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Where Does Your Inspiration Come From?


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I have a question for writers............

I've heard many times from artists whether they are musicians, painters, or writers, that the best among them have been known to get much of their inspiration from some mysterious place "other than themselves".

They are said to get them from some sort of unknown spiritual or cosmic realm that flashes ideas in their minds through dreams, visions, and other modes.

How much is this the case from your personal experiences and from observing other artists that you know?

Does much of your work come in a "flash" of inspiration from some unknown spiritual place?

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I've heard this, too, Pioneer. It has been further suggested that songs, in particular, already exist in the nether world and are just waiting to be "downloaded" into this one by the artist who taps into them.

In classical mythologyy there were 9 Muses, female goddesses who could be called upon to be the "wind beneathe the wings" of artists. Nowadays people like me still refer to an alter ego who inspires them to create, as a "Muse".

This is a fascinating subject that deals with the mysteries of the human mind.

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Cynique

"It has been further suggested that songs, in particular, already exist in the nether world and are just waiting to be "downloaded" into this one by the artist who taps into them."

Exactly!

This is what I'm trying to get at.

I didn't want to get too spiritual too quickly but since you introduced it, I've read so many books such as those by Swedenborg who claimed this.

Many artists claim to get inspiration by using drugs, and I wonder if these drugs aren't used as a catalyst to bridge them to the "source".

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We are simply biological machines. Our consciousness is merely a causal observer of ideas our brains have "decided" before we are even aware of them. In fact, we aren't even in control of those ideas.

There have been tests to demonstrate our brains make decisions before we are consciously aware of them -- predicting with 100% accuracy a choice we "will" make before we even know it.

Indeed the realization that we don't know where ideas or inspiration come from is further evidence we don't control them. The speculation that they have other worldly origins are just nice stories we make up to fill in the gaps in our understanding. :(

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  • 2 weeks later...

Del, exactly. We don't know where inspiration comes, from any more than we know where our next thought comes from.

I don't believe it comes from deceased ancestors, of any of the countless different Gods man has conjured up to worship. I think inspiration originates with us and is initiated before we are conscious of it. Of course I don't know -- how can I?

But I am willing to go with the most likely scenario; that our inspiration originates within our own biology in a chemical process no one understands beyond the basic test I described.

--------------

Note: Honestly, I was playing devils advocate to Pioneer's original post. I appreciate once you start talking about spirituality or God people emotions can run high and the topic is usually not open for real debate -- but I figured I'd give it a shot.

There has been a lot of discussion about interconnectedness, particularly since quantum physicists proposed, and have now apparently found evidence to support, the idea of a field permeating the universe -- in essence connecting everything in the universe at the quantum level.

Some, though I've never heard a physicist make this claim, suggest that this means something much more, proof of a universal consciousness, etc. I'm not sure if Pioneer meant to imply all that, but this idea was my motivation for stirring the pot ;)

I could have just gone with the program and wrote that I meditate and fast for inspiration, but I thought this might be more interesting.

I

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Troy - You make a very convincing Devil. I believe in the collective unconscious. It could be the akashic records, a vast pool of informatio, God, Gods, whatever works for you.

Whatever you want to call it it is astounding.

I think that if you could "access" it you could create or invent from its inspiration. You would also no past,present and future. Since time probably doesn't exist

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I use my intuition 100 hours a year. I have done so since about 1997. I find intuition to be quite useful especially because I am impractical.

I would also say intuition and inspiration are different. Inspiration to me has a more emotions component. It produces and expansive euphoric effect. Like its root inhalation. I think in Latin it means breathing in Spirit or being filled with God. Whereas intuition is more of a mental construct. That makes you feel that your knowledge is grounded or supported.

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Delano

The akashic records.....

Actually this was what I was thinking about when I started this thread questioning where some artists get thier inspiration from.

I also believe that there is a difference between ideas and inspiration.

It is my belief that ideas are manufactured as a result of mental processes where as inspiration is downloaded from an outside source.

Troy

The brain is a very powerful "machine".

There are many many things we still don't know about it.

Man hasn't discovered how to unlock the vast majority of it's chambers to unleash his full potential yet.

However I am one who believes that the MIND is still magnificently superior even to the brain and not necessarily connected to it.

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I'd say the mind works through the brain. The brain is tangible, but the mind is spiritual. It's like body and soul. Inspiration is spontaneous; it just comes to you from The Source of all thought. An idea is the fruition of inspiration.

Khalil Gibran says: "life and all that lives, is conceived in the mist and not the crystal, and who knows but that a crystal is mist in decay." Kinda like the notion that: "thoughts become things".

Over the past few years, I have have developed a problem with recalling names. I've discovered that if I feed all the information I know about the person whose name I've forgotten, and visualize how they look, once I turn my thoughts to another subject, my sub conscious mind will spontaneously spit out the forgotten person's name... So my brain is like a computer that processess data fed to it by my conscious mind. If I go through this routine at night and fall aslleep, when I wake up in the morning, I will know the name... When people say they'll "sleep on it" when trying to make up their mind about a dilemma, there's really something to this. The mind works while you sleep and sorts things out.

Intuition or ESP is a primitive instinct that civilization has dulled.

This whole subject almost defies words because it's about the abstract.

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"Troy - You make a very convincing Devil." Delano, thank you -- it is not easy ;) Now back to advocating for Beelzebub...

It is really fascinating what people are willing to believe. The Akashic record are open to everyone -- provided you have the money to pay a Rehki (sp?) master or someone else sufficiently skilled to convince you of something you are already inclined to believe.

The mind, which is a function of the brain, is a complex mechanism, but not so complex that it can not be replicated artificially. In fact, engineers and programmers are making great strides to achieving this. A machine has already beaten the best Jeopardy players, and can carry on a conversation with another human such that the human doesn't know they are conversing with a machine.

Indeed it will not be very long before machines are superior to man in intelligence, inspiration, intuition, compassion, and will be thinking FOR us.

Much of what we think of as ESP has already been explained by those skilled in the art -- the art of tricking people. Insights or inspiration that come to us come to us from our own brains.

Consider the fact that all brains are not equal. Some brains are simply incapable of empathy. Some brain are incapable of solving complex math problems. Some brain even struggle at performing the unconscious activities necessary to keep the body healthy.

I would even argue that a large percentage of brains working today are incapable of caring about the Akashic record, what it means, or what it has to offer. I also suspect more brains would rather watch a cock fight that attempt to access the Akaschic record.

I know that just because not many people care about or understand this stuff doesn't mean it isn't true.

But how can something so truly "universal", a basic fundamental truth, escape so many?

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Troy you make it look easy, like it id first nature.

Your initial statement is fruit salad

Some information id like Thor's hammer.

All beliefs are personal mythology.

The mind has no mechanics the brain does. It's like comparing vision to the eyes. There's a subordinate relationship.

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Troy can you add inspiration when we don't know it's origin.

Troy re ESP. You and I have experience with ESP. does trickery ir subterfuge explain it.

At times a medium does have access to information received from a different channel.

I am not certain which functions are in the brain. When you turn on a light, what is source of the light.

If you are surrounded by lies it may be difficult to recognise the truth.

Why can't people see universals? Why can't you see your own face.

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So Del, you won't give me credit for playing Devils advocate well, instead ascribing this ability to my very nature.

OK I'll take that, but I think you know me well enough to know that I have a pretty open mind with regard to these things. I also like to think I am willing to see more than one side of an argument -- understanding it well enough to take a position on various sides.

Were your last statements meant to obfuscate reason through riddles?. When you flip on a light, the light comes from photons emanating from the bulb at light speed and vibrating in the very narrow EM frequency range that our eyes can perceive.

Vision is a function of the eyes, and our mind is a function of the brain. There is no vision without eyes and no mind with brain. Sure there are people who believe our consciousness exists independent outside the brain, I hope if this is the case my mind is infinitely better. I'd hate to think I'd be the same Troy flowing around for eternity with the same nuts walking around on earth

Of course it is easier to see fault with in others, But I don't see where I was doing that.

If I disagree with you about something that does not mean I see fault in you. I only ascribe fault in a person who fails to see the truth when it is presented or made plain. Like the person who insists the world is round when it has been proven it is flat. In a topic like this, the source of inspiration, no one can "prove" anything. We are just exchanging and challenging ideas.

---------------------

There is a LOT we do not know. But I do get nervous when people take situations and ascribe them to otherworldly causes -- with certainty over a more likely physical one. For example, like Cynique I too have thought about a problem gone to bed an woke up with a solution, or completely new insight.

I just assumed my brain worked on it unconsciously -- I'd never make the leap that my deceased grandmother gave me the answer or that the universe helped me out. It might be true, but it would not be my first assumption.

Sometimes I have that dream where it feels like you've been thrown into bed wake up with a start. Some have told be that was my body returning from an out of body experience. That might be true, but it will take a lot more for me to be convinced of this.

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Troy I think this time you are mistaking my points for my feelings.

perhaps there wasn't enough levity. First nature doesn't exist as saying.

I was talking in analogies and parables.

I would say the mind is a function of the brain. It just makes more sense that tangible is subordinate to the tangible.

You have describe the process of the light bulb, but what is the source.

I will challenge ideas but less comfortable challenging beliefs.

I find the concept of the unconscious strange. Conscious, subconscious, preconscious are all okay.

What was riddly, I'll see if I can answer and get back on topic.

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Del most people "points" are either expressions of facts or feelings. Feeling can be interpretations of facts or beliefs. I don't challenge facts. I do challenge interpretations of beliefs.

Sometimes I may be ignorant of a fact and challenge it as if it were a belief until I learn.

I believe most of what you wrote are believe -- open for challenge. I do not make a distinction between a belief and an idea. What do you see is the difference between the two?

What was riddly? Your question about the source of the light from a bulb. What was the point of the question? One can easily ask what is the source of anything. Ultimately the answer is unknown -- perhaps unknowable; as you can infinitely regress, repeatedly asking the same question, "What is the source?"

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Interesting you challenge beliefs not ideas, I do the opposite. Why one and not the other.

A belief does need to be proven, actually once you prove a belief it ceases to be a belief.

I have no idea about the source of light. I believe the source of light is the mind. Space is the universal mind, the planets are the brain.

I think there are only beliefs

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Here is a better example Del. Remember when we were discussing digital sampling and I said mathematically one could reproduce an analog signal, 100%, with enough samples. You disagreed with this. Your belief ran counter to fact. I challenged your belief until a point that I realized you were fixed.

Look, we know what the source of the light is, and have for 100 years. The idea of the light being the sourced from the mind runs completely counter to what we know.

The same goes for space being the universal mind. While that may be an "idea" that you "believe" in, it would be be something that I would readily embrace.

Our minds are SO limited and space is infinite why would something so measly as our minds be represented in space in a way that we can conceive?

I do not believe that humans have the ability to really understand the universe any more than a housefly understands our solar system. We don't even understand ourselves.

If would be nice if we did. But if we were close to being that smart we would not be killing each other over the color our our skin or for having different beliefs...

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Delano

"Pioneer - we may be tuning into some of the same frequencies.

perhaps the personal mind is one cabinet in universal warehouse.

i am in agreement with what you say about the mind. How can the intangible be connected to the tangible."

I've been reading a lot about Near Death Experiences and Out of Body Experiences these past few years. It's really educated me on a lot of things with regards to the mind and various powers in the body.

Cynique

.

"I'd say the mind works through the brain. The brain is tangible, but the mind is spiritual. It's like body and soul. Inspiration is spontaneous; it just comes to you from The Source of all thought. An idea is the fruition of inspiration."

I'm beginning to believe that the brain is more of an "antenna" to receive and broadcast the works of the mind and beyond.

Troy

If your basic premise is that people people's beliefs should be grounded in reality, I hear exactly what you're saying and agree.

But I've learned there's more to "reality" that just what we see on a daily basis. I've had personal experiences myself that have confirmed this.

We know that certain animals like birds see a greater range of colors and other sights than humans.

We know other animals have a much much better sense of smell and can smell things that humans don't even know exist.

I was looking at a report today on CNN about animals who can detect cancer and other diseases even before they can be seen on an MRI!

The spectrum of REAL-ity or what is "real" is much much greater than most humans REAL-ize.

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Pioneer - I agree. I no longer something isn't possible or at least I try to keep an open mind.

So no matter how improbable I don't say impossible, because I haven't experienced it.

I have been interested in the

esoteric since I was a preteen.

I believe I know that reality is what you believe. I have met Wizards, Witches, Psychics, Channelers, shamans energetic healers, Yoruba priest and priestess. Some more effective than others. When I meet someone that is less effective, I don't say their field is rubbish. I say they may be off or they are off today.

I think it limits your world the more you negate ideas.

I think you can be rigorous without being dismissive.

If you have an opinion about something you haven't experienced that is ignorant.

If you hear a person playing piano badly you don't say piano is a bad instrument. I hear some of the people I meet use that reasoning.

I had a two friends who could read my mind. It was a bit disturbing because she would respond verbally to what I was thinking. Then I had a former friend who wad an energetic healer, could see and read auras, could tell you the future by you talking, and he was good with spells.

Long story short I realized he was not a friend. So I blocked him from reading me mind. He was a bit suprised and he didn't like it

So I am less likely to say that is impossible.

What I do find with inspiration, intuition and thinking is that some times are better than others.

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..the idea of the light being the sourced from the mind runs completely counter to what we know.

The same goes for space being the universal mind. While that may be an "idea" that you "believe" in, it would be be something that I would readily embrace.

Our minds are SO limited and space is infinite why would something so measly as our minds be represented in space in a way that we can conceive?

I do not believe that humans have the ability to really understand the universe any more than a housefly understands our solar system. We don't even understand ourselves.

Scientists are not totally ignorant about space. They know the universe is expanding. They can make reasonable assumptions about black holes and white dwarfs. They have picked up waves left over from the big bang, have realized that our sun is just a small star, are regularly discovering new galaxies and planets, the latest one, which is millions of miles away, appears to be an Earth twin.They are also tracking asteroids heading in the general direction of earth. And Man did, after all, land on the moon, while now, Explorer is sending back pictures of the surface of Mars. What we don't know is whether a housefly understands our solar system. It just might. It may have been clued about something by roaches who have survived for eons and eons and eons. The fact that scientists know what they don't know is knowledge in itself.

I think it limits your world the more you negate ideas.I think you can be rigorous without being dismissive.

If you have an opinion about something you haven't experienced that is ignorant.

If you hear a person playing piano badly you don't say piano is a bad instrument. I hear some of the people I meet use that reasoning.What I do find with inspiration, intuition and thinking is that some times are better than others.

You seem to be enthralled not only with metaphysics but quantum physics, Delano. They are both mind blowing, not to mention mind expanding. When you shift into their sphere, nothing is impossible. Reality fluctuates. One of my flights into free thoughI convinces me that memory and imagination are phenomena that allow me to travel back in time...

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I think a scientific opinion is overated. I would say most people are susceptible in believing an expert opinion. The don't question or ask the question. Where is the personal bias. Since this will effect the professional.

I think meaning is more important than fact. Which may be why myth is more important than science.

Your theories about the world say more about your thinking than the world - Albert Einstein.

Is there a reality without the mind = Is there beauty without inspiration = probably not

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Troy - I am pretty certain that an analog signal and digital system can replicate one another. You may not here the difference but there would be a difference. Analog is like a circle digital is like a square. One is continuous the other is discrete. A circle is a square with an infinite number if sides.

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Cynique scientists are essentially ignorant about the universe. Indeed the more they learn the more they realize how much they really don't know. :-)

Del I don't follow your reasoning. A fact is a fact, it is not a function of a belief. It is what is is. It is not up for discussion. Generally scientists are very careful about saying what they "know".

If a fact is "proven" wrong then it was not a fact, maybe it was a theory, or a belief, but a fact can't be proven wrong.

Pioneer, scientist can reproduce the near death experience in a person. Again, man makes up stories to explain what they don't understand. it is natural, but it does not make it true. I'm not discounting your experiences...I'm just saying...

The brain is an amazing thing, but it can be easily fooled. Some otherwise normal people can be made to do astonishingly evil things, with seemingly very little effort. A charismatic leader can get hundreds of people to kill themselves with the promise of being picked up by a comet, or 42 virgins in heaven. Or they get get them to exterminate some Jews or believe they are superior to blacks and enslave them for centuries. Even the God fearing, Nobel Peace prize winning Barack Obama, has a "hit list".

My honest opinion is that nobody "knows" anything -- or they know so little it may as well be nothing. Some can can spin a better tale than others but they are still all stories.

Scientists are much more rigorous in their thinking because they won't start saying something is true until is has been tested and they are always testing. They've broken Newton's laws when they started looking at matter at the quantum level, then they broke Einsteins laws when they looked at Black holes.

EVERYTHING to a scientist is open for analysis.

The majority of people KNOW far too much about the universe. It may be the dictates of their religion. They are right and ALL other belief are wrong. People who say they know the answers make me nervous.

I'm curious fellow, but I'm find with not knowing, over accepting the beliefs of someone who claims that they do.

____________________

Del now I see why you are confused about the Digital to analog thing. The information is simply stored digitally. You can here this they are discrete samples. Once the signal is decoded into an analog signal (that you can hear). The signal is a accurate representation of the source signal.

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A transformed signal is not identical to the original. Not matter whether you start analog or digital. A sample is a representation of the population but it is not the population.

A scientist can be a deist, be an atheist or agnostic. Most scientist are atheist and some think that scientist who aren't are irrational. The only rational or scientific religious stance would be agnostic. To say that you don't know. To assume knowledge in one field makes you an expert in others is both arrogant and ignorant.

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There are not very many pure Atheists, people who are certain there is not God, higher power, universal mind or any of the other stuff you mentioned.

I'm inclined to agree that most scientists would be agnostic, Since they simply can not prove there is no an after life.

--------------------------

Throwing up my hands in exasperation, Del I'm afraid I'll have to give you an "F". What you are saying does not make sense. You are comparing something completely unrelated and drawing a false conclusion. Not everything can be explained or understood with an analogy...

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Well, Troy, since you think nobody knows anything, that pretty much negates all of your contentions and rebuttals. :P We have to assume that you don't anything either and that what you assert can be doubted, which is why I challenged your statement that a housefly doesn't know anything about our solar system. Obviously speculation has nothing to do with truth. Once the door to skepticism is open, anything can be relegated to the unknown. That future discoveries can alter present conclusions, dilutes the constancy of facts. In the big picture, everything can be questioned because an overview could reveal that what is assumed to be right is wrong and what doesn't make sense is actually logical. So life is, indeed, a mystery, and it's folly to trust what you think you know for sure. :wacko:

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If you want my honest opinion.....

I think MOST scientists, just like most professors and other members of Academia actually DO believe in God.

If you investigate, you'll find that most scientists, professors, policy makers, and others who hold prominent positions in this society are MARRIED.

Why do such educated men and women who believe that humans are essentially animals and know that man is polygamous would even take such a self-imposed restrictive institution like marriage seriously, let alone engage in it?

Not only are they married but they tend to talk in terms of morality, decency, attend religious ceremonies, maintain ancient traditions, take "oaths" in court....and engage in other behavior that would be considered strange for people who don't believe in a higher power.

One of the biggest tricks the West has played on the rest of the world is tricking them into not believing in a Supreme Being.

A Supreme Being that THEY clearly believe in.

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Come on now, Pioneer. Do you really think the West has any influence on Third World countries who hate us? Furthermore, the Middle East and the Eastern countries are very saturated with their religions. And just because people are Atheists doesn't mean they have no ethics or morals. In addition to being a well organized segment of society and, unlike to a lot of religious hypocrites, Atheists are quite often people who have high morals and lofty principles and who love their fellow man and choose to lead the kind of lives that will benefit the common good. :rolleyes:

Also, many scientists can reconcile their belief in a Supreme Being with their scientific positions. It's not that hard to accept that an eternal, omnipotent, omniscient force is the Master of the Universe and therefore, among all other things, the origin of what we call science. -_-

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Cynique

"Come on now, Pioneer. Do you really think the West has any influence on Third World countries who hate us? Furthermore, the Middle East and the Eastern countries are very saturated with their religions."

The West still has tremendous influence on the Third and Developing world.

Actully the West have even MORE influence on the world today than 40 years ago because the Soviet Union is no longer around as competition.

Regardless as to how the citizens (or resident rather....because citizens actually have some say~so) of these nations feel about the United States, the LEADERS are in control of the economies and militaries and it's them who the U.S. does business with.

"And just because people are Atheists doesn't mean they have no ethics or morals. In addition to being a well organized segment of society and, unlike to a lot of religious hypocrites, Atheists are quite often people who have high morals and lofty principles and who love their fellow man and choose to lead the kind of lives that will benefit the common good."

I agree that atheists can have "ethics".....a means of determining what's acceptable and not acceptable in a given community.

But I don't believe that a true atheist can have "morals".....which is based on ultimate determinations of what is right and wrong.

How can man himself decide what is universally "right"?

His knowledge is too limited, subjective, and versatile to determine universal good/evil which is what morals are in their truest sense.

"Also, many scientists can reconcile their belief in a Supreme Being with their scientific positions. It's not that hard to accept that an eternal, omnipotent, omnisicent force is the Master of the Universe and therefore, among all other things, is the origin of what we call science."

Exactly!

That supports my point that most scientists DO believe in God.

But the rest of my point is that there seems to be some sort of agenda in Western Academia to promote the idea that education and enlightenment leads to atheism.

Delano

"Pioneer - There was a survey of scientists 80% and they were atheist

They thought the 20% that weren't atheist weren't rational. So even though the assume they see rational they aren't. The only rational position id to be an atheist."

I found out a long time ago that when it comes to educated Whites......

There is often a LARGE gulf between what they say in public and what they REALLY believe.

The same White female teacher who will go everyday to an innercity school and teach Black girls to be independant, that marriage isn't necessary for a healthy relationship, and to not waste thier lives trying to please a man.

Will drive back home way out in the woods somewhere and try to be the perfect wife for HER husban and raise her daughters to be the same.

I know many scientists are THOUGHT to be atheist.

Indeed, many want this image to be put out.

But how many actually SAY outright that they don't believe in any type of god?

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Pioneer check out this short video where several physical are asked a simple question:

Do you believe in God?

I'm not suggesting that these responses should be extended to the entire population of scientist, but their reasoning would be useful.

Also I think FAR more people, lie about believing in God than the other way around.

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I think we need to make a distinction between a Supreme Being and an Omnipotent, Infinite Force. Religion, which is an invention of man, has crafted "god" in the image of a person, making "him" either a petty, vindictive old man who doles out punishment, or a Mystical prophet who spouts riddles. And any one who judges people by the bible or other religious scriptures written by men is not qualified to be objectve. To say that an atheist can't be "moral" is simply an opinion.

In the big picture, there is no such thing as good or evil or moral or immoral or Satan or God. There is simply matter and anti-matter, negative and positive, darkness and light. The "good" and "bad" labels are constructs of civilization. But, as is proven everyday, these opposing energies co-exist.

And any scientist who cannot explain what came before the Big Bang, or what caused the spontaneous combustion that ignited it, needs to expand his vocabulary. The word "nothing" is inadequate.

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Pioneer - I notice a discrepancy between what voters tell the pollsters and what they do.

Cynique - I am of two feelings about your last post. Supreme Being may be an Omnipotent Being. God and the Devil exist for some or somewhere.How can you be sure that you are not mistaken. How can or do you check your conclusionopinion.

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Yeah it is interesting how the conversation went quickly from where do we get your inspiration to one of life's most fundamental questions, what is the nature of the universe and where do we fit in it.

I guess, fundamentally, the answer to that big question is indeed the answer to the original question; Where Does Your Inspiration Come From?

At various readings and lectures I've heard writers say their inspiration comes from the Lord, Our Savior, Jesus Christ, or spirits who speak to them or just the desire to make more money.

Religious folks will say religion was inspired, if not outright brought to us by a divine spirit. A Supreme Being or Ominipotent Force are indistinguishable to their God, or Gods, or for some, ourselves..

We all have some belief system. Some believe it is perfectly perfectly OK to kill someone else for something they have, that you want. Others believe this is evil.

Some entities, like governments, say something is evil, but take direct actions exhibiting exactly what they said was evil. Of course people do this too, but governments get away with it more.

If there is a universal truth -- it is anything but universally accepted, known or understood.

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Well, Delano, I said omnipotent "force" not omnipotent "being" in order to make a distinction between a person and a power, and my alternatives to the words "good" and "bad" are terms that apply to simple scientific principles.

If we're going to talk about what exists in the universe of a person's skull, then we are talking about inner space, not outerspace. Nobody can say anything for sure. But I can demonstrate certain reactions. Faith is blind trust in a belief. If you could snap your fingers and make the devil appear in the flesh, as a rebuttal to my extinguishing a lit match by squirting water on it, then you and I would be on the same page.

Yep, Troy, it does pretty much boil down to different strokes for different folks. And this is a subject that could be debated ad infinitum.

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Troy

Lol, that was a pretty convincing video on the atheism among scientists.

Although they start off pretty definate about not believing, when they explain thier "lack" of belief in detail it seems to go back to not believing in the Judeo/Christian idea of who God is.

Like most people in the West in general, most Western scientists start off believing in a false concept of God and when they realized that they were deceived.....many of them abandoned theism all together rather than doing dilligent research on the truth of the matter.

Should a woman never marry or trust a man again simple because her first husband cheated on her?

Cynique

"I think we need to make a distinction between a Supreme Being and an Omnipotent, Infinite Force. Religion, which is an invention of man, has crafted "god" in the image of a person, making "him" either a petty, vindictive old man who doles out punishment, or a Mystical prophet who spouts riddles. And any one who judges people by the bible or other religious scriptures written by men is not qualified to be objectve."

If you reject the idea that God is some angry old man riding on clouds, so do I.

Do you believe there is an Omnipotent Force in this Universe/Reality ?

"To say that an atheist can't be "moral" is simply an opinion.

In the big picture, there is no such thing as good or evil or moral or immoral or Satan or God. There is simply matter and anti-matter, negative and positive, darkness and light. The "good" and "bad" labels are constructs of civilization. But, as is proven everyday, these opposing energies co-exist."

If you hold the position of not believing there is a God then you just helped to prove my point that atheists can't really have morality.

You said in the big picture this IS NO good or evil or moral or immoral.

This believe that many if not most atheists hold illustrates my point that athiests can have ethics (man made rules governing human behavior in given communities) but they can't really have morals because they don't believe in ultimate good or evil.

Troy/Delano

I believe there are ACTUAL truths and UNIVERSAL truths.

Actual meaning they are true now but may change with time.

A good is example of the difference is language and mathematics.....

Language is based in actual truths as the meaning of words often change with time.

Mathematics is based on universal truths, 2+2 will always equal 4.

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If an atheist and a believer act in the exact same way, Pioneer, then it's ridiculous for a person speaking the English language to say that what the believer is doing is moral and what the non-believer is doing is not moral because believers have a monolpoly on being called a certain word that describes how people act. And it's not how an atheist thinks of himself, it's how an objective observer would categorize him. A visitor from Mars wouldn't be able to tell the difference between two people acting just alike. If an atheist and a believer both reject molesting a child then what would an English speaking person call the atheist?

When I opine that there is no such thing as good or evil, it's because I am contending that giving words connotations is a function of society, but it goes contrary to science which simply deals with opposing forces.

I kinda believe that earthlings all came from the same source and are all a part of a universal intelligence. And that we don't know what we know. I also like the romantiicized idea of us being star children because we are made of the same elements as stars.

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