WELCOME HERETIC: F&R SUMMER FEATURE

[DC]

Re: WELCOME HERETIC: F&R SUMMER FEATURE

Heretic,

1. In the absence of a religious/spiritual frame of reference, how do you motivate/inspire yourself during those difficult times in your life?

2. <span style="font-weight: bold">IF</span> you could choose or had the chance to sit with two people and have a serious conversation (not debate...well..maybe) on religous and/or non-religious matters, who would they be?

3.Who inspires you the most in your current thinking?

[heretic]

Re: WELCOME HERETIC: F&amp;R SUMMER FEATURE

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Compray</div><div class="ubbcode-body">It's amazing how we both see something different in those two statements. Again, it's a case of whether the glass half full or half empty. </div></div>What you see depends on where you're standing and who you are. Such is life.

[heretic]

Re: WELCOME HERETIC: F&amp;R SUMMER FEATURE

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Silent_River</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Heretic,

1. In the absence of a religious/spiritual frame of reference, how do you motivate/inspire yourself during those difficult times in your life?</div></div>Interesting question. I don't know how to answer it. If I come up with something I'll let you know.

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">2. <span style="font-weight: bold">IF</span> you could choose or had the chance to sit with two people and have a serious conversation (not debate...well..maybe) on religous and/or non-religious matters, who would they be? </div></div>I'd probably pick Bertrand Russell and David Hume.

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">3.Who inspires you the most in your current thinking?
</div></div>In terms of intellectual role models I don't really have any. I admire processes and methods more than individuals. Having said that, however, I like the philosophies and styles of Robert Ingersoll, Bertrand Russell, David Hume, and Voltaire.

[Mutty]

Re: WELCOME HERETIC: F&amp;R SUMMER FEATURE

Ingersoll for President!

[Diplomat]

Re: WELCOME HERETIC: F&amp;R SUMMER FEATURE

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Mutty</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Ingersoll for President! </div></div>
Russell would probably be more interesting. That despite the fact that Anthony Flew took issue with his positions on a number of issues.

[heretic]

Re: WELCOME HERETIC: F&amp;R SUMMER FEATURE

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: CEW</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Russell would probably be more interesting.</div></div>Agreed. Ingersoll, however, has a somewhat more engaging style of writing.

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">That despite the fact that Anthony Flew took issue with his positions on a number of issues. </div></div>Good old Anthony Flew.

[Diplomat]

Re: WELCOME HERETIC: F&amp;R SUMMER FEATURE

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: heretic</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: CEW</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Russell would probably be more interesting.</div></div>Agreed. Ingersoll, however, has a somewhat more engaging style of writing.</div></div>
I quite liked Russell's engaging style in his &quot;A History of Western Philosophy&quot;. It was interesting, and at times amusing, how he poked holes in the ideas of some of the Greek philosophers, and then to read in another book, how Flew challenged some of his. It reaffirmed how differences in human perception/insights, when looking at the same things, means there isn't always uniformity of thoughts on any number of issues.

[Diplomat]

Re: WELCOME HERETIC: F&amp;R SUMMER FEATURE

Question for you: Is your family aware of your beliefs, and if so, do you have written funeral instructions to make sure there's nothing religious in the order of service for when you die?

And on the subject of death, how does your worldview influence the way you view it, or if you knew when it was coming, the way you would approach it?

[heretic]

Re: WELCOME HERETIC: F&amp;R SUMMER FEATURE

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: CEW</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I quite liked Russell's engaging style in his &quot;A History of Western Philosophy&quot;. It was interesting, and at times amusing, how he poked holes in the ideas of some of the Greek philosophers, and then to read in another book, how Flew challenged some of his. It reaffirmed how differences in human perception/insights, when looking at the same things, means there isn't always uniformity of thoughts on any number of issues. </div></div>...and this is exactly as it should be. For the most part many of the conclusions are irrelevant. What I think is important is method and rigor, and in that sense both Russell and Flew have made decent contributions to human thought (Flew for example added 'No True Scotsman' to the taxonomy of logical fallacies). I agree with Russell on the principles: rationalist, humanist, evidentialist, but I don't always agree on the details. Differences and disagreement make the world more interesting and a nicer place as long as we aren't killing each other over trivial nonsenses.

[heretic]

Re: WELCOME HERETIC: F&amp;R SUMMER FEATURE

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: CEW</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Question for you: Is your family aware of your beliefs, and if so, do you have written funeral instructions to make sure there's nothing religious in the order of service for when you die?</div></div>Everybody of consequence is aware of my lack of belief. I don't have written funeral instructions, but I'd like to think that the people of consequence know better than to do the whole religious pomp and ceremony thing after I go. In any case, funerals are for the living. I'll be dead, so for all I care they can chop me up and feed me to hogs.

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">And on the subject of death, how does your worldview influence the way you view it, or if you knew when it was coming, the way you would approach it? </div></div>I tend to take the view of Epicurus in his letter to Menoeceus (quote below):
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Accustom yourself to believing that death is nothing to us, for good and evil imply the capacity for sensation, and death is the privation of all sentience; therefore a correct understanding that death is nothing to us makes the mortality of life enjoyable, not by adding to life a limitless time, but by taking away the yearning after immortality. For life has no terrors for him who has thoroughly understood that there are no terrors for him in ceasing to live. Foolish, therefore, is the man who says that he fears death, not because it will pain when it comes, but because it pains in the prospect. Whatever causes no annoyance when it is present, causes only a groundless pain in the expectation. Death, therefore, the most awful of evils, is nothing to us, seeing that, when we are, death is not come, and, when death is come, we are not. It is nothing, then, either to the living or to the dead, for with the living it is not and the dead exist no longer.
</div></div>As far as I can tell, Once I die that's it: no second chances, no do-overs. To me this means make the most of the time I have now. It means spend my time with the people I like, the books I like, and do the things I like. I'm very serious about it as well. If I start watching a movie and it doesn't get my interest in 10 minutes I stop. If I'm listening to the radio and Akon or 'fiddy cent' comes on I turn it off. If I think you're a horrible person I will not socialise with you, family or not. If before I die I am able to take a detailed accounting of my life I'd like the things that I enjoy, or the things that better my life to make up the bulk of the spreadsheet. &quot;Total time spent listening to Akon: 17 minutes&quot; - Oh hell no.

Beyond affecting how I chose to do the things I like, my views on death - or rather what happens after I die - means my choices and actions aren't prejudiced by a fear of damnation or promise of reward. I do things because I think they're the right things to do.

[H_O]

Re: WELCOME HERETIC: F&amp;R SUMMER FEATURE


tranlate this for us:

<span style="font-weight: bold">FEAR GOD </span>

[Diplomat]

Re: WELCOME HERETIC: F&amp;R SUMMER FEATURE

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Beyond affecting how I chose to do the things I like, my views on death - or rather what happens after I die - means my choices and actions aren't prejudiced by a fear of damnation or promise of reward. I do things because I think they're the right things to do.</div></div>
I do think your perspective on death is quite refreshing. While it is true that some religions hold out the promise of an afterlife like a carrot, I do not believe that such a thing should be an 'incentive' for the way one lives. To do the right things just because they are the right things to do is noble, and a part of what it means to be a responsible human being. That despite the fact the one's perception of what constitute the 'right things' are often influenced by our respective worldviews and any number of variables in between.

[heretic]

Re: WELCOME HERETIC: F&amp;R SUMMER FEATURE

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: H_O</div><div class="ubbcode-body">
tranlate this for us:

<span style="font-weight: bold">FEAR GOD </span>

</div></div>Temo dios

[Wahalla]

Re: WELCOME HERETIC: F&amp;R SUMMER FEATURE

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Accustom yourself to believing that death is nothing to us, for good and evil imply the capacity for sensation, and death is the privation of all sentience; therefore a correct understanding that death is nothing to us makes the mortality of life enjoyable, not by adding to life a limitless time, but by taking away the yearning after immortality. For life has no terrors for him who has thoroughly understood that there are no terrors for him in ceasing to live. Foolish, therefore, is the man who says that he fears death, not because it will pain when it comes, but because it pains in the prospect. Whatever causes no annoyance when it is present, causes only a groundless pain in the expectation. Death, therefore, the most awful of evils, is nothing to us, seeing that, when we are, death is not come, and, when death is come, we are not. It is nothing, then, either to the living or to the dead, for with the living it is not and the dead exist no longer.

</div></div>

pure neckrophilia.....much used by those who worship death.. This ironic in the same order that the christians who are death worshipers took exceptions to the Aztec death worshipers...only my death worship is the right death worship.... merely pasive death worship as opposed to active death worship... Tis ironic with out irony!

[Wahalla]

Re: WELCOME HERETIC: F&amp;R SUMMER FEATURE

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">&quot;Unless you assume a God, the question of life's purpose is meaningless.&quot; -Bertrand Russell (athiest) </div></div>

The same Betran Russel who suggested Claude Mckay become a boxer ???? Hardly an authority to be quoted on that basis is he now....