tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post392823499950591853..comments2024-03-27T11:16:36.951-07:00Comments on One Cʘsmos: More Than a Few Words From the Grand High Exalted Mystic Ruler (11.24.11)Gagdad Bobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14249005793605006679noreply@blogger.comBlogger31125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-63811813785882561372008-11-13T08:31:00.000-08:002008-11-13T08:31:00.000-08:00Weird, I know. What I found interesting about it, ...Weird, I know. What I found interesting about it, though, is that apparently this prison has a <A HREF="http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=byronfgarcia&view=videos" REL="nofollow">whole program</A> where the inmates do these song and dance routines - Thriller, but also "The Hustle," Gregorian Chant, "Sister Act"... Apparently, the result has been that the usual problems - the fighting, gangs, etc. - have been reduced; I've no idea by how much. I'd hope that all the time they spend learning dance routines is time they <I>don't</I> spend learning better ways to do whatever it was that got them locked up in the first place.<BR/><BR/>I'd be curious to see what the recidivism rate is in that place.juliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15975754287030568726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-8408342357742083132008-11-13T08:02:00.000-08:002008-11-13T08:02:00.000-08:00Seriously creepy video. How appropriate that it's...Seriously creepy video. How appropriate that it's done by prisoners in prison.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-83547741425551471992008-11-12T21:44:00.000-08:002008-11-12T21:44:00.000-08:00I know, bummer, right?And now, for something compl...I know, bummer, right?<BR/><BR/>And now, for something <A HREF="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMnk7lh9M3o" REL="nofollow">completely different</A>.juliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15975754287030568726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-88113065857207202352008-11-12T21:26:00.000-08:002008-11-12T21:26:00.000-08:00"It's not okay to allow your little head to do all..."It's not okay to allow your little head to do all of your spiritual thinking and planning;"<BR/><BR/>Oh NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooo!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-36699309941175568932008-11-12T21:03:00.000-08:002008-11-12T21:03:00.000-08:00i read the UR link and in looking up "hipparchy" i...i read the UR link and in looking up "hipparchy" i came across this gem:<BR/><BR/>"if an ass goes traveling, it will not come home a horse".gumshoehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10567181585153569751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-28065537841638304562008-11-12T20:21:00.000-08:002008-11-12T20:21:00.000-08:00Just so it doesn't look a private conversation- He...Just so it doesn't look a private conversation- Here is the essay I recommended to Van. The link is from Vanderleun's American Digest; the blog is <A HREF="http://unqualified-reservations.blogspot.com/2008/11/president-obama-with-little-perspective.html" REL="nofollow">Unqualified Reservations</A>, and the author, Mencius Moldbug, could well be the all time greatest crank of all time. And I mean that in a good way.<BR/><BR/>JWMAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-9420334213253612372008-11-12T19:56:00.000-08:002008-11-12T19:56:00.000-08:00JWM, yes I saw, am seeing, the essay, and thanks s...JWM, yes I saw, am seeing, the essay, and thanks so much for sucking out what few spare moments I might have otherwise had in a busy day.<BR/><BR/>;-)<BR/><BR/>I was able to make it through about half of it earlier, and am hoping to finish the rest now that the kids are off to bed.<BR/><BR/>Thanks for the pointer to it, I'll comment at my place after I finish.Van Harveyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08470413719262297062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-52427301773031566732008-11-12T19:40:00.000-08:002008-11-12T19:40:00.000-08:00Julie - Y'know, cases like that poor kid dying of ...Julie - Y'know, cases like that poor kid dying of brain tumor stick in my craw. Of course, allegedly there are "a vast multitude of circumstances beyond my comprehension which... render it both merciful and just." Oh, well.Ray Ingleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16290483120987779339noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-37683925444854708092008-11-12T19:13:00.000-08:002008-11-12T19:13:00.000-08:00"So the question of whether one has one life, or m..."So the question of whether one has one life, or many, is important to how I behave today."<BR/>-anonymous<BR/><BR/>to me,<BR/>that comment gives the impression <BR/>of being a product of the denigrated "disposable/consumerist society"...or perhaps as the flip side of "smorgasbord religion".<BR/><BR/>not to be harsh,but it also seems like wanting one's esteem not to be challenged or the spiritual path to be difficult in any way.<BR/>or for one to have to face the prospect of judgement.<BR/>(clearly judgement exists in _both_ the one life and multiple-lives viewpoints).<BR/><BR/>as for anxiousness and anxiety,<BR/>i seem to recall(hearsay) a buddhist story that "a human incarnation is not easily obtained",and that one is wise to make the most of it.<BR/><BR/>in addition there are the buddhist "parable of the leaves",<BR/>and the "parable of the arrow",<BR/><BR/>in which the buddha is quoted as saying roughly:<BR/><BR/>"work out your salvation with diligence...questions of what happens after you die will be answered for you soon enough".gumshoehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10567181585153569751noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-65859850037171098672008-11-12T18:04:00.000-08:002008-11-12T18:04:00.000-08:00Re. the Unqualified reservations link, I read that...Re. the Unqualified reservations link, I read that one yesterday.<BR/><BR/>Interesting and unsettling.juliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15975754287030568726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-35590960266862005272008-11-12T18:02:00.000-08:002008-11-12T18:02:00.000-08:00"Maybe I stole some stuff in a past life. So in th..."Maybe I stole some stuff in a past life. So in this life somebody's going to steal stuff from me. So if my car gets ripped off I probably deserved it. And the criminal, then, was really just an agent of karma..."<BR/><BR/>JWM, that's a good way to look at it. Because by that rationale, the guy who rips you off in this life is simultaneously creating bad karma for himself while being a hapless agent of karma. Which strikes me as neither merciful nor just, though of course if karma is the way the Cosmos works then there would probably be a vast multitude of circumstances beyond my comprehension which could render it both merciful and just. But it sticks in the craw.<BR/><BR/>Anyway, I'm with you. All I can hope is that the seeds I reap in this life will come to fruition in this life or shortly thereafter, and that I don't throw down too many ugly weeds in the process.juliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15975754287030568726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-7567598257493823242008-11-12T16:31:00.000-08:002008-11-12T16:31:00.000-08:00BTW, Van:Did you look at the Moldbug essay I linke...BTW, Van:<BR/>Did you look at the Moldbug essay I linked over at your place? I'm interested in hearing your take on the guy.<BR/><BR/>JWMAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-89628313536282829262008-11-12T16:28:00.000-08:002008-11-12T16:28:00.000-08:00It's always a lot of fun to speculate about the af...It's always a lot of fun to speculate about the afterlife- heaven, reincarnation, hell, just a drop of water in an endless sea, lights out...<BR/>Truth is, we can't know.<BR/>The whole reincarnation, cause and effect karma idea used to appeal to me, but the longer I think on it, the less sense it makes. It seems to say- you behaved in thus and such a way in a past life, and that behavior had some effect on the life you live now.<BR/>Maybe I stole some stuff in a past life. So in this life somebody's going to steal stuff from me. So if my car gets ripped off I probably deserved it. And the criminal, then, was really just an agent of karma... See where this goes? Maybe the guy who has cerebral palsy in this life was a real asshole in another existence. Doesn't that give us all a "Get out of compassion free" card? I just can't believe it works that way. I don't see how anything like a "lesson" can be learned with no continuity between cause and effect. Steal a car, go to jail. Be a jerk, lose your friends. That's cause and effect.<BR/><BR/>I've come to look at the seed to harvest model as making a little more more sense. We start from scratch- each of us a new creation. Just like a tree grows to bear fruit, so a human life, properly cultivated produces a soul. Death as the wages of sin, would suggest that after a point, a human life may become so corrupted as to be incapable of producing anything capable of eternal life. Like a pulled up weed- when it dies it just dies.<BR/><BR/> But, as I said, we can't know.<BR/><BR/>JWMAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-82604390844912371952008-11-12T15:35:00.000-08:002008-11-12T15:35:00.000-08:00REDIRECT (Ray's flatland's gettin' me down)Psalm 1...REDIRECT (Ray's flatland's gettin' me down)<BR/><BR/>Psalm 150 -<BR/><BR/>Praise the LORD.<BR/>Praise God in his sanctuary; <BR/>praise him in his mighty heavens. <BR/>Praise him for his acts of power; <BR/>praise him for his surpassing greatness. <BR/>Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre, praise him with timbrel and dancing, praise him with the strings and pipe, praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals. <BR/>Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. <BR/>Praise the LORD.<BR/><BR/>Man, I can't wait to meet King David in the one next life that I'm sure of...where the MUSIC's playing...loud! Woo-hoo!NoMohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01100042056270224683noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-87062004706486309002008-11-12T15:32:00.000-08:002008-11-12T15:32:00.000-08:00Anonynony said "...How much time do I have? Is a q...Anonynony said "...How much time do I have? Is a question that crops up daily as one goes about one's business. If you d..."<BR/><BR/>Welcome to the human race, we don't know about any cards except what's in our own hand. Best advice, from those who believe in reincarnation, as well as those who don't: play the cards you have as best you can.<BR/><BR/>You're not going to cheat the house. You think Vegas is tough? The casino's eye in the sky ain't got nothing on OC.<BR/><BR/>Stop trying to be a spiritual card counter.Van Harveyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08470413719262297062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-26842755846252401422008-11-12T15:13:00.000-08:002008-11-12T15:13:00.000-08:00"How much time do I have? Is a question that crops..."How much time do I have? Is a question that crops up daily as one goes about one's business.<BR/><BR/>If you don't think you have much time, you'll rush, and you'll be anxious.<BR/><BR/>Is you think you have a lot of time, then you can slow down and take time to do things right."<BR/><BR/>a) What Petey said<BR/><BR/>b) As the <A HREF="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2025:%201-13%20;&version=31;" REL="nofollow">Man</A> said:<BR/><BR/>"Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour."<BR/><BR/>Part of the whole point of time unfolding is that we <I>don't</I> know what's going to happen next. That's where the surprise factor comes in. So the trick is to rush slowly, amble quickly, and live by the <A HREF="http://www.epilogsys.com/scoutingweb/SubPages/GSLawHis.htm" REL="nofollow">Girl Scout Law</A>. <BR/><BR/>What you seem to forget is that life isn't a contest, except maybe between you and your parasites. It's never too late to choose the right path and act accordingly, but if you wait too long you'll have nothing to show for your time here except a long string of regrets and a void that you tried to fill with empty pleasures when you should have left it O-pen. <BR/><BR/>What you seem to want to be told is that it's okay for you to live a life of horizontal hedonistic pleasure, because you'll have a chance to live the life of a saint some other time around, sooner or later, and eventually (maybe in another lifetime or a hundred or a thousand) you'll make your way back to God, and everything will be groovy. <BR/><BR/>Since the raccoon opinion on this seems to matter to you (or else why bother asking here, over and over again in various ways) here's mine: it's <I>not</I> okay. It's not okay to cheat on your wife. It's not okay to manipulate people for your personal "spiritual" gain. It's not okay to allow your little head to do all of your spiritual thinking and planning; its goal should be <I>sub</I>ordinate to your spiritual journey, not <I>super</I>ordinate.<BR/><BR/>Life and death is an absurcular mystery with a surprise ending. Maybe we reincarnate, maybe we don't. Maybe we do sometimes. If the answer were given, we would only be as good as we needed to be to squeak past the gate. When the answer is uncertain, we're much more likely to strive harder to do and be better people. And when we succeed, Surpise! We're <I>happier</I>, too.juliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15975754287030568726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-23487254302783258612008-11-12T15:04:00.000-08:002008-11-12T15:04:00.000-08:00Interesting discussion on reincarnation - from my ...Interesting discussion on reincarnation - from my earliest memories/thoughts about this as a young child (probably since I was 6-7), I've always envisioned the cosmos as a circle, which contains all of the energy, and we're just made up of part of that energy and sit on the edge of the circle (looking in so to speak), and returning to the energy of the circle when we die... <BR/><BR/>Where you are positioned around the circle determines your perspective, and ultimately your beliefs, etc... Reincarnation, is little more than old energy being reused to create new objects...<BR/><BR/>Now, in my current spiritual quest, I've discovered this site, and am finally getting a chance to better explore those earlier concepts (somehow Life got in the way before... ;-) with a renewed passion and who-knows how many more mind-parasites to deal with...<BR/><BR/>I'm excited since I just got my copy of MOTT and am now able to explore more deeply the ideas of the recent threads in the blog, and am also re-reading Bob's book, with the advantage of having spent months pondering the ideas and concepts brought up in the blog, etc...<BR/><BR/>I just wanted to thank everyone (in advance) for allowing me to listen in, and that I may be able to contribute in my own way to the discussions more often now that I have the time and inclination to do so...<BR/><BR/>ZGZenGolferhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05940716388563286478noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-71240050869761190552008-11-12T13:33:00.000-08:002008-11-12T13:33:00.000-08:00We are approaching the same number of deaths from ...We are approaching the same number of deaths from abortion in the U.S. as civilians killed during WWII, about 47 million. Consider also the millions of children who have died from various diseases over the centuries. Orthodox Christianity, by completely rejecting reincarnation or anything resembling reincarnation, seems to make the whole grand plan subject to microbes and Planned Parenthood.<BR/>There is an anxiety in considering this in addition to the anxiety of not knowing.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-30751546528190679492008-11-12T13:32:00.000-08:002008-11-12T13:32:00.000-08:00I think we can resolve the dilemma by agreeing tha...I think we can resolve the dilemma by agreeing that "life goes on." Just not on earth. Most of the earth-reincarnation stuff is just a jumbled and vulgarized understanding of allegorical teachings about afterlife circumstances, about which there is a rich tradition in Orthodoxy. In short, theosis takes longer than one earthly go-round.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-17306695342679935292008-11-12T13:22:00.000-08:002008-11-12T13:22:00.000-08:00Ah, the issue of reincarnation rears its heads aga...Ah, the issue of reincarnation rears its heads again. Both the Roman Church and the Orthodox are strictly against reincarnation. For a Christian to disagree with those two branches, as UF does even though he had joined the Roman Catholic Church, may create a conflict which I, newly returned to the fold (although I'm not sure just what fold), am not completely comfortable with. <BR/>"If you want to get at the Truth, you're going to have to tolerate the anxiety of not knowing..." so sayeth Petey.<BR/>The anxiety of not knowing...well, that covers a lot of ground...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-63405597426125178712008-11-12T13:21:00.000-08:002008-11-12T13:21:00.000-08:00This is anony oneWell, Julie, I disagree with you....This is anony one<BR/>Well, Julie, I disagree with you.<BR/><BR/>How much time do I have? Is a question that crops up daily as one goes about one's business.<BR/><BR/>If you don't think you have much time, you'll rush, and you'll be anxious.<BR/><BR/>Is you think you have a lot of time, then you can slow down and take time to do things right.<BR/><BR/>In terms of spiritual work, if you don't think you have much time, you'll rush to cram in too much, or you'll feel anxious. <BR/><BR/>So the question of whether one has one life, or many, is important to how I behave today. <BR/><BR/>Evolution only happens here on Earth,and if we only get our brief span of years to do it, how can we reliably get 'er done? <BR/><BR/>Petey would know, and I await his answer on this. But to dismiss the question as "we already settled this one" is wrong. You settled it for yourself, not for me.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-79204816744849075442008-11-12T13:09:00.000-08:002008-11-12T13:09:00.000-08:00Ah, maineman, that's what this secular humanist sa...Ah, maineman, that's what <A HREF="http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2008/11/brain_death_and_fundamentalist_religion.php" REL="nofollow">this secular humanist said</A>.<BR/><BR/>"As much as I'm alarmed by the tendency even in medicine to give undue deference to religious beliefs rooted in an understanding of the world hundreds or thousands of years old... in this case I'm not quite so militant. Motl Brody is dead after a long illness. His parents, through some misguided religious view, think that they have to fight to have all measures continue to be used, even though they understand that Motl is not going to recover. A delusion? Arguably yes. Still, I can't force myself to be outraged that religion has led to this; parents in such a state take very little to cling to what they love. I leave that to others. Right now, all I can manage is sadness for them and their child.Ray Ingleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16290483120987779339noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-45033981431857007812008-11-12T13:07:00.000-08:002008-11-12T13:07:00.000-08:00Exactly, Ray. My guess is that this is really abou...Exactly, Ray. My guess is that this is really about Medicaid or Medicare, i.e. it's an outgrowth of entitlements.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-31331065628797411822008-11-12T13:04:00.002-08:002008-11-12T13:04:00.002-08:00So, here is my question. Does Petey have free will...So, here is my question. Does Petey have free will?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-30469759213093817522008-11-12T13:04:00.001-08:002008-11-12T13:04:00.001-08:00Will - Does the question of "Who's paying the hosp...Will - Does the question of "Who's paying the hospital bill?" affect the decision? It's not clear from the news report.<BR/><BR/>I'm not putting an economic measure on a family's pain, but taking resources from another without their consent is problematic. (At least, when Obama does it.)<BR/><BR/>If no one was paying the hospital, would their medical judgement have some bearing?Ray Ingleshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16290483120987779339noreply@blogger.com