i wonder what goes on in the 'atheist free' thread.. Is it all happy-clappy and singing kumbyah or do the catholics and protestants gang up and beat the crap out of the muslims?
Atheist only thread.
Posts
Total:
137
-->
@keithprosser
I would guess it's more of the former and less of the latter. 😃😅😏😐🙄
-->
@keithprosser
So...are you still a moral nihilist. If so, I still don't understand!
What books are you guys reading? I'm reading "The Story of the Earth in 25 Rocks". I am enjoying it immensely. I plan on reading another book by the same author next: "The story of life in 25 fossils"
What about a thread for theists to debate theists on the correct denomination.
-->
@SkepticalOne
It blew my mind when I Saw the capitalization - I always thought it was Skeptic Alone for the last 5 years.
Like you needed a friend.
-->
@Ramshutu
😂 Aww, dang it. My name is no longer ambigious!
-->
@SkepticalOne
well, I still can't think why I ought to care if the oil runs out or pandas go extinct after I'm dead. Swords and ploughshares use the same laws of physics, Newtons laws of motion and qm do not say we ought to be good. Morality does not exist.So...are you still a moral nihilist. If so, I still don't understand!
I take that to mean that there is no 'ought',no 'should'. So what about, say, slavery? Surely there should be no slavery? Very well then, let's do away with slavery! Those who would keep their slaves have to be overcome - but it is not a matter of morality but of will. Even if morality did exist whether there are slaves or not would still be a battle of wills.
-->
@SkepticalOne
Its still ambiguous, but now it’s ambiguous between “is this guy a skeptical rational thinker”, or “if I ask about his evidence is he going
to start a rant about chemtrails” - based on the two common self-identifying groups of “skeptics”.
-->
@Deb-8-a-bull
What about a thread for theists to debate theists on the correct denomination.
I'm sure it won't take long for mopydick to start banging on how good orthodoxy is.
The blood will start flowing in their thread soon enough; you can do a lot of damage with a well-swung guitar or tambourine when the singing stops.
-->
@Ramshutu
Oh great. I'm not sure if I can stand for THAT ambiguity! 😜
-->
@SkepticalOne
What books are you guys reading?
Waking Up by Sam Harris.
Well, full title -- Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion
-->
@Castin
I was listening to his podcast today (by the same name). He mentioned this book and, if I understood him correctly, it lays out meditation in some way?
-->
@SkepticalOne
I'm only about a third of the way through at the moment. But yes, it covers meditation and mindfulness. I had no idea mindfulness was so effective.
Mindfulness practice has been employed to reduce symptoms of depression, to reduce stress, anxiety, and in the treatment of drug addiction. Programs based on Kabat-Zinn's and similar models have been adopted in schools, prisons, hospitals, veterans' centers, and other environments, and mindfulness programs have been applied for additional outcomes such as for healthy aging, weight management, athletic performance, helping children with special needs, and as an intervention during the perinatal period.Clinical studies have documented both physical- and mental-health benefits of mindfulness in different patient categories as well as in healthy adults and children. Research studies have consistently shown a positive relationship between trait mindfulness and psychological health. The practice of mindfulness appears to provide therapeutic benefits to people with psychiatric disorders, including to those with psychosis. Studies also indicate that rumination and worry contribute to the onset of a variety of mental disorders, and that mindfulness-based interventions significantly reduce both rumination and worry. Further, the practice of mindfulness may be a preventive strategy to halt the development of mental-health problems.
Really though, it's not just a meditation book. It's a philosophical treatise. It explores the nature of consciousness, the human experience, suffering, spirituality, why humans find it so hard to be happy, what they can do about that, and what world religions get wrong.
A demonstrative excerpt from the book:
Twenty percent of Americans describe themselves as "spiritual but not religious." Although the claim seems to annoy believers and atheists equally, separating spirituality from religion is a perfectly reasonable thing to do. It is to assert two important truths simultaneously: Our world is dangerously riven by religious doctrines that all educated people should condemn, and yet there is more to understanding the human condition than science and secular culture generally admit. One purpose of this book is to give both these convictions intellectual and empirical support.
-->
@Castin
What's the difference between 'spiritual' and 'nice'?
-->
@Castin
I have a hard time following Same down this road. It seems to me meditation can be immensely beneficial. Where he and I part ways (I believe) is that I would view enjoying art, hiking, listening to music (and other things which can induce a calm introspection) to be meditation. I imagine he wants an activity a little more structured/devoted?
-->
@SkepticalOne
I think maybe some people find it harder to 'chill' than others. Closing my eyes and putting Bach on the CD player didn't work for me until i tried doing it in the other order.
-->
@SkepticalOne
I was right! Mopac posted:
These other so called churches? They are eating from the crumbs of our table. They are not the church.
They'll be burning hetetics this time next week.
-->
@keithprosser
I Laughed out LOUD.
-->
@keithprosser
There's not much happening in the fairy tale thread
-->
@keithprosser
I accept this, Keith, but I believe Sam thinks there is more to meditation than this.Closing my eyes and putting Bach on the CD player didn't work for me until i tried doing it in the other order.
-->
@keithprosser
I was right!
You're a prophet!! 😂😂😂
-->
@SkepticalOne
You can't fault mopac's loyalty.
-->
@keithprosser
Ok, EVERYBODY CHIME IN, on a scale of zero to 100, how much do you HATE THE BABY JESUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So... am i allowed to say i am atheist towards all religion? Is there such an atheist? I am for sure agnostic, but i do also believe there is a very high likelihood there is another dimension and/or a higher consciousness. Man... i just don't fit in anywhere =(
-->
@Outplayz
Hey mon, get your butt in the Theist thread! no reason to be atheist towards religion in a strict sense, religion has legit insights because it is the study of that reality. Doesn't mean they have everything right, but remember there are countless societies that exist outside this one, and so many souls are connected with those realities. Since there are countless places for the soul to exist on many levels, there are countless places the soul can also collectively exist where it wishes, so some of the realities in religion that seem absurd to you...do in fact exist on some conscious level, just not your particular level or desire.
-->
@EtrnlVw
Religion 100% is absurd to me. It is clearly man made and quite frankly evil in the mass delusion it is causing. I quite frankly despise religion bc it is something that is destroying humanity. Now, does religion have some good stuff too... of course. It's books on morals and self-help type stuff. So obviously there will be stuff that's good. But as a whole, and for what it is... i'm anti-religion.
As for why i stay away from the theist thread. I'm agnostic. Although, i truly believe there will be an afterlife... i have no clue what that afterlife would be. There are certain platforms that sound better than the rest. You and i share one of my favorite. However, i know it a guess... and not even a really good one. Bc think about it like this. Although we share in thinking an eternal consciousness is a good platform... it can just as easily be wrong. In what way? It could literally be just like the matrix. We could be inside a machine simulation. The real reality is a machine intelligence that has us all in it. That is basically the same as an eternal consciousness... an eternal machine. That is besides all the other nuisance of there could be more than one, it could have evolved, etc. etc. So i'm throughly agnostic. And even on my favorite platforms i see more than one having the possibility to be true.
In the end of the day, my only real belief or sorta intuitive belief is that we will survive death. Still not 100% in order to really be called a belief, but i do highly suspect we will. In what form, i have no clue. I can literally list a 100 platforms. I think it is good to be honest with yourself and just say you don't know. That is one thing i do not like about theists is that they pretend they know. How it works, how it thinks, the exact implications... no one knows. And it is deluded in my opinion for people to pretend they do. I am less like a skeptic or atheist in that i truly see a possibility in surviving death, but to be exactly sure what it is... no way. There are way too many ways that could be the case. Everything being one consciousness... and individualizing within that consciousness. I like that most. But who knows.
And to be honest... you are the only theist i like in there. Well, i have nothing against Jane either nor do i dislike her, but she doesn't really converse with me in detail anyways. I have nothing to say to any of the other people in that thread other than to tell them they are wrong.
-->
@EtrnlVw
I just read it back... i didn't mean it's not a really good one in general bc i do believe it is currently the best platform that can explain a lot. I just meant it's not a perfect guess, bc there are other platforms that can be exactly the same with the same implications. Although, through some thinking and reasoning through it, i do think the non-dual platform is above all else currently.and not even a really good one
-->
@Outplayz
Do you have any tangible reason for that belief?my only real belief or sorta intuitive belief is that we will survive death.