META-META-META...
Listen to a real artist. Any will do.
Real artists don't tell you anything, they only ask questions.
Real artists don't tell you anything, they only ask questions.
How do we choose our gods... our blind faiths... our cherished beliefs?
What is the difference between God and Man?
What is the difference between God and Man?
"Why are you wearing that stupid bunny suit?"
"Why are you wearing that stupid man suit?"
How do we choose which Alien to bow and kneel before and vow to serve forever and ever? Zeus, Xerxes, The Christ, Grays from another world, Metamatician, Metatron, Metal machines?
"LOVING THE ALIEN"
(David Bowie)
(David Bowie)
Watching them come and go
The Templars and the Saracens
They're traveling the holy land
Opening telegrams.
Torture comes and torture goes
Knights who'd give you anything
They bear the cross of Coeur de Leon
Salvation for the mirrorblind.
But if you pray,
All your sins are hooked upon the sky.
Pray and the heathen lie will disappear...
Prayers, they hide the saddest view.
Believing the strangest things,
Loving the alien.
And your prayers, they break the sky in two.
Believing the strangest things,
Loving the alien.
Loving the alien.
You pray 'til the break of dawn.
Believing the strangest things,
Loving the alien.
Loving the alien.
And you believe you're loving the alien...
Thinking of a different time
Palestine a modern problem
Bounty and a wealth in land
Terror in the best laid plans.
Watching them come and go
Tomorrows and the yesterdays
Christians and the unbelievers
Hanging by the cross and nail.
***
All nonpersonal religion is dogma which should be washed away by a Flood which in children's stories destroys the mistakes of an Old God, gives our kind a new chance and then messes that up too, a trilogy of flaws.
It's so stupid, so childish. To believe.
Listen to art, to reason, anything but to the lies that are poured like poison into your ears by the community amongst which you were born, lottery-like. Would you be arguing for the other side if it had been different? Would you be throwing bombs and piercing skulls and starving and orphaning children for Him instead of Him?
People believe in the strangest things. Aliens, Gods, Science.
I experience. I don't believe.
34 comments:
"YOU NEED TO BELIEVE IN THINGS THAT AREN'T TRUE. HOW ELSE CAN THEY BECOME?"
Terry Pratchett - Hogfather
:)
No fair resorting to quotes from books!
Hurray for Mr. Pratchett
Goddamn it, people, write your own opinions here, don't cite other people's. That's the whole point I'm trying to make! Don't follow dogma. Or catma. Or any other animals. Express your own feelings.
It doesn't do any good to conjure God into existance by wishing for Him. If someone wants to use reason to tell me why I should believe in one thing over another, or in anything at all, then have at it.
I'm receptive, just waiting.
I don't think that God and man are separate entities. I don't believe in a God figure per se anyway, but you know this my friend. I think we're all one and that the problems in this world are the result of our swallowing the lie of separation. We do have access to another part of ourselves, but I can only speak from my own experience. I know that when I seek guidance from a deeper, wiser part of Myself/Ourself/Universe, 'God' to many, I usually find a way through most things and am often surprised by joy along the way. Historical rules and regulations are meaningless, but I'm not going to let religious nonsense stop me from finding my own path. It's why I don't fear death. That's when I get to break the restrictions and find out the truth!
Meanwhile, chill out and go watch some episodes of Father Ted on YouTube. That'll put it all in perspective! :-)
Especially the one about kicking Bishop Brennan up the arse.
Oh shut up about YouTube when I'm trying to be serious.
Of course I agree with you that all is one and we are God and God is us and all the rest of it.
I guess I'm trying to provoke people, but with you I'm preaching to the converted (so to speak), so no fun there. Still, good answer. At least it was your own.
I'm feeling grumpy this morning because my stomach is absolutely killing me.
Sometimes my blog posts are just art installations, using pleasing or jarring photos, my own questions or opinions, and maybe some enigmatic song lyrics, all arranged to make me look opaque and mysterious. Then no one gets it and gives me a cheery little message and it messes it all up.
Aren't other people visual or like mystery?
Sorry - I'm being a jerk today. I need to lay down. I'll check back later when stomach stops trying to eat through itself.
I have been having similar discussions on a Fundamentalist Calvinist blogsite in the US and frankly my brain is being addled by it all.
Maalie and I have been banned on one blogsite, but we still hammer away at them.
I'll ask Maalie to visit you and give his two penny worth.
Lorenzo.
You're a peach, LTL.
I'm afraid there's a huge backstory with my beliefs or lack thereof that cannot possibly be and is thus most certainly not captured in this one post.
Mags knows a lot about me on a personal level and my struggle to find a rock to latch onto in this whitewater of life.
But some have it much easier than others - do they just not quesion as much? Again, too much for one blog post, but thanks for the support.
If there's one thing I can't stand it's cute, blithe remarks on a serious post. Of course I make blithe remarks all the time, but I try to confine it to blithe posts, if you see what I'm getting at.
Now here's your treat. I hope you like gummi bears.
I see from your profile that one of your interests is dreamless sleep.Doesn't that rather depend on the dream?
Step aside Meta my dear, we'll get back to this serious topic shortly (or privately if you like.)
I want to know who's site Lorenzo and Maalie have been banned from? if it's Fundy Christians then I think Rex and I should be given an opportunity to wreak our own mayhem. I demand the URL! (Withnail stylee)
Ps. I'm sorry you have a tummyache J. and hope you feel better really, really soon. x
Have at those Fundies! You have my permission and use of all my ammunition depots.
Maalie, I feel like dreams are a bit of a curse either way. If you have a bad dream, it's scary and you wake up in a sweat, and possibly it affects the rest of your day.
If you have a dream you won the lottery, found true love, or discovered you had latent superpowers (mine is always flying), you wake up to a huge disappointment.
Either way the normal day under the glaring overhead sun (or the slanted greyish somewhat-brighter area of the sky for you Brits) is somewhat tainted. I'll take my sleep restful and without dreams of any kind, thank you.
And with two lumps, please.
Glad to hear your balls are spectacular Meta. Mine went long ago.
Poor Scaredy. No wonder you got that name. I'd be a lot less confident too without "the fellas".
Enough of this talk of mens' unmentionables.
I didn't say anything about cointreau you daft wussack.
Last night I was beguiled and polished off a bottle of Baileys.
Lorenzo.
That's a novel way to kick off a diet.
I hope you drank it on the rocks with some Chopin vodka.
Do you ever dream you're dreaming? A sort of dream within a dream? I too quite often dream I am flying and I think "This time it isn't a dream I really really am flying". Then you have to descend from the second order dream down into the first order dream and then it's back to reality.
I sometimes dream I am back with my former wife and that we are happy. I even think in my dream "how am I going to tell her I've bought another house?". My first reaction on realising it is a dream is sadness, rapidly followed by relief!
Thanks for the tip-off on the salt book, I've just ordered it.
Lorenzo will affirm that I am not noted for casting gratuitous flattery (or even pearls). But there is more to this blog than meets the eye. I particularly like:
People believe in the strangest things. Aliens, Gods, Science.
I experience. I don't believe.
That is exactly how I feel. It is sometimes asserted that (for example) "I believe in evolution" as opposed to, I suppose, "believing in Genesis".
I don't "believe in it" at all. I simply find it the most plausible explanation for the evidence that I have experienced to date. Fresh evidence, as yet unexperienced, may yet come to light that favours a different explanation.
As you say, it is childish "to believe".
Bring in on baby.
Oh dear, I do apologise, I was passing through in a bit if a rush and thought I'd leave a quick comment before I returned to speak more fully on the topic.
Without wishing to exasperate you further, your comments after do remind me of Graham Chapman addressing the adoring crowds in 'The Life of Brian' (and your choice of curse after my previous comment was rather amusing given the subject matter):
BRIAN: Look. You've got it all wrong. You don't need to follow me. You don't need to follow anybody! You've got to think for yourselves. You're all individuals!
FOLLOWERS: Yes, we're all individuals!
I can't remember ever believing in a god, as much as I would've liked to on several painful occasion when younger.
As far back as I can remember I have always formed my own beliefs from experience, rather from what I have been told - much to my mother's exasperation on many an occasion. In a similar vein, I've always believed that this is why I write left-handed even though I do most other things with my right hand - I saw what everyone else was doing and wanted to try it in a different way.
I could ramble on a lot more but I have had half a bottle of wine with lunch and I think it is perhaps making me a little too loquacious. I'll add more when I'm feeling less squiffy.
Hope the stomach is feeling better. Peppermint tea is always a good one for dodgy tums.
Peppermint tea? Pah! Pull yourself together man and have a large gin and tonic.
Lorenzo.
I find milky chai the best thing for upset tums. It was a life saver at Glastonbury last year when I had the migraine from hell. I am a walking encyclopedia of hippy remedies, so do feel free to take advantage, though I'd possibly draw the line at athletes foot in budgies.
"Vacuum cleaner sucks up budgie"
-The Clash
To Mr. maalie:
Yes, I've have nested dreams many layers deep, and many lucid dreams as well. We could talk about dreams for a lifetime... hah. Funny story about your first wife.
I have dreams I'm still married and our daughter is little and I'm happy in our old home. Then I wake up and the first thing I do is grieve, because it's all gone. But then I think how miserable it was at the end, and I just go on with my day, trying to make something new and just as good, maybe better. But that initial pang still does always hurt.
As for the belief issue, I'm in total concurrence. I too find scientific/rational explanations to be the most plausible and complete that we have at hand to explain things such as evolution, the birth of the universe, geologic formations, and all the rest. But as you said, a true scientist does not 'believe' in science, he/she merely uses it as a tool to probe the world and accumulate data to try to understand it.
I would say I embrace science as a wonderful tool of rationalism, but would abandon it in a second if a better tool came along, whatever that might be. To do otherwise (to have faith or belief) seems closed-minded and ignorant.
Hope you enjoy the book! Let us know how it is.
Thanks for your comments, it's an honor.
Raelha: Very apt comparison with the scene from Life of Brian. I like to tell people, "remember, you're a unique individual, just like everybody else."
Thanks for the advice on the tea and to Mags on the chai, no thanks to Lorro on the strong stuff. You wouldn't want to be in the same room with me if I tried your remedy at the moment, dearie.
> Funny story about your first wife
Just a point of fact, she was my only one. I live alone now. I have a modest home here in the English Lake District.
Lake district... good for seeing waterfowl I imagine.
Sorry about the gaffe.
What have you been eating?!
Nothing since the pain started. Before that, the usual. Which for me is salads, pizza, tacos, sandwiches... nothing too unhealthy but nothing too healthy either. I'm going to try to increase my water intake and insoluble fiber and see if that makes a difference. I have a sensitive stomach by nature and doctors have suggested I may have GERD, IBS, gastritis, colitis, and various other things at one point or another. Stress will do it too.
So I dunno. Maybe I'll do like the vet does with your dog/cat and put myself on a bland lamb and rice diet with only water to drink... and some tea. See if I can get the old "pathways" working smoothly again.
Any Welsh or Asturian folk remedies up your sleeve?
Afraid not, only the peppermint tea, it always works for me when the doidgy tum is drink-induced. I imagine the Asturians would just recommend a hearty meal of 'Fabada' (bean, ham and Chorizo stew, made with lard).
Maybe Mags has some better ideas? Ooh and I meant to say before, you really should watch Father Ted. The Kicking Bishop Brennan Up the Arse episode is a classic, although best understood if you've seen the previous one too.
OK, since you and Mags have both recommended it, I will do with haste.
On that note, anyone see the movie Donnie Darko ? Wow.
Ginger sometimes works. And have you tried avoiding dairy products?
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