romansh

Is it with the punchline ... only if you get your thumbs caught?

In light of some of the nonsense regarding Satan ... An atheist dies and goes to hell...Satan welcomes him and says: "Let me show you around a little bit." They walk through a nice park with green trees and the devil shows him a huge palace. "This is your house now, here are your keys." The man is happy and thanks the devil. Satan says: "No need to say thank you, everyone gets a nice place to live in when they come down here!"They continue walking through the nice park, flowers everywhere, and Satan shows the atheist a garage full of beautiful cars. "These are your cars now!" and hands the man all the car keys. Again, the atheist tries to thank the devil, but he only says "Everyone down here gets some cool cars! How would you drive around without having cars?".They walk on and the area gets even nicer. There are birds chirping, squirrels running around; kittens everywhere. They arrive at a fountain, where the most beautiful woman the atheist has ever seen sits on a bench. She looks at him and they instantly fall in love with each other. The man couldn´t be any happier. Satan says "Everyone gets to have their soulmate down here, we don´t want anyone to be lonely!"As they walk on, the atheist notices a high fence. He peeks to the other side and is totally shocked. There are people in pools of lava, screaming in pain, while little devils run around and stab them with their tridents. Other devils are skinning people alive, heads are spiked, and many more terrible things are happening. A stench of sulfur is in the air.Terrified, the man stumbles backwards, and asks Satan "What is going on there?" And the punchline: Satan just shrugs and says: "Those are the Christians, I don´t know why, but they prefer it that way."

It's OK Derek ... in your case, my like was unconditional, unlike some Christians.

Yeah ... You did not really answer what is your take on Campbell's quote?

Without looking it up Soul ... Could be (1) a synonym for a person, three souls perished in that accident. (2) An aspect of personality or culture, a person with little displayed passion might be described as she has no soul, culturally soul music or literature for the soul. (3) An imagined state of immaterial being, used by superstitious people.

I knew there was something I liked about you.

I notice you have done this sort of thing on several different websites ... and indeed you seem familiar. Have you had any success anywhere?

from the other thread:

What is your take on Joseph Campbell's take? You perform your duty to support the universe. The universe is alive. The Sun performs its duty, the Moon performs its duty, the mice perform their duty and cats perform theirs, the brahmins perform theirs, the sudras theirs, and by this - everyone performing his duty - the universe is held in form. By following your dharma you hold the universe in form.

Derek ... I have not read any of Merton. But it appears the word Dharma has many meanings. It would be helpful if you could throw some light on what you think Merton means by Dharma. The one sense of Dharma that makes sense to me is the one proposed by Campbell: You perform your duty to support the universe. The universe is alive. The Sun performs its duty, the Moon performs its duty, the mice perform their duty and cats perform theirs, the brahmins perform theirs, the sudras theirs, and by this - everyone performing his duty - the universe is held in form. By following your dharma you hold the universe in form.

Really? We should not use persuasion to get someone off a dangerous path (that we see). While I disagree with many aspects of Joseph's views, I think he has come closest for me. Acceptance. For example, I think David is very wrong, but I accept it. But that does not mean I won't try and nudge him to a safer (what I see as) path. I think Darrow had it: Chase after the truth like all hell and you’ll free yourself, even though you never touch its coat tails.

Well David ... you should practice what you preach and engage in the argi bargy of discourse. If indeed I do have assertions they would go along lines like these: If cause and effect are true, then any opinions/beliefs we have are a product of our evolution and environment. If cause and effect are not true then our opinions/beliefs have just popped into existence. (I must admit this seems far-fetched to me). If it is some combination of the two we are no further ahead. Take your Brené for example. She managed to shake her addiction to a combination of alcohol, smoking, emotional eating and an addiction to control. But she never managed to let go of Christianity, wavering between the Catholic and Episcopalian. Now if any of my three ifs are true, it takes courage to think about them and go where our thoughts lead us.

I like Stephen Batchelor. I find I am much more aligned with him than other lines with Buddhist thought. Mrs rom is fine. Thanks. There's some weight to her bossiness now, the cast and moral black mail work fine.

Well, @David SundaramI do have to thank you for providing a little mirth on an otherwise mirthless day. Mrs rom phoned this morning, to tell me that she had slipped on some ice and passers-by had called an ambulance. I called a neighbour to ask her if I could give her a ride into town so she could bring Mrs rom's car home. She could. I got to the hospital and she, Mrs rom, informed me she had likely broken her wrist and banged her head on possibly a fire hydrant. She assured me the fire hydrant was OK. Anyway, hours pass, as they do in Emergency. It turns out her radius is broken. They set the fracture in a plaster cast. re-Xrayed it, not good enough. The surgeon wants to operate, but the theatre does not. I come home for a bite to eat. Mrs rom texts that they will try re-setting without an op. Drive back ... hunt down where the Mrs is hidden in the hospital. A couple more hours pass. Eventually, the Mrs escapes the event horizon of the local hospital. In the meantime, during lulls in the events, I read a few bits of David's musings. And commented on them. It would appear a serious critique is not what was hoped for by David. It appears David wants happiness and not criticism. Now if someone were to critique my writing negatively and I respected their opinion or their negative opinion was accurate, I must admit, it would hurt. So extrapolating from a point of one, either my opinion was accurate or David respects my opinion. Who would have thought? An inaccurate, anonymous opinion on the internet ... For me, dissenting opinions and clarification is where the fun is.

On a forum for debate and discussion? Take this sentence ... and even here the sentence appears not to end. It's gobbledygook. I am reminded of Chopra, but at least it is succinct.

Now, how much time should I spend on reincarnation and the afterlife? I am far more interested in what is considered tangible. I don't find you as interesting as you find yourself. You are here to proselytize whatever it is you are proselytizing. That's fair enough. But you have shown no interest in other people's thoughts. If I believed in shame, I would say "shame on you David." Happily, I don't believe in shame. And you can't even get my stage name correct.

You are right. I would have been 8. No wonder the show seemed deeper.

To be fair David, I am letting a lot of what you say float by. On a lot of websites what you post would be considered spam. But the admin here has a high tolerance for a variety of efforts of discourse. Basically, cutting and pasting with a link to whatever it is you are trying to promote. You like many alternative Christians, write in code. I don't think you are meaning to be rude David, but this particular receiver is tuning in on that perceived frequency. My experience ... people who can't succinctly and simply describe whatever they are on about, often don't really understand it themselves. @David Sundaram

This is an offer I would jump at. Being presumptuous that you might extend the offer.

At 73 ... Well, you would likely remember the winter of '66. It was a wonderful winter. BC ...before cars, well before a lot of cars. This is for a twelve-year-old. Probably a bit of a hassle for a seventeen-year-old though. Great summer though - with the world cup and all.

My apologies for my erroneous assumptions. So can I ask, so are our current understandings irrelevant to how we navigate our lives?

Welcome David I will ask you a similar question to what I have asked in the past. With the advances in science, philosophy, law, economics, psychology, sociology, and a general understanding of how the universe ticks in the last two thousand years: what is the attraction of reinterpreting ancient theological texts so that they fit with our current understanding?

Are you certain about this? OK? Is it your final conclusion that we can have no final conclusion? As an agnostic, I am sympathetic to this line of reasoning, but it does not mean I am oblivious to its flaws. Dogen would be rolling over in his grave, I think.

No, that quote is not Nietzsche. The "one with the all" is a form of Buddhism and Easter traditions as far as I can tell. The entire universe is the true human body. This is Dogen ... new age rubbish? Come on tariki ... not drawing conclusions ... by all means fool me, but not yourself. Take your line: We all draw conclusions. Might not couch them as such, but that is OK.