The Recar - Sunday, September 11th, 2011 - 7:03 PM
This being the philosophical board, I feel obliged to ask a question. Now, this may be the cause of some debate, and I'm sure that I might just regret this eventually. That said, at the moment, it seems like a good idea. I myself am slightly confused on the matter, and would like to hear as much as I can about what you all believe. And that itself is the question.
What do you believe and why do you believe it?
Be as detailed as you feel the need to be, and tell only what you feel comfortable letting others know. I ask that any and all arguments involve the subject matter at hand, and I hope that everyone can be respectful of the beliefs of others, as ridiculous as it might seem to some. On that note, I think I'll leave you to your thoughts and respond only if clarification or a certain idea piques my fancy.
I think a lot of things are lost. I thin that ancient cultures were much smarter than we give them credit for. I don't really believe in a universal nation or Atlantis or anything, but I think there is a lot of forgotten knowledge so to speak.
As far as religion, it's in other threads really what my opinions are, I follow Christianity, but I don't think it's half as complicated as everyone makes it out to be.
As far as the paranormal, it ties into the forbidden or lost knowledge, I think that it is obvious that paranormal activity happens. There are most certainly layers of 'real' that co-exist within and around the one we occupy. Some things I have serious doubts about. I can't say that I really believe in magic, and if it is real I think it has sadly long since been lost.
As far as why, mostly just a cause and effect relationship. I've done a massive amount of relationship that justifies and backs up most of my beliefs, so they make sense to me.
I know this is an odd place to ask, but I'm confused. I'm not saying I hate my life, but how does one go from wanting to be a tattoo artist whilst running around doing the usual magical things to (one year later) head diving into four different jobs out of a necessity and becoming a mechanic? I became a mechanic out of nowhere. I never thought I'd be working with cars, AT ALL. And now, out of NOWHERE, I am a mechanic. How the hell does that work? How did I end up here?
I am beginning to become very concerned about the seeming evolution of humanity and particularly with the way we communicate. Sort of oxymoronical or hypocritical since I very much look forward to the day when transhumanism will be possible and I can in some way be 'more' than human. (That is, given I'm not already via psionic talent)
However, I was having a conversation with my girlfriend recently about how we communicate has vastly changed in the last 10 years or so. First it was just mobile phones, for the first time in history (with spotty connection of course) you can literally carry a telephone with you at all times. Given the course of human history something we take for granted now like mobile phones are utterly astounding.
Then things shifted to instant messaging, which was a bit unremarkable other than for younger people, but the most recent thing...texting. I'm kind of disturbed/confused by our love of putting some sort of electronic barrier between us. I think that in a sense texting creates the same kind of 'safe' anonymity that the internet provides. It's been proven in various studies that people say things the wouldn't normally say, and for the most...
I would never consent or submit to chipping or something like it. I'd cut it out if forced. Someday I do hope that I am able to integrate myself with technology to prolong my lifespand so that I may continue to learn. That is of course unless I lucked out and became a vampire lol, too bad vampires don't real.
My thoughts are rather schizophrenic at the moment, so forgive me.
Now in the original Old Testament, God is called many things: El Shaddai (Lord God Almighty), El Elyon (The Most High God), Adonai (Lord, Master), and so on and so forth. I believe there are around 300 different names given for God in the Bible, but don't quote me on that. However, the name I want to look at is Elohim. It is the plural form of God in Hebrew.
Here's the first verse in Genesis in Hebrew: בְּרֵאשִׁית, בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים, אֵת הַשָּׁמַיִם, וְאֵת הָאָרֶץ. The word God is never mentioned, instead it gives the name Elohim: אֱלֹהִים. Elohim is used 32 times in Genesis 1 alone.
This can also be used to denote a title, as Elohim directly translates as God of Gods. However, it is still considered plural.
Now the interesting part: in Christian theology it is assumed that Elohim refers to the God head, the three in one. The Trinity; the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We come to this conclusion from Mathew 3:13-17. Were Jesus was baptized, the skies opened, a dove came down and YHWH's voice was heard. » Comment too long. Click to view the full text.
Thank you for the responses. I took into context the grammar of the word itself, yet neglected to examine the verbs surrounding it. The verbs are indeed, singular. MAH BAD.
But it does spark an interesting discussion.
Goet: The “I-M” at the end of the word Elohim makes this word a masculine plural noun. In fact as a basic Hebrew lesson, the letters “I-M” ending a Hebrew word, it is speaking of more than one (plural). Yet there is another usage in Hebrew of the “I-M” ending and it’s called the “plural of Majesty”. That is adding the “I-M” at the end of a word can also denote greatness rather than plurality.
Source: http://www.torahclass.com/old-testament-studies/34-old-testament-studies-genesis/57-lesson-2
That's amazing.
Zebus: The trinity is certainly a very complex and overwhelming idea.
The first mention of the Trinity is in the Athanasian Creed: "...we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity... for there is one Person of the Father, another of the Son, another of the Holy Ghost is all one... they are not three gods, but one God... the whole three persons are co-eternal...
Well you could remember the Kabbalic tree of life, and the assertion that there are 10 distinct emanations of god through time/the universe. The trinity in that system is the first three sefirot at the top, purity, action, and manifestation (in my interpretation.) Or you could consider the Kabbalistic symbolic meaning of each letter of the various names of god, and read the names as all describing one god, but as symbolic 'prayers' or invocations of the various aspects. Just some thoughts, I'm no expert.
Supposed so at Cain's idea.
By far one of the best classes I took at a Baptist University was a Philosophy class, and one of the best discussions we ever had was answering the question "Does God have to follow rules? Does God have any limitations?"
I'd say the answer would be yes. In this instance God being the Judeo-Christian God. The simplest was just an elementary adage in the form of the question "Could God create something (like a rock) so dense/heavy that he cannot move it?"
I think one interesting limitation of Gods that comes purely by logical necessity is that God can never know Sin. Since God is perfection and is flawless, he knows what sin is, in concept, but since God cannot sin it's something he can never know. I always found that idea interesting.
Something else that I'v hypothesized about God is that he can never predict how a human will react. I do believe I've either alluded to it before or spelled it out but my idea goes like this: God knows the cause and effect relationships and repercussions of every possible scenario regarding every possible choice made by human beings in any given situation simultaneously. BUT,...
>>20328
Very astute observation. I think that when my professor asked he was more trying to get the ball rolling on asking tough questions about God since we were at a conservative, Southern Baptist University
>>20306
I haven't had the chance to look at that yet, busy all the time, but I have my doubts about it. I'm very mistrusting by nature of science and modern medicine. I can see how such a thing is possible of course, but I'm not sure it's our brain autonomously making decisions for us without our consent? You're kind of leading into another question, that being who are we really? Just our brains? Or our essence/soul/personality/whatever.
In a kind of spooky experiment, scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences reveal that our decisions are made seconds before we become aware of them.
In the study, participants could freely decide if they wanted to press a button with their right or left hand.
The only condition was that they had to remember when they made the decision to either use their right hand or left hand.
Using fMRI, researchers would scan the brains of the participants while all of this was going on in order to find out if they could in fact predict which hand the participants would use BEFORE they were consciously aware of the decision.
The Results
By monitoring the micro patterns of activity in the frontopolar cortex, the researchers could predict which hand the participant would choose 7 SECONDS before the participant was aware of the decision.
“Your decisions are strongly prepared by brain activity. By the time consciousness kicks in, most of the work has already been done,” said study co-author John-Dylan Haynes, a Max Planck Institute neuroscientist. » Comment too long. Click to view the full text.
/sanc/ something I've been thinking about lately, just haven't had the time to post, also trying to get some movement since the site has been stagnant for over a month now.
What if your own personal viewpoint literally structures your world as far as the supernatural goes? Mentioned in http://sanctuary.prelucid.com/?no=20102
The human mind does some outright amazing things just by how we view things. Placebo affect, biofeedback, mind of matter, whatever. I think this brings up two possible questions/topics.
1) Is it possible that the umbrella of 'paranormal phenomena' is something like a universal subconscious but only those willing to suspend disbelief can access parts of it?
2) In the vein of seeing that you want to see, do some paranormal happenings occur and become very real simply because your mind creates such a construct?
I think the repercussions of either idea could be pretty vast and far reaching. Is the world really like I view it? Or is the world I see different from yours? A lot of things seem to be constant, like the saying that history is just myth agreed upon, or colors perhaps but what if they aren't? It also asks philosophical...
echoless-laughterAtheist - Friday, June 17th, 2011 - 8:51 PM
Sentience is arguably the worst thing that’s ever happened to this planet. The ability to comprehend our own demise diminishes any amount of accomplishment we achieve in these short few years. Knowing that nothing we do will ever make a real difference. Eventually something will happen, whether it be a meteor, a solar flare, or we simply fuck up, and everything will be lost. We mean nothing in the grand scheme of things. It is because of this that so many search for meaning in a meaningless life. We project fear onto those around us, in hopes of making existence purposeful. We hate others due to our own inability to accept that someday we will mean little more than a fragment floating through the infinite. Sentience is a cannibalistic act. One which cannot be cured, or beaten by reason. So long as we think, we will never be happy. In a world where we can understand, learn, and care, we will never be freed from the overwhelming fear of the end. That someday we will think no more, we will be no more. Those who delude themselves into believing otherwise are probably the luckiest of us, albeit the most stupid. To think that life will continue past this sad material existence would...
no no no.
not trying to start up a shit storm here but...
science and religion are just fine.
ideology and ignorance are the real killers.
No. 20138 - Anonymous - February 19th, 2012 - 7:27 AM
Sentience isn't free will. Sure, we can reason and the ability to make a few choices, but that doesn't prove if we have free will any more than if it proves our paths are pre-determined. We don't 'control' the planet. For all we know it controls us. But it's egotistical to think that our sentience means that we are somehow the defenders of the universe that will never be recognized for our so-called glorious consciousness.
ZebusVampire - Tuesday, November 22nd, 2011 - 10:45 PM
I thought I had to post this, it was just so outlandishly weird compared to the dreams that I usually have. Not that I find it that compelling and needs to be read or anything, but I thought I'd share to have some OC going on around here.
I had a dream recently where in and outside of the dream I felt myself astrally project to a location that I had never seen before. It was a clinic/psychiatric hospital that was in the present, but kind of ratty. The kind that hasn't been updated since the 70s. I was in an astral form very akin to a ghost. If I focused enough, I could interact physically with the environment around me, and no one could see me.
At first it was really sort of light-hearted apart from being a bit creepy/surreal. I was playing pranks being a 'ghost' to the nurses working. Then it started to get....weird.
I picked one secretary that was a young girl sitting at her desk, and was communicating with her via automatic writing. I kept writing in a set of runic letters that I had never seen before. They were sort of spiral, more circular than the only set I know (Elder F), but it wasn't eastern or Kanji. I also kept having her draw over and over...
ZebusVampire - Wednesday, August 24th, 2011 - 4:47 PM
As usual, sometimes I'm not too sure where this sort of thread belongs. I have always had intricately complex and vivid dreams. Sometimes, I can remember them, and sometimes I cannot. I journal them now, so that does help with retention. To me there seems to be a sort of continuity that ties a lot of them together.
Settings seem to be static in some cases, there seems to be what I call an alternate-version of my hometown that many take place in. Alternate-high school, alternate-houses, ect. No my thinking is twofold on this. I know that there seem to be obvious plot-lines that re-occur, mostly ones that relate to my experiences in high school, past relationships, ect.
Going with the similar-but-different effect...is there a possibility that I may be viewing alternate realities that possibly actually exist in a multiverse? I almost makes sense when you consider that part of quantum theory. In some cases the events have been so 'real' that I have even mistaken them for my actual memories before realizing that they are just a dream...nothing more. Anybody else's opinion? Are dreams just dreams or something more?
(pic unrelated)
No. 19744 - LuinbarielDreamwalker - September 19th, 2011 - 6:19 AM
>>19743
I don't know. I occasionally have similar dreams in which I'm really good at playing the guitar. Like... fucking PHENOMENAL at guitar. I just pick it up and suddenly it's like I've been holding on my entire life.
In reality I can't play it for shit, although I do have some musical ability with the saxophone. I've got little ability anywhere else when it comes to music.
I would look around and see how common of a dream archetype this is before looking down the alternate universe road. Maybe in some way common dream archetypes ARE a glance down that road, but I wouldn't necessarily go there first, is all.
>>19746
I wasn't saying you were insisting anything, just making sure it was out there I guess.
I'm in a similar boat as yourself. I remember another dream I've had in which I was singing a song I'd never heard before, a melody I didn't know. It wasn't necessarily complex like yours but I still remember it. It NEVER left me and I can't seem to get rid of it. I guess in many ways it is kind of weird and I wonder about it as well.
