Existentialism?!

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Permalink Reply by Flamekebab on September 16, 2007 at 7:52pm

I don't know if I'm awake enough to give my view on this subject fully, but I will say that when I'm dreaming, my dreams aren't very real. They're more real than they used to be, but they don't come close to being awake. They're fuzzy, often blurry and there's rarely clear sound.

As for religion, I'd like to believe in a God, I really would, it'd make life that little bit less scary. Sadly, I struggle to accept such a massive idea based on the overly flimsy "evidence" put forth by religion. Especially knowing what I know about how to manipulate people and groups of people. Organised religion is a powerful force in human society. As if power won't have corrupted that..

I find the idea that the world around me is solely my own creation not entirely implausible. I don't believe it, it doesn't feel that way, but if that turned out to be the case, I wouldn't be massively shocked.

The way I seem to affect probability when I want to seems rather odd (so when I'm in the mood to win, I play a mean game of Yahtzee!). Also the number of coincidences I see around me so often seem to occur a little too often to just be me noticing things.
I do often get the feeling that if it is my will, my true will, it tends to, over time, happen.

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Permalink Reply by Valtiel on September 16, 2007 at 8:03pm

Do you know your dreaming when you do?

Ive got to admit. My beleif in God does come in handy when you look at the world. Not only will there hopefully be a better place for me to go (assuming im not going to/already in hell) but to me, he is just about the only person/thing that has always been there for me. Other than Him Im all alone. I mean sure family and friends and what not, but the sad truth is that both of them come and go. I hate getting attatched to people because, to me, we're all alone in the end anyway. Dont get me wrong, I love my friends and family. But I also understand that your on your own, and in the end its pretty much all on me. Or, you.

To me, thats why you have to live "life" while youve got it. Enjoy the hell outta your friends and family while you have them. Dont worry about the past. Just learn from it.

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Permalink Reply by Flamekebab on September 16, 2007 at 8:20pm

I don't always specifically know I'm dreaming, but I know I'm not awake properly, if that makes sense.

I'm always alone, so don't worry, I can deal with that. I don't have some invisible friend (trying to be a little light-hearted, not trying to take the piss) to back me up. It's just me, being me. The only person I have to answer to is myself, the person I care about doing the right thing for is for myself, so I can look myself in the mirror and say "I am a good man."

I don't like being alone, but very few people really, truly understand me totally. I'm fortunate enough that one person does, she is the only one who truly knows me. Others see what I show them, you will see what I show you. She sees me for who I am.

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Permalink Reply by Valtiel on September 16, 2007 at 9:55pm

Take good care of her. Its always dope to have that one "special" person there for you, but its ridiculously hard to let go if, "God forbid" something were to happen.

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Permalink Reply by Zadi on September 18, 2007 at 1:42pm

"I hate getting attatched to people because, to me, we're all alone in the end anyway."

Or maybe, we're all together in our aloness. I think we need each other. I think human beings can't live sanely and productively without one another.

I think the people in our lives do come and go -- but in their coming and going, they are with us at exactly the right moment they need to be with us.

And I do agree. "Live life while you got it. Enjoy the hell outta your friends and family while you have them." Life goes by too quickly. :)

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Permalink Reply by Euangelion on September 18, 2007 at 12:57pm

I can totally see your point about Religion putting forth flimsy evidence, I hope that I can make a little more concrete evidence.

Gravity is a theory however it is also fact, why because every other possibility is disproved. for example no matter how many times one jumps they'll never fly because gravity acts upon them.
I am a Christian I am a Christ follower I ally myself with no church or organization just people who teach the truth. I follow Christ because

1) he makes sense, People sin (Duh) and why should we get away with it (we shouldn't) so Christ Died out of love so that he could take the sin (perfect life for imperfect sounds like a bargain) see their was a rule set out and he fulfilled it.

2)because of the lack of supporting evidence against God, I've studied evolution, which is the general counteraction against the belief in God and I mean the possibility of everything occuring in the right order is just ridiculous! In todays laboratories under the most precise conditions they cant even replicate all the peices of a single strain of DNA much less piece one together, how unlikely is it that under completely un-controlled random circumstances billions of difficult to manufacture compounds would connect in the perfect combination (1 mistake and its back to the drawing board) to create the most basic of life forms (I wont even get to the chances of that life form turning into the multitude of species here on earth)

3) I am a Christian because it changed my life (yes this is my weakest arguement) I hear people talking about how guilty they feel around church and christians Remember that thats not God thats people, I dont feel guilty Because I am saved I know Gods forgiven me since I accepted Christ

oh and by the way I dont want you to listen to what I say Its my sincere desire that you look this all up check out what Im saying look at the statistical imposibilities of Evolution (chirality) and check how the world thats trying to convince you the church is wrong is just as organized against God, Matthew 7:7
"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you."

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Permalink Reply by Christian on September 19, 2007 at 2:48pm

in my opinion religious evidence can never be concrete.. . the evidence is based off a book that was written thousands of years ago, passed down, edited, repeated .. . and if can never be TRULY, SCIENTIFICALLY tested .. .

of course we cant copy a strain of DNA, right now .. . but in time, we probably and most likely will .. . it all just takes time .. . as in everything worth while .. . 50 yrs ago, we never thought we could have something like the internet.. . then here comes al gore.. . BAM! interwebs .. . i'm not saying in 50 years, we'll be copying DNA like TPS reports, but ya never know.. .

and please elaborate on "statistical imposibilities of Evolution" because i honestly don't see how it can be statistically impossible, but there IS a god, why couldn't god put the pieces down to play themselves out.. . is that not possible ?

throughout my whole rant about god and science it may sound as if i'm some sort of atheist, but i'm not.. . i beleive in god, a god .. . always have, i'm catholic after all, i just can't agree with everything that is placed in a book that is written by men, to me, you'd had to be abit gullible to take everything at face value.. .and who's to say, if there is a god, that your particular god is right, ya know .. . the world is too small and too packed to be worrying whether there is or isn't .. . just believe in something, be a good person, treat people how you want to be treated, don'n't be quick to judge and be undestanding .. .

ok, off my soapbox

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Permalink Reply by Rick Rey on September 16, 2007 at 11:22pm

The other major part of Existentialism -- and the part most people think about when it comes up -- is that life has no meaning. Because of that I usually think of Existentialists as depressing people. Shame on me. But whatever. It doesn't matter anyway.

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Permalink Reply by Flamekebab on September 17, 2007 at 5:31am

For me life has the meaning I choose to give it.

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Permalink Reply by Kevin Duggan on July 17, 2008 at 2:53pm

maybe "meaning" is an interpretation of the human brain and is subjective and not objective

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Permalink Reply by B Mel on September 17, 2007 at 12:29pm

I would agree, I feel that we don't see with our eye, rather we perceive with out mind. Hence why some people can see spirits and others cannot. I don't think that the world is entirely what we make it though. I think that the more open to different possibilities you are the more you will perceive and see what is actually going on around you. For example, my little brother could see and talk to a ghost that lived in our house at a young age, he even knew the ghosts name was Jurnis. The ghost would turn the overhead light off in the living room when we were there and also turn the TV off. You could actually hear the click of the chain being pulled or the button being pressed on the TV so I remember those events to this day. Now that my brother is older he has no recollection of this and I think a large part of that is because he used to tell his ultra-conservative Jehovah's Witness grandmother about this and she would then spend hours drilling him about how there are no spirits in the world and then tell him the Jehovah Witness' version of the afterlife.. This, in my mind, has affected his mind's ability to perceive these things that he was so in tune with before because he has been taught to think they cannot exist.

Like Deltron says, "You don't see with your eyes, you perceive with your mind."

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Permalink Reply by Flamekebab on September 17, 2007 at 12:34pm

Did the events ever occur when your brother wasn't around?
I'm just curious as to whether it's possible that it was him doing it, the "spirit" being a somewhat independent part of his own mind?

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