mererdog
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Everything posted by mererdog
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Consider the ending of that quoted text in context with the beginning of the quoted text. If we accept that our minds can trick us, does it not follow that you may have seen the evidence, but have fooled yourself into thinking you didn't? There are two measurable phenomenon that you may be interested in. One is that people overwhelmingly interpret new data in ways that support their previously held convictions. The second is that almost everyone believes that they are less biased than average..... For clarity, I am not suggesting you were biased against belief in God. I am taking as a given that your search was sincere. But lots of other biases come into play when you try to weigh evidence. -
I have shown a possible downside to your proposed course of action. What is the upside? How is assuming that something doesn't exist helpful? What do you get out of it that makes it the best option?
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Or you are inspiring others to stand up and voice their objection to the bullying, creating social pressure that causes the bullying to stop. The devil is in the details. Ever looked into how nonviolent revolutions happen? It's fascinating stuff. Still, my goal is not to protect everyone from everything. The other guy's sins are his own burden to bear, if you don't mind me stealing a little lingo.
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At which point it is awesome. Hi Sifu.
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Your monkeys may vary.
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There is a very big psychological difference. Once you adopt a position, you begin to reflexively defend that position. All the information you take in begins to be subconsciously filtered in ways that make it harder to change your mind. You become less able to believe truths that make your position seem wrong and you become less able to disbelieve lies that indicate your position is right. You become, in other words, biased. My question is how, when you lack proof or even reason , biasing in yourself in that way is better than not doing so.
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Which Jesus said we should never do, and which the example of Christ clearly shows is the wrong thing to do? I know it's a cheap shot, but seriously.... Yes, it is about being willing to be a victim. The motivation is to protect the other from the self, even at the expense of the self. Firemen don't normally go into flaming buildings hoping to get burned. They risk their own lives trying to keep others safe. At its best, pacifism is similar, except that it involves protecting others from yourself.
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In practice, what differences are their between acting as if something does not exist and acting as if you do not know whether or not it exists?
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Yes. I was being flippant. A more honest answer is that I don't really define violence so much as recognize it. Remember, I'm going by feelings as much as anything else. The Aikido knowledge question, I will dodge. This is at least the third time, so it is becoming fun. Has everyone Googled kokigami's name yet? Good. I'm tired of being the only one with that in his head. As for what is ruled out, it's really more about motive than action or outcome. Motive forms the fundamental difference between an accident and an attack, and between a surgery and a stabbing. Important stuff. But stuff that is inherently subjective.
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I'm starting to like the idea of calling myself Unconvinced. As when someone asks what my religion is, I could say "I am Unconvinced." Unconviction being a religion based on the tenet "We'll believe it when we see it. Unless we don't. No promises."
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Oh, thank you. That one is new to me and I like it.
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Most of the time, I won't. I don't go out looking for Bigfoot. I'm not building an electron microscope and I'm not trying out the new alternative medicine craze. Good luck even getting me to take a serious look at your new friend's UFO research. Until and unless someone or something convinces me that it is worth the effort to learn some truth, I am content with not knowing. I am not lazy, I just love napping. Luckily, I get to stand on the shoulders of giants, n'est-ce pas?
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How is that motive different than the motivation behind taking the default position that something does not exist? Isn't it all just hiding lack of evidence behind a wall of certainty? Instead of accepting claims or rejecting claims, we can simply admit we don't know the answer. We can take a default position that revolves around "I don't know." Wouldn't that be better?
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Why is that the default position? With other subjects, the default position in the absence of proof or reason is usually more along the lines of "Someone should probably look into that."
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Intentionally harming another.
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Just so you know, it is annoying when you express my thoughts better than I did. I think that word "gift" is the key.
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ULC ordinations do not expire. The church ordains for free and for life.
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I walk. Three or four miles, most days. The semi-retirement also helps. And I doubt I would recognize a model of superior spiritual development if I saw one. Spiritual stuff ain't my bailiwick.
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I've tried to try it but never really let myself give it an honest shot at producing any sort of result. This may be because my earliest exposures to meditation were my mother doing mantras every day. While it did seem to help her be happier, it seemed to do so by helping her avoid guilt for the bad things she did. She became a Buddhist to try to become a better person. Once she started feeling better about herself, she stopped trying to be better, you dig? And we needed her to be better. Now, that might not be a fair assessment of what happened. I was like eight years old, so my ability to understand this sort of stuff was suspect, at best. But it colors my perception of the subject. We all watched our parents (or whoever raised us) and try not to repeat the mistakes we saw, no?
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I've tried that one, but found it boring. Just as conflict is the soul of every story, life without strugggle feels pointless to me. I suppose I could focus on my internal conflict with my own boredom... Never really tried that...
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I hear you. Me, I see a windmill, I raise my lance. Probably not the best role model....
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You can't get good decision making by comparing the risks associated with one decision with the rewards associated with another. Compare worst-cases to see if the risks are acceptable. Compare best-case scenarios to see which possible rewards are worth the risk. Your neighbors have free will? They have hope for redemption? Compare "likely" outcomes to see how prejudice shapes expectation.
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The problem is that it doesn't work that way. The money you gave is long gone. You can only take money out of the system if others are putting more in. A lot of those people are only putting money in because they are threatened with violence. Not by you, of course, so I have no quarrel with your acts. To be as clear as I can, my problem is with the system, not those it is designed to help. I think society can do better by you. I hope we will.
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As an anarchist, I consider government aid to be immoral. I simply do not believe that the Robin Hood ideal of robbing one to help another is right. Don't get me wrong, I am glad that people are helped, but I do not justify means with ends. So my goal is a world where people voluntarily provide the help others need. If anyone figured out how to get there, let me know.
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When my wife's aunt (is aunt-in-law a thing?) was helped by the church, she just felt vindicated in joining in the first place. She is not quiet about the fact that she considers her church membership to be a kind of insurance policy.