way of life you deem we all should be living. Live it yourself and get a shovel out, because apparently your "god" takes Tuesdays off.

Got to be one of the dumbest posts ever. Only inteted to insult people of Faith- namely Christians.

1. If "the right" would only be "like the left", then the right would be "respectable". -

-Well, no shit. Replace "right" and "left" with any two opposing entities in the world, and it's still
a true statement. Way to go Capt. Obvious.

2. What "right" but "classicly liberal party of the 1700's" are you referring to?
The Whigs?! Even then, try another CENTURY.

-Since the GOP wasn't formed until the 1850's, AND founded by anti-slavery expansionists, I really have no idea what you are talking about, and it is obvious that you don't either.


Since you have stated that you feel the "classicly liberal party" is "respectable", I guess you support racism, segregation, and Jim Crow.

So just one question: Are you inherently racist, or was it taught to you by your parents?

he still stands

Godfather. wrote:

well you did not use the word mythology when you mentioned Christinity and was going to say "mythology"
is the difference but I knew how you might counter that so I just posted "faith"
but yes I am sure everybody has faith in something ..even you might have faith in something right ?


Godfather.

the difference between Christianity, religion and mythology is a matter of semantics. they're all really the same thing. to the Greeks it was a religion but over time it has become myth because no one believes in it anymore. Most people refer to the Pagan religion as a myth for the same reason and I think the Catholic church has played a major part in this (the "devil" in Christianity is Pan's doppelganger).

as far as "faith" I believe in living an authentic life and a way of virtue that cannot be summarized in a paragraph, let alone a single word.

pandora

JonnyPistachio wrote:

pandora wrote:

I have seen many non believers believe as they are passing from this world
a sudden revelation, a path complete who's to say

Really?! That's fascinating. How many? What did they say?

Say :?

in the months days hours up to leaving this world they knew God some
believed Christ was their savior

they found a faith they had not known in their lives until that point,
my point of course

perhaps they had been fence sitters

JonnyPistachio

pandora wrote:

JonnyPistachio wrote:

pandora wrote:

I have seen many non believers believe as they are passing from this world
a sudden revelation, a path complete who's to say

Really?! That's fascinating. How many? What did they say?

Say :?

in the months days hours up to leaving this world they knew God some
believed Christ was their savior

they found a faith they had not known in their lives until that point,
my point of course

perhaps they had been fence sitters

Oh, I see.
I didnt know you meant months, days, hours...I thought it was more of something they did/said AS they were dying, or taking their final breaths.

I've known a few like that too.

MayDay Malone

Jeanwah wrote:

brianlux wrote:

Rationalism, critical thinking and skepticism seem to be viewed as too much trouble, too much "wear and tear on brain tissues" as Edward Abbey once mused. It's so much easier to rely on myth or to not think at all. This is a troubling characteristic of our time.

We wouldn't want to hurt our brains by actually thinking, Brian!

The ol' "I'm too smart to need God."

Seen a lot of these people start strugglin when the test results come back malignant...
I feel so bad for them. None of them make jokes like Jeanwah's. None of them are cool anymore...
They're just scared.... and they die so scared....


Think its funny that B-lux calls faith in religion "a troubling characteristic of our times".
Only been going on for about 200,000 years in one form or another.

pandora

brianlux wrote:

Rationalism, critical thinking and skepticism seem to be viewed as too much trouble, too much "wear and tear on brain tissues" as Edward Abbey once mused. It's so much easier to rely on myth or to not think at all. This is a troubling characteristic of our time.

Sometimes I see a great heart in you, a passion, an understanding, one would think you would
understand passion in others.
That rationalism, critical thinking, skepticism has it's place but is made complete
with feeling passion and the grandeur of faith.

Kind of like the whole sha-bang!

BinFrog

pandora wrote:

brianlux wrote:

Rationalism, critical thinking and skepticism seem to be viewed as too much trouble, too much "wear and tear on brain tissues" as Edward Abbey once mused. It's so much easier to rely on myth or to not think at all. This is a troubling characteristic of our time.

Sometimes I see a great heart in you, a passion, an understanding, one would think you would
understand passion in others.
That rationalism, critical thinking, skepticism has it's place but is made complete
with feeling passion and the grandeur of faith.

Kind of like the whole sha-bang!

Rationalism, critical thinking and skepticism made complete by.....faith?

Alrighty then.

cincybearcat

Why is it that if you don't believe, or even if you just don't believe that religion has a place in politics that you feel like you have to cut down believers and people of faith by saying they don't think? Such bullshit.

I've met a lot of smart religious people and plenty of dumbass non-believers.

pandora

JonnyPistachio wrote:

Oh, I see.
I didnt know you meant months, days, hours...I thought it was more of something they did/said AS they were dying, or taking their final breaths.

I've known a few like that too.

I was with my big sister as she passed from cancer those final days
she a spiritual person but not so much a believer of God,
more in the power that is us as part of a universe.

God was there with her in the end though, this she could feel.
After as we planned her funeral in a tiny room
in the basement of the funeral parlor ...

the light bulb over the table ... over our heads ... exploded
shattering glass everywhere tripping off the electricity.

As we sat in the blackness stunned we all knew that was Blythe, feeling her presence.
She let us know the power that was her in this life lives on, her spirit lives on.

I feel her often with me, she is an inspiration to me.

Feeling an important part of our abilities often muted by rationalism

pandora

BinFrog wrote:

pandora wrote:

brianlux wrote:

Rationalism, critical thinking and skepticism seem to be viewed as too much trouble, too much "wear and tear on brain tissues" as Edward Abbey once mused. It's so much easier to rely on myth or to not think at all. This is a troubling characteristic of our time.

Sometimes I see a great heart in you, a passion, an understanding, one would think you would
understand passion in others.
That rationalism, critical thinking, skepticism has it's place but is made complete
with feeling passion and the grandeur of faith.

Kind of like the whole sha-bang!

Rationalism, critical thinking and skepticism made complete by.....faith?

Alrighty then.

yes completed by faith by knowing by feeling

we use so little of our brains ... we can tap into more

he still stands

cincybearcat wrote:

Why is it that if you don't believe, or even if you just don't believe that religion has a place in politics that you feel like you have to cut down believers and people of faith by saying they don't think? Such bullshit.

I've met a lot of smart religious people and plenty of dumbass non-believers.

yeah, I feel like a released a torrent of hateful rhetoric by both sides, that wasn't my intention by starting this thread.

My intention was to express that rationality and logic belong in politics and in debate, and religion does not. Religion or spirituality is a personal thing and proselytization makes me sick, especially when it is part of the policy debate which directly affects my life.

JonnyPistachio

pandora wrote:

JonnyPistachio wrote:

Oh, I see.
I didnt know you meant months, days, hours...I thought it was more of something they did/said AS they were dying, or taking their final breaths.

I've known a few like that too.

I was with my big sister as she passed from cancer those final days
she a spiritual person but not so much a believer of God,
more in the power that is us as part of a universe.

God was there with her in the end though, this she could feel.
After as we planned her funeral in a tiny room
in the basement of the funeral parlor ...

the light bulb over the table ... over our heads ... exploded
shattering glass everywhere tripping off the electricity.

As we sat in the blackness stunned we all knew that was Blythe, feeling her presence.
She let us know the power that was her in this life lives on, her spirit lives on.

I feel her often with me, she is an inspiration to me.

Feeling an important part of our abilities often muted by rationalism

Interesting. Thanks for sharing. Sorry for the loss of your Sister.
I find stories like this so interesting. Hard to understand -- where people are coming from or where they're going in their final minutes -- but in these instances, maybe we shouldnt think too hard about it.