Talking with God

[Jer]

I just talked with god. Y'know what he said? "Shamalama Ding-dong". And Carp - I dig the time thing as well. That in conjunction with what Spats just said is why I believe in Heaven but don't believe in god. Heaven is already within me and the last split second of life lasts forever. Here - this kinda explains it:

[carpathian]

So in Whistler there is a lake called Lost Lake. There are a few different swimming docks around the lake. One for the masses, one for the dogs and the Locals Dock which was code for the nudie dock.

I admit, I usually ended up at the nude dock with my lady. Just imagine, watching the hottest chick possible cruising down the long ramp all the way right next to you and you knew that she was going to strip before your eyes and just, you know, hang out.

I started noticing people who were there every day that I was there and I commented more then once about these 'WEIRDOS" hanging around the nudie dock all day. Who are these people? Don't they have a job?

Then one day I was watching these two hot naked girls playing on a log rolling in the water all glistening in the warm sun. I realized that i was one of those people! And then I knew I was in heaven. After cooling off and taking in the views, I would put my stinky bike gear on and head back to the lifts till sundown.

[Rasputin]

However, as highangle said, when you claim that these ideas have independent physical existence, you are making a prediction that is testable and falsifiable. And if you refuse to make a testable, falsifiable statement, you're not saying anything -- which is what highangle is pointing out. There are a lot of profound-sounding generalities flying around that, upon analysis, have no informational content at all -- pure "woo".

As I have said already I don't expect anyone to take my word for it.

Informational content however, is not limited to empirically testable phenomena, as one can be informed about many aspects of conceptual and esoteric matters before ever having experience with such, the relevance of that information is not recognized until applicable, but though there is no device to measure it, it nonetheless is informative in nature. For example, Plato's Allegory of the Cave meant nothing to me 25 years ago when I first heard of it in a philosophy class as a college freshman, but now it presses forward in my mind whenever I find myself in such a discussion as this. Such is also the case with countless parables from the Bible.

Those that require a testable proof of God will certainly become acquainted with oblivion before their requirements will be met. Since the requirement of proof is a position of denial, it is of no surprise that those seeking proof do not see what they have already chosen to filter out.

There are two directions one can seek, one is to attempt to measure the universe with theories and instruments devised to test those theories, and the other is to focus inwardly to seek the fundamental source of the particle of awareness that is the individual consciousness.

While there is an inevitable vacillation for those who are open minded and are actually seeking truth, ultimately there comes a time where one must choose whether to trust that they are a portal to all knowing, or acquiesce to the prospect that they are a vessel seeking to perpetuate the process of gathering of measurements, or at least occupying and consuming what has been measured by others.

[highangle]

Go Sarah! We Believe!!!

[Spats]

Informational content however, is not limited to empirically testable phenomena

Of course not. However, the effects of information on the behavior of people can be empirically tested -- and that is what we are really measuring and judging in every case, because we can't directly experience another's subjective perception. So in reality, there is no distinction there at all.

One interesting feature of successful religions is that they rely on assumptions that, by their nature, cannot be tested and disproved, only backed into a corner in which their existence becomes vanishingly unlikely. i.e. heaven and hell, reincarnation, etc. This makes sense: the religions that depended on testable assumptions, like "sacrifices make the rain come," tended to die out when those assumptions were invalidated.

"Give up on life before death
for life after death?
It's a tough choice.
Don't blow it"
-Rollins

People get caught up in the whole Cartesian mind-body duality, which is false. "Mind" is just a subset of reality, and "consciousness" is just the result of the very complicated interaction of our brains, our bodies, and the rest of reality.

For example, Plato's Allegory of the Cave meant nothing to me 25 years ago when I first heard of it in a philosophy class as a college freshman, but now it presses forward in my mind whenever I find myself in such a discussion as this. Such is also the case with countless parables from the Bible.

The Allegory of the Cave is beautiful, but it has an implication not yet supported by evidence: that there is the level of Form (or Truth, or whatever) that everything else is an imperfect shadow of. We've dived into Newtonian mechanics and seen what's under that (electromagnetism, gravity, weak force) and we're starting to get glimpses of what's under that ("quantum physics"), but we haven't yet found any Cosmic Unifying Principle that says "Oh, sure, *that's* what everything is made of, that explains everything." As far as we can tell, everything is messy and complicated at every level, and the farther away we get from our own, both larger and smaller, the less comprehensible we find the results.

So in that sense, the Allegory of the Cave can indeed be tested, and found (as with most things) to be true/useful in some respects, and greatly wanting in others.

Those that require a testable proof of God will certainly become acquainted with oblivion before their requirements will be met. Since the requirement of proof is a position of denial, it is of no surprise that those seeking proof do not see what they have already chosen to filter out.

Of course: the only surviving definitions of God are the ones it's impossible to disprove.

However, as I already mentioned above, they can be backed into a very small corner from which their emergence becomes vanishingly unlikely. Just like the evolution of life on Earth: we can't actually get into a time machine and see what happened, but with each new discovery, the idea that some magical agent created it in 4004 BC becomes more and more ridiculous. And it is NOT a sign of closed-mindedness to demand a high burden of proof to overturn that.

There are two directions one can seek, one is to attempt to measure the universe with theories and instruments devised to test those theories, and the other is to focus inwardly to seek the fundamental source of the particle of awareness that is the individual consciousness

Go inward to find something new: I have too. But if you never come back out and test what you've found against reality, you're just navel-gazing.

That's my definition of "woo" -- it might be true, it might not, but you don't feel the need to actually test it because simply believing it makes you feel good.

ultimately there comes a time where one must choose whether to trust that they are a portal to all knowing, or acquiesce to the prospect that they are a vessel seeking to perpetuate the process of gathering of measurements, or at least occupying and consuming what has been measured by others.

Would you fly in a plane designed by one who trusts they are a portal to all knowing? Or do you fly in planes designed by people who have spent many years learning very complicated physics and mathematics so that the plane actually flies?

Do you use telephones or computers? Do you ride bicycles or drive in cars? Hundreds of thousands of engineers have spent their entire lives working very, very hard so that you can use the products of their labor -- while airily dismissing them as "a vessel seeking to perpetuate the process of gathering of measurements."

That's not enlightenment, that's arrogance.

[Tippster]

to focus inwardly to seek the fundamental source of the particle of awareness that is the individual consciousness

Fap fap fap fap fap fap fap fap fap fap fap fap fap fap fap fap fap fap fap fap fap

Feel good yet?

fap fap fap fap fap fap fap fap fap fap fap fap fap fap fap fap fap fap fap

[carpathian]

I've always thought Tool was an under cover Christian rock band ever since the 'Lateralus' album. Maybe not all fundamental, but more new agey. This might confirm. Heavy lyrics...

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LO6R9WCB8k"]YouTube - "Passion" - Tool "Parabol & Parabola"[/ame]

[XXX-er]

I realized that i was one of those people! And then I knew I was in heaven. After cooling off and taking in the views, I would put my stinky bike gear on and head back to the lifts till sundown.

The last time I paddled my sea kayak on Kathlyn lake it had become "one of those places" you hippie scum ... wait till the Dutch Mafia find out

[carpathian]

Goddamned Dutch Mafia! You know they are all Free Masons.

[XXX-er]

When you 1st move here you think its all peace & love but thats cuz all you know are other freaks , BUT its the dutch who control the commerce and subjugate the women ... thru the religion

remember if you aint dutch you aint much AND you can always tell a dutch man ...you just can't tell him much

[highangle]

you guys hear how copper wire was invented?

2 Dutchmen fighting over a penny

[carpathian]

When you 1st move here you think its all peace & love but thats cuz all you know are other freaks , BUT its the dutch who control the commerce and subjugate the women ... thru the religion

remember if you aint dutch you aint much AND you can always tell a dutch man ...you just can't tell him much

That is funny because it is true. I used to think Smithers was all full of hippy ju-ju bullshit. The Mountain Eagle cafe clientele is really is just a liberal enclave within a real town of a more redneck, sled head, working men, eh\?

Depends on who you run with.

[XXX-er]

thats right jake but we the freaks have allies ... the 1st nations

it was proven last fall when the provincial NDP beat the Liberals in this riding purely on the strength of the 1st nations vote , the libs won Smithers BUT were trounced everywhere else in the riding ,the NDP machine turned out the votes from the Reservation , they turned out the people , they turned out some people who had never voted in their lives

as a local gal who grew up here once told me " its your duty to not let any one cliche claim you for their own " ... try to run with everyone

so when you pass a 1st nations dude on main st ... give him the nod

[Kenny Satch]

Bumping this because;

I think God just spoke to me or was that the person on the overhead speaker asking me to go to service counter ?

Btw God is a woman

[old goat]

Bumping this because;

I think God just spoke to me or was that the person on the overhead speaker asking me to go to service counter ?

Btw God is a woman

Why do you think god couldn't work at the service counter?

[irul&ublo]

The special people can distinguish between satan and god's voice.

You mean the ones that ride the short bus?

[Kenny Satch]

Why do you think god couldn't work at the service counter?

Good point
Now I feel like this guy

[Benny Profane]

God is transmitting 5G to the Poles.

https://twitter.com/venturecommunis/...144470530?s=20

[MakersTeleMark]

9876543

[skiballs]

Now, when I talked to God I knew he’d understand
He said, “ stick by my side and I’ll be your guiding hand”
Don’t ask me what I think of you
I might give the answer that you want me to


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[splat]

God ran out of parables one day and asked a friend of mine to man the phones for a while.
She's been doing it every year since.

[MakersTeleMark]

God ran out of parables one day and asked a friend of mine to man the phones for a while.
She's been doing it every year since.

I've been offered the helm, but I had other more interesting shit to do.

[ötzi]

Goddamned Dutch Mafia! You know they are all Free Masons.

12-year-old gem.

[BFD]

Alaska's next senator
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyXaBVDDCPY

[old goat]

Now, when I talked to God I knew he’d understand
He said, “ stick by my side and I’ll be your guiding hand”
Don’t ask me what I think of you
I might give the answer that you want me to


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Oh well.

9876543

I hope that's playa dust and not a bunch of ghost bikes.