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Date and Time: Saturday, October 23, 2004, 10:05 PST
Host address: 198.81.26.102 []
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From:
Harley Weiss
email
Message:
My philosophy of life is that you feed your body not your taste buds
therefore you strive to consume only foods and beverages that are specifically
good for you. You try to sort out what food supplements that contribute to
maximizing your health but you don’t make a religion of it. You consume as
little of the worlds resources as you can and you do your part to make the world
a better place. You exercise and keep fit; you take care of you and yours and be
sure to respect your obligation to yourself to be good to yourself and also to
each other. You question all that you hear from the so-called authorities plus
anyone else that sounds like they’re trying to be an authority and try to figure
what their real motives are. You try to find a quiet corner of the world where
people don’t screw with you and a good mate who will.
The following are what I perceive as useful
inner-related concepts and are a work in progress. They may be modified, deleted
or added as thoughts and discussions indicate.
I. Organized superstition
(religion) is a structure designed by and modified by man to both protect and to
promote itself.
II. Having read several books about
the life and times of the late, great J.C., I’ve concluded that he did in fact
live. He lived in a time of turmoil not unlike conditions in the Arab countries
today. The old testament stated that a messiah was coming and many “messiahs and
false prophets” were attempting to move in on that prophecy as seems to be the
case today. He did manage to gather a large enough following to scare the local
authorities at a time when the Roman empire was feeling the crunch of their own
mismanagement. He therefore got zapped by the establishment for “crimes” that
were pretty dubious, “arose” and the rest is history. The new testament was
written at a time between 30 years and 400 years after his death primarily by
members of his group’s ancestors called the “Q groups” and some other group
whose name I don’t recall. If you’ve ever read anything about the lack of
reliability of eyewitnesses in criminal cases, you may strongly question the
reliability o!
f those accounts that have become the basis for the new testament
especially with the time passage, the second hand reports and a constructed
message that those people truly wanted to believe. Not much has changed. I think
that the reason that this particular following survived was because during that
time the Roman Empire felt vulnerable and was killing off any perceived threats.
The leaders of these followers opted for a “turn the other cheek policy” to
prevent their being annihilated. This allowed them to escape the wrath and to
get along with other populations and thrive then and with modifications, in
future generations. Plus the bible was written in a way that can be interpreted
to fit the needs and/or desires of the leaders and times.
III. Scientific discipline seeks to
understand truth rather than selecting data to support their beliefs, as does
Creation Science. Science points out evidence of evolution as the source and
developments on earth, the universe and the creatures in it. Psychology studies
of the mental characteristics of man is useful in understanding how religion has
utilized these needs to gain support and promote itself. One child’s question is
“If god made everything, who made god. And if god made himself why aren’t there
gods all over the place making themselves” It and other arguments very strongly
suggests that god is a figment of man’s imagination. Religion can’t seem to find
a way to reconcile the evidence with their beliefs, so therefore their beliefs
prevail and they fight the evidence with every tool available to them. It
continues just as it did for centuries fighting the concept that the earth was
not the center of the universe for instance.
IV. Humans, as with most animals,
have been mentally structured for survival by evolution to uncritically retain
what is perceived early in their life and are driven to comply with that
perception by an almost guilt like feeling throughout their life.
V. There is a truth that is
real, concrete and unbendable that happened, is happening and/or exists that we
as reasoning beings have an internal drive to search for and that everyone else
attempts to bend to their benefit.
VI. The true scientific discipline
is an endeavor to find the truth in all things and to re-examine in any and all
ways possible what is previously thought to be truth.
VII. There is nothing mysterious or
mystical about life, it just is. Because we don’t now nor probably never will
totally understand it, it seems mysterious or mystical to us.
VIII. All creatures by necessity expend no more
energy than they perceive as required to supply their needs.
IX. All creatures construct their
perception of reality based ONLY on the information their senses provide.
X. The logical deductive
reasoning that all creatures have to varying degrees, which is perceived by that
individual as logical, is a teachable/learnable discipline.
XI. Fear and distrust of
anyone/anything outside your own group or your own normal experience is an
evolved protective device.
XII. People are better at solving the
symptoms of problems than they are the causes.
XIII. The essence of a creature is their mind.
When the mind shuts down, as far as that creature is concerned, nothing, not
even itself exists. We cease to exist roughly 365 times a year. If you were not
to awaken, you would have no way of knowing or careing.
XIV. People, of necessity for survival,
have a structure in their mind that allows them to do and say most things
without having to examine the logic of their action. They couldn’t get through
the day if they didn’t.
XV. Good things are people or things
that make you feel good, expand your horizons and allow you to grow as a person.
Bad things are people who try to impose their bad things on you.
XVI. People have an obligation to their
self to make their life satisfying. No one else will do it. The best you can
hope for is to find someone where you’re on each other’s “team” at least until
you find out how obnoxious the other is. Depending on your situation you may
tough it out and appreciate what is good or you may take other action. Hopefully
you won’t wake up one day and find you’re dead without having enjoyed your life.
:-)
XVII. All matter is energy held together into a
structure by forces of repulsion and attraction.
XVIII. Energy in
our universe rebounded 13 billion years ago from a soccer sized ball to the
expanding universe we observe today with dense black holes forming and combining
to eventually sweep a new volume of universe into a single dense ball to once
again rebound within an infinitely large space. Perhaps on another insignificant
rock, life will form and develop into a fungus of relatively intelligent beings
(relative to what?) until that rock also becomes uninhabitable. It’s like an
infinitely large cauldron bubbling and swirling for eternity. So maybe I’m
wrong. Tons of smart people have also been wrong during this brief time we have
existed on this rock. At least it’s easier to visualize than to think something
that sort of resembles and thinks like us has made us plus all these other
things to amuse him (her?… Hmmm- maybe that isn’t so hard to visualize :-)) and
it does sort of fit some scientific observations.
XIX. All individuals are correct in their
understanding until they decide they are wrong.