Thursday, November 23, 2006
It would be a blessing if each human being were stricken blind and deaf
for a few days at some time during his adult life. Darkness would make
him more appreciative of sight; silence would teach him the joys of
sound.
- Helen Adams Keller
for a few days at some time during his adult life. Darkness would make
him more appreciative of sight; silence would teach him the joys of
sound.
- Helen Adams Keller
Sunday, November 19, 2006
Heaven... Easy or difficult
EASY to get there whether you believe or not.
CHECKLIST:
1. define what you mean when you say "heaven"
state of bliss or a state that is a place?
2. If place- Pick heaven of choice:
gold/ virgins/ to live again
3.Pick belief system that corresponds to destination
4.Join/ attend & practice belief system
5.Enlist eternal cheerleader that will talk up your value
from a belief system point of view.
Do it for the family... "Support the team."
DIFFICULT: for those who question...
1. Deny reason
2. Deny the majority
3. Deny prevailing myths of faith, society & country
4. Deny the need for a "cosmic label" associated with
your name
5. accept that you will be labeled a "Humbug" or "Scrooge"
during holidays... even if you are a moral & caring person.
Warren Thompson -on my 53'rd birthday
born in 1953
EASY to get there whether you believe or not.
CHECKLIST:
1. define what you mean when you say "heaven"
state of bliss or a state that is a place?
2. If place- Pick heaven of choice:
gold/ virgins/ to live again
3.Pick belief system that corresponds to destination
4.Join/ attend & practice belief system
5.Enlist eternal cheerleader that will talk up your value
from a belief system point of view.
Do it for the family... "Support the team."
DIFFICULT: for those who question...
1. Deny reason
2. Deny the majority
3. Deny prevailing myths of faith, society & country
4. Deny the need for a "cosmic label" associated with
your name
5. accept that you will be labeled a "Humbug" or "Scrooge"
during holidays... even if you are a moral & caring person.
Warren Thompson -on my 53'rd birthday
born in 1953
Thursday, November 16, 2006
Most people die at the last minute; others 20 years beforehand, some even earlier. They are the wretched of the earth.
-- Louis Celine
-- Louis Celine
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Amicus Plato — amicus Aristoteles — magis amica veritas
Plato is my friend — Aristotle is my friend — but my greatest friend is truth.
-Issac Newton
Plato is my friend — Aristotle is my friend — but my greatest friend is truth.
-Issac Newton
Sunday, November 12, 2006
Richard Dawkins reads excerpts from The God Delusion and anwsers questions at Randolph-Macon Woman's College in Lynchburg, Virginia on October 23, 2006. This Q&A features many questions from Jerry Falwell's Liberty "University" students. In Richard's tour journal he says:
"Many of the questioners announced themselves as either students or faculty from Liberty, rather than from Randolph Macon which was my host institution. One by one they tried to trip me up, and one by one their failure to do so was applauded by the audience. Finally, I said that my advice to all Liberty students was to resign immediately and apply to a proper university instead. That received thunderous applause, so that I almost began to feel slightly sorry for the Liberty people. Only almost and only slightly, however."
www.richarddawkins.net
"Many of the questioners announced themselves as either students or faculty from Liberty, rather than from Randolph Macon which was my host institution. One by one they tried to trip me up, and one by one their failure to do so was applauded by the audience. Finally, I said that my advice to all Liberty students was to resign immediately and apply to a proper university instead. That received thunderous applause, so that I almost began to feel slightly sorry for the Liberty people. Only almost and only slightly, however."
www.richarddawkins.net
Sunday, November 05, 2006
"In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual." -Galileo Galilei
"The Church says that the Earth is flat, but I know that it is round. For I have seen the shadow on the moon, and I have more faith in Shadow than in the Church."
-Ferdinand Magellan
"The Church says that the Earth is flat, but I know that it is round. For I have seen the shadow on the moon, and I have more faith in Shadow than in the Church."
-Ferdinand Magellan
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
One of the great religious humanist pioneers, John H. Dietrich, pointed out:
For centuries the idea of God has been the very heart of religion; it has been said "no God, no religion." But humanism thinks of religion as something very different and far deeper than any belief in God. To it, religion is not the attempt to establish right relations with a supernatural being, but rather the upreaching and aspiring impulse in a human life. It is life striving for its completest fulfillment, and anything which contributes to this fulfillment is religious, whether it be associated with the idea of God or not.
For centuries the idea of God has been the very heart of religion; it has been said "no God, no religion." But humanism thinks of religion as something very different and far deeper than any belief in God. To it, religion is not the attempt to establish right relations with a supernatural being, but rather the upreaching and aspiring impulse in a human life. It is life striving for its completest fulfillment, and anything which contributes to this fulfillment is religious, whether it be associated with the idea of God or not.
