Verisoph

Why does there have to be a why? I don't except that there's anything to us apart from the biochemical. Why must there be a point and purpose? This question strikes me as ridiculous. This is the only life that I know I have - of course I'm going to cling to it - when it's over, then that's IT! If I believed that my life was going to go on forever, then I wouldn'i mind ending it in the least. I don't have any children. I never desired any. I can't speak for anyone else. But, I will say that life is much, much more than a cycle of suffering. I don't understand the rest of your question. I have not killed anyone, I'm not killing the planet, and I'm unsure that the word 'creation' fits.

Hello Qryos. There's not enough Dancing Muses around, that's for sure. Well said.

Indeed. I hope all is well with you. I kill bugs mostly. Jains are the only people I know of who try not to kill anything. If you're redefining pacifism to mean someone who won't kill anything, then by your definition, I am not a pacifist. But, this is not the definition that most people use. I suspect you know this. Nonsense! Sparrows kill all sorts fo creatures, but they do not kill other sparrows, Bees will try to kill creatures that threaten their hive, even commiting suicide in the process. But, they do not kill other bees of their type. This is how most creatures behave. Have you ever heard of a cat bringing a dead cat home to it's owner. Often, yes, What has that got to do with anything?

It doesn't matter if there's only enough food for 1 in a 1000. Evolution involves many different aspects - the availability of food is a huge part of it.

Not necessarily true. Imagine a creature that can kill 90% of what comes along, but only one in a thousand will find enough food to surive a single day. Compare that to a creature that wins half of the fights it gets in, yet has plenty of food. Besides, the sentence you quoted was not meant to be taken by itself. It was part of a bigger thought,

I do believe you're missing something. I kill all kinds of things, but I do not kill other people. I'm a pacifist, Most animals are the same, they'll kill different species, but not their own kind. Using this logic, it is pacifism that is natural. Of course I don't see what natural has to do with it. Further, if you're going to bring evolution into the picture, you're wrong. A creature that will not kill any other creature is exactly what evolution has created ... through survival. Being something that doesn't kill is what survives best.

Bluecat! Great to see you again, too.

Fawzo, I'm honored. Thank you, Mark Could you please define 'natural'.

Hex! Nice to see you again.

Hello Hrodebert.

I am a pacifist. I'm unconvinced that gods exist, so I don't care to comment on their feelings.

good to see you too good to see you too I know I don't know anything is that what you mean?

all seasons of peace for many reasons do cease with barely a crease

Thanks. If you believe that prayer works, then by all means, pray. Framkly, if that's what you believe, I hope you're right, the people of Japan need all the help they can get right now.

I'm with you on that, Qryos. Personally, I don't believe that prayer does anything, so instead, I donated some money to the relief effort.

By golly, that'll teach everyone who doesn't believe what you believe.

Hello Pollux, welcome to the forum True peace of mind comes from within, not from without. I can't make your mind calm, but if you'll allow yourself to relax, you can. Just as I can't calm your mind, in most situations, no one else can disrupt your tranquility unless you allow it. It's all up to you, my friend.

Can atheists be spiritual? Of course they can. It's really a pretty silly question. Anyone who doesn't believe in any gods is an atheist - that's the only qualification. So, unless spiritual is being defined, at least in part, as someone who believes in one or more gods, then an atheist could fit the definition. People can believe in all kinds of stuff and still be atheists, they just have to lack a belief in gods. It's true. I lost a job once because it was discovered that I didn't believe in God. I don't think the management at that business thought that I had no right to exist, but they certainly thought that I had no right to work there. Just to give you an idea about how much atheists are disliked in the US, here are the results of a question asked in a 2007 Gallup poll (look at the very bottom): Here's the source of the info: Gallup.com - poll 26611

Why? I'd say it's because you haven't yet lost ALL hope. Sure, tomorrow will be worse than today. Next month might be worse than last month. But who knows, by next year you might be in perfect shape, and you just might remain that way for longer than you've ever dreamt possible. Not only are medical scientists making truly amazing discoveries, but the progress of biotechnology is advancing at an ever increasing rate. We may well be living on the verge of a time when human lives will span hundreds of years. Personally, what keeps me going is curiosity - I want to see just how far it all might go. If it's a pipe dream, then so be it, I'll die when the time comes and it will all be over for me. Or, I could end it all now, in which case it will all be over just the same, only I'll never know what might have been. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPASXJQBjdc

How dare you even consider wishing anyone a Happy Newtonmass? It's Merry Newtonmass!

I've recently learned that there are Christians who hate Christmas in part because there are non-Christians around who say "Merry Christmas." I've been aware for a few years that there are Christians around who get angry when people say "Happy Holidays." I confess, I'm guilty of both of these. I really don't want to offend folks, or cause them to hate particular days, but I like the holiday and I don't want to give up on it just because there are some Christians who, in my opinion, are overly concerned about me and what I do and say. So, until I find something better, I'll be celebrating Newtonmass on December 25th. Merry Newtonmass from impartialism.blogspot.com Merry Newtonmass from skeptico.blogs.com Origin of Newton-Day or Newton-Mass from atheistnexus.org AtheistNexus says this about it: I don't know about all that, but I figure that if Jesus really did exist, the chance that he was actually born on Saturnalia (December 25th) is 1 in 365.25 - not such great odds. We know that Isaac Newton was born on December 25th. If they'd like. There are no rigid rules in place, but it's mostly have fun, eat a lot, exchange gifts, you know the kind of stuff that Pagans were doing on December 25th for centuries before Christians started copying them. .

Merry Newtonmass!

You'll need to perform the ceremony in a way that she'll understand. Perhaps something like this: G'day chick, do you take this bloke to be your husband? Hey, just kidding. .

Best of luck with the job search. I've heard horror stories about unemployed expats in the UAE ending up in debtors' prison. Don't let that happen, okay?