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RSS Tazmani

Reward Points:11
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10 most recent arguments.
1 point

Slave to what?

We are always, always enslaved by something (many things, technically), yet we don't kill ourselves -- mainly because we aren't even aware of it. It's only when people are truly confronted with the horror of life's "slavery" that they go mad and commit suicide.

Think about it.

So, really, the only way to free yourself (shout out to Erich Fromm here) is to love the life you live, whatever it is. So, if you are forced to live a life of slavery--whatever form this so-called 'slavery' takes--you must find a way to make yourself aware of the truth (the fact you are being enslaved) and learn to love/appreciate the good things within that truth.

We fear things, then when they happen they aren't as bad as we thought. Things always work out eventually... so, I say, give it a go... then if it is continuously s--t, choose death.

Death is the only freedom after all. Unless you believe in the afterlife...

2 points

Brilliantly true. (referring to mustang's comment)

Fox tends to breed politically uninformed extremists.

George W Bush cannot be forgotten here.

I wish people could witness what life would currently be like if a Republican president were in power... Things would be much worse. It's the situation, not Obama specifically that is the problem. I think he is doing the best he can in the circumstances. Everyone promises change and struggles/fails to give it, at least in the way they wanted to -- it's called political reality.

I'm not saying I necessarily support Obama, but I do support him above other presidents and other current presidential candidates.

1 point

No no no no no no no no no no no. NO. No no.

Just because he is the most recent/current president, people identify problems in the country/current anger to his dominance. But quite honestly you've got to compare what he IS doing in the current situation with what someone else COULD BE doing, or has been doing in the past. If someone else were in power right now, what would they be doing differently? How exactly would it be better?

If anything, what action they would take would surely be even WORSE. I think Obama seems to have not done anything specifically awful -- nothing that somebody else wouldn't have done anyway.

I think it is incredibly over-dramatic to say he is the worst president the US has ever had.

1 point

Isn't that basically what I said? At least that's what I meant to imply, sorry. I know religion itself is THAT, but I was saying that religions are centralised around some belief in a God/gods...which are all similar concepts, which I therefore believe all derive from the same thing - human experiences of the Universe.

And that's what I meant by arguing 'worship' should be something else, since it's not healthy for people to focus on one 'supreme authority', which might not even be correct in its teachings. I think worship should be shifted to mean 'appreciation' for life/God, rather than merely a way of forcing yourself to depend on God.

The only way people will have a truly good life is by doing good themselves, thus experiencing good consequences. If people merely 'worship' then many are forced to feel good will come to them JUST by worshipping. (not everyone, but some...most don't even know why they are worshipping, they've just had a list of reasons indoctrinated into them without question)

It's like getting a bowl of ice-cream, enjoying the ice-cream and then thinking you deserved it because you were able to appreciate it. People need to earn the ice-cream, rather than just enjoying it, begging for more of it. In other words, people need to earn good and actively appreciate good... as opposed to just hoping for it all the time through worship.

This is obviously a generalisation, but this is one other reason I personally don't worship.... I just think the concept of it is unnecessary and it doesn't have as much use as actively living and learning. I don't mean to say worship is harmful - I understand why some people might participate in it - but I believe it deprives people of true self-enjoyment of life/appreciation for what an individual personally loves... Instead it restricts people and inflicts 'cans' and 'can't dos' - when these 'cant dos' aren't necessarily even wrong... but they don't always get to experience the consequences and make these decisions for themselves.

PS. Just to clarify, I AM only very generally referring to people who merely rely on worship. I know most religious people do actively do good AND worship, which is fine if that's what they CHOOSE to do. My concern is that some people (a) don't have the choice and (b) only worship, rely on God and don't do good themselves (thinking that "loving God" is enough to have a good life)

1 point

Umm. Studying philosophy -- the arguments for the existence of God, etc. Nothing in particular I don't think. It just clicked one day and I realised how obvious it was... Then I reviewed the arguments for the existence of God and realised the pantheistic belief fits in to every one of them. In ways, I think everyone's a pantheist without even realising it. Every philosopher seems to allude to the same idea essentially, even if with fundamentally different beliefs. It's hard to explain what I mean!, since I know they all argue starkly unique things... yet I believe their arguments all derive from the same 'whole' thing, with merely different experiences within it... Like Nietzsche, for example - thinks God is merely a concept, yet speaks of 'eternal recurrence' and everything belonging to one 'infinite whole'. The infinite whole is what most would say IS God. This is why I think 'God' is a concept applied to the whole... as I said in another comment, it's just another, more meaningful, word for the Universe! (I understand Nietzsche is saying that, since God is a concept, when it dies out 'life is meaningless'...but what I mean to say is that 'God' is a concept perceived from something physical -- thus the physical 'God' exists too.... as you may agree, since I read somewhere you hold pantheistic beliefs also)

2 points

Well, religion and worship (as we know) is something that derives from a fundamental concept of God... whether people choose to create a system of ethics AND worship this concept (as Christians do, for example) is up to them and has nothing to do with God itself -- religion and worship is just a way of choosing how to live. Therefore, I think people are entitled to live in what way they choose when it comes to religion/worship, as long as it causes no harm and doesn't enforce its beliefs on others, as some churches do... but I myself don't think public worship is necessary... I think God is personal and the best way to 'worship' is just to live in relation to what we think we know is good for the planet and good for people. Worship should be about appreciation and regard for life itself.

In terms of 'redefining' God, it's more 're-re-defining' God, since this initially was the concept of God anyway, until people mythologised it!

People may choose to worship a non-pantheistic concept of God, but I think if a religion were to worship this concept, or any concept of God... they would need to be open to the possibilities of perhaps being wrong... I don't think it's ever fair to say 'this is absolute fact, so you must live your life this way and believe that god is this' -- in other words, religion shouldn't take an authoritative role in people's lives, as it's merely a way of living, not the absolute way of living... I would say. It's not necessary and it should be there out of choice, not force.

1 point

Well that's why I also said I think it's good to refer to it as God so people know there's no shame in seeing God this way - it's a good thing. I refer to it as God and Nature and whatever I want to really. Most of the ancient Greeks were pantheists - so God was sorta meant to be Nature in the first place, until all the confusion.

1 point

Myself and most pantheists do call it nature. When I have the choice I refer to God as 'It' (not He) or 'the Universe'. I dislike using the term 'God' because it causes confusion and people think you're referring to the traditional Christian idea (which I would say is mythical/analogous of the Universe)... In this particular argument we were discussing the existence of God, so I was making it clear that by nature I meant God. I even advised that people don't call it God! It can be whatever you want it to be, since it is everything!

But at the end of the day, it is what God is (we believe) and if people want to call it God they can. Apparently 'God' traditionally meant 'I am', so it is the same concept (that I am God, you are God...and so on). God is a synonym for nature, the Universe, life, matter... If nature is never referred to as 'God', people won't begin to realise they are the same thing.

0 points

I think the idea that the world will end precisely in 2012 is a poor view, based on unreliable sources. It would be an impressive coincidence if it did. I would say the world could end in 2012, just as it could end today, or tomorrow, or next week, or in three years, or in a million. There's no knowing for sure. Anything could happen any time. If you can foresee the world heading into a pit of destructive misery by next year, then consider why and act on it. Volcanoes are erupting all over the place, the arms industry is expanding, as is nuclear power (apparently Russia and the USA have enough nuclear weapons to destroy the world EIGHT times over), there's major evidence of climate change and we can see how quickly it is developing...

Basically, if you want to ensure your chances of still existing in 2013 and the chances of humanity existing even in 4013, "be the change you want to see in the world".

If we don't all act civil and humane NOW, we might survive for a few more generations, but not necessarily for more than that...

But who knows? We could just get hit by a meteor, meaning it doesn't matter what we do now. Or we really could just continue to destroy ourselves. Depends how you want the Earth to end. Personally, I want it to never end - but if it does at any point, I want it to be with people knowing they did all they could to save it.

2 points

I'm a pantheist.

I didn't used to believe in God because I didn't understand what it could be. I started to learn about philosophy and realised I'd spent my entire life being so ignorant about it -- the answer was obvious all along.

God is our human understanding of the Universe. God is basically life and existence itself. Life, the Universe...- it is omnipotent (in the sense that it can do anything within the realm of possibility), omnipresent (it is everywhere and everything), omniscient (because it IS everything there is to know), the 'creator' (in the sense that it is the source of everything), it's perfect (in the way that it is perfectly complete), it is eternal (even if restricted to a tiny atom, it's still existing), it is good (in the way that it is good AT existing and good FOR existing). A Barbie doll, for instance, is not life -- but it's a product of life. A stone is a product of the Earth. We, as humans, are the only rational AND sentient component of God's nature. To talk of God being rational and good and evil, we are talking about ourselves. If there is evil in the world, it is the fault of people. I don't believe in an anthropomorphic God (one who has human characteristics). That's why I personally prefer to refer to God as 'It' not 'He'. I believe God is only anthropomorphic through us.

I say it's our 'human understanding' of the Universe/life, because without humans, the concept of God would disappear, but God would still continue to exist -- but just as a stone would continue to exist, only it would not have the name of 'stone'. We call life/the Universe 'God', because it is the meaning of life/the Universe, just as being a 'stone' is the meaning of the stone. It is faith and morality and recognition of what is there -- and in ways it is a product of us, yes, but also our perception of what pre-exists us.

I accept athiesm in the sense that people choose not to have this faith. But these people do still believe in 'God', only they call it beauty, love, chocolate, beer, family, friends, trees, xbox, passion, work, books, art, cinema...whatever they want. Everything that adds an aspect of meaning to your life is essentially what believers are doing with the Universe -- they are seeing it as an overwhelmingly wonderful reason to live.

PS. I am not religious, but do accept religions... I basically accept any belief -- relativism exists because of a fundamental source: people, culture...etc, - all the result of evolution, which is a result of the Universe.

You just have to see it differently and not judge too quickly. If you find yourself still disagreeing, I'd recommend to just try looking at life this way and thinking about the world this way for a month and see how fulfilling it can be. And read yourself some Spinoza.

PS (again). I think there are so many sceptics in the world because of the common misunderstanding that God is some giant guy with a beard, or some invisible creator far beyond the Universe... people start to see how ridiculous it is and don't look for a logical answer. Others think 'we have no proof', but they say this because they are, again, trying to find proof of the interventionist bearded man, or the celestial teapot. Of course we're not going to find that. If we did...then...bloomin' 'eck, forget all I've said! But I really don't think that exists and what DOES exist is what is here and now and gone and soon to be. You are God! I am God! Your pet is God. Your coach is God. But don't call it 'God' if you want to avoid the confusion ... just call it life, nature... Bill...Bob...your reflection. Whatever YOU want.

Well, God has spoken. And God has things to do...

;-)

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About Me


"Student from the UK. Professional procrastinator; social liberalist; tea connoisseur."

Biographical Information
Name: Lorna 
Gender: Female
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Country: United Kingdom
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