That happy hour bit is hilarious. It reminds me of a quote from Mark Twain: "Do not do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Their taste may be different from yours."
If a conspiracy exists, and the general notion is that Democracy is a joke-there is one idea that should be addressed. Perhaps a nation is sent the leaders which it most deserves. Instead of driving obsessively toward a new war we should all be asking ourselves how we have contributed to the...
Albert Schweitzer thought that it was impossible to live up to the incredibly high standards set by Jesus. And this from a man that served the sick and dying in Africa for a good portion of his life. Go figure. Perhaps a better notion would be not to ask what Christianity can bring forth-but...
Odd inspiration comes not from strange moments,
that sometimes were fleeting, decadent and hollow;
But like the pallbearer and the fury
is found there in silence and not chateaus.
But O life that is drawn out in long seasons!
O ripe experience, heady and barrelling like boys in breeches,
the...
Not just the orthodox countries-I wonder if this kind of homogenization will mean they will be tearing down the Colosseum soon in order to build a Wal-Mart in its place. Remember what the 'cultural' revolution did for China? They lost a millenia's treasure tove of priceless artifacts and the...
I think the definition of religion was answered for in the very beginning of this thread. One dictionary definition is, "way of life". I look at what Jesus did as being truly unique in Judaism, and that was to bring forth forgiveness of sins as a way of life. He did not really draw a line...
I knew an atheist who believed in spirits but did not believe in God. For her there was no apparent contradiction in terms. I think everyone has an admixture of apparently contradictory thoughts, beliefs and feelings brewing deep within them at any one given time.
St. Augustine thought that faith was a prerequiste to knowledge. If you examine the precarious nature of knowledge itself and how it is continually in motion then this is logical. Faith can never really be extinguished in this sense, even within those who claim not to have any.
Hi Loner. Have you read The Catcher in the Rye? Maybe you are just philosophically bummed out about things like Holden. All these things you are describing could just be symptoms of depression. I've gone through similiar experiences. I'd like to tell you that things get easier. But you do...
My mother had flushed me out for this purpose and
nothing besides:
That my mind wanders over the days left behind when
the school bell rang, I came alive and
sprung to action but
stayed inside this
cauldron and circus called a life then
got a career and I got a life which was
satisfying to...
"shoot at if necesarry?" This is the danger contained not in any 'real' political structure but in the very abstract construct itself. What is there to shoot at? This is a media construct and nothing more. The only thing to 'shoot at' is a symbol that is viewed on a television screen or...
Yeah, I think he managed to strike a great balance between playing a normal, befuddled middle class man and a paranoid, possibly delusional and dangerous dude very well.
Has anybody seen or heard of this show? It ran in the mid nineties and lasted for only one season. I read about it when the DVD's came out and picked it up. I was blown away. It was about a man who finds his life erased after a gallery opening because of a photograph he took titled Hidden...
I think terrorism is a reaction to either a deperate situation or an inner struggle with desperation. It is significant that most people recruited for terrorist acts are young. The early years of life are usually those fraught with the most confusion, fear and anger. Once you became aware...
I would agree-everything may be permissable but not everything is adviseable. I tend to question the acquisition of wisdom itself. A foolish person will know what wisdom is and still act foolishly. A wise person may not even be able to formulate a concept for wisdom but stll act in a wise...
Christians by and large are the ones who popularized anti-semitism. But Zionism in its original form was not about acquiring land but about survival. The need for an actual place to live became abundantly clear after the holocaust when the world declared that there was no safe place for a Jew to...
I am not advocating ignorance here. I have derived quite a bit of amusement from conspiracy theories myself. Here is one more bit to try on for size-do not forget the value of disinformation. And then there is the much more subtle and effective tactic of mixing a good deal of truth with a lie...
"We should weep when children are born into this world...It is vanity to ask why the former times are better than these" said wise old Solomon.
I don't think there has ever been an ideal time to bring children into this world. I have two myself and must admit that I think about these things...
The old shadow government idea has been around for a while now-long before 9/11. The real danger behind such thoughts is not whether they are true or not, but in the effect they have upon true believers. Once we go on a witch hunt everyone falls under suspicion and no one is safe from the...