RE: [Socrates-Cafe-Louisville] Upcoming August 10th Meeting
| From: | user 8199575 |
| Sent on: | Wednesday, August 5, 2009 5:03 PM |
Couldn't have said it better myself! Amen, brother.
From: [address removed]
To: [address removed]
Subject: Re: [Socrates-Cafe-Louisville] Upcoming August 10th Meeting
Date: Wed, 5 Aug 2009 13:49:53 -0400
--
Please Note: If you hit "REPLY", your message will be sent to everyone on this mailing list ([address removed])
This message was sent by jetroy ([address removed]) from Socrates Cafe Louisville.
To learn more about jetroy, visit his/her member profile
To unsubscribe or to update your mailing list settings, click here
Meetup Support: [address removed]
632 Broadway, New York, NY 10012 USA
Get free photo software from Windows Live Click here.
From: [address removed]
To: [address removed]
Subject: Re: [Socrates-Cafe-Louisville] Upcoming August 10th Meeting
Date: Wed, 5 Aug 2009 13:49:53 -0400
Here's my take on 'The Purpose of Belief'
A belief in a view of the physical world is called a scientific hypothesis which is set up to serve as a straw man so that the implications of it can be discussed and tested; the belief can be modified if it is found to be less than perfect. A hypothesis is a useful belief.
A belief in a God is called a religion and is set up to provide psychological comfort to the believers and status,money, and power for its priests. Religions try to promote their ideas by promising eternal happiness or virgin maidens for believers and eternal damnation for non-believers. Any attempt to modify the religious beliefs is called heresy and is ferociously resisted. Religions usually try to propagate their particular fantasies so as to infect the largest number possible - the goal is a world wide religious clusterf**k of believers whose brains have been disabled.
Jim
A belief in a view of the physical world is called a scientific hypothesis which is set up to serve as a straw man so that the implications of it can be discussed and tested; the belief can be modified if it is found to be less than perfect. A hypothesis is a useful belief.
A belief in a God is called a religion and is set up to provide psychological comfort to the believers and status,money, and power for its priests. Religions try to promote their ideas by promising eternal happiness or virgin maidens for believers and eternal damnation for non-believers. Any attempt to modify the religious beliefs is called heresy and is ferociously resisted. Religions usually try to propagate their particular fantasies so as to infect the largest number possible - the goal is a world wide religious clusterf**k of believers whose brains have been disabled.
Jim
----- Original Message -----From: Old Bull LeeSent: Wednesday, August 05, 2009 8:31 AMSubject: Re: [Socrates-Cafe-Louisville] Upcoming August 10th MeetingI think you nailed it that's what I was going for, why do we believe anything without evidence or flimsy evidence and why do we need to express and defend those beliefs. What purpose are we really serving; if I believe in Bigfoot does it really matter and why tell anyone about it, as the bard tells there in lies the "Rub."
From: Jeff <[address removed]>
To: [address removed]
Sent: Wednesday, August 5, 2009 1:58:10 AM
Subject: [Socrates-Cafe-Louisville] Upcoming August 10th Meeting
John took care of the review of this meeting's discussion (thanks John!). You can see his write-up on the Message Board. As it happens, John also posed the winning subject for next week's meeting (and I may not word this right): why do humans have an urge to create, or perhaps just buy into, beliefs? John's example was a friend of his who believes in ghosts (what's up with that??).
It seems that the immediate response is that our human intellect has a primal urge to understand the world around us and to do that we seek out patterns and order to the world (we recognize these). Maybe in many cases, we actually impose a false pattern on the world that has less to do with the way things really are and more to do with helping us feel that we have some control in a frightening, dangerous world.
Is there a difference between "real" patterns and "imposed" patterns? If so, how can we tell the difference between them? Do we owe it to ourselves to learn which are real and which are not? For many people - maybe for all of us, these patterns provide meaning to our lives. If this is so, do we have an obligation to make others aware of their imposed patterns?
Frankly, I don't know if I've got John's idea right at all. If not, I'm sure that he'll correct me...
--
Please Note: If you hit "REPLY", your message will be sent to everyone on this mailing list ([address removed])
This message was sent by Jeff ([address removed]) from Socrates Cafe Louisville.
To learn more about Jeff, visit his/her member profile
To unsubscribe or to update your mailing list settings, click here
Meetup Support: [address removed]
632 Broadway, New York, NY 10012 USA
--
Please Note: If you hit "REPLY", your message will be sent to everyone on this mailing list ([address removed])
This message was sent by Old Bull Lee ([address removed]) from Socrates Cafe Louisville.
To learn more about Old Bull Lee, visit his/her member profile
To unsubscribe or to update your mailing list settings, click here
Meetup Support: [address removed]
632 Broadway, New York, NY 10012 USA
--
Please Note: If you hit "REPLY", your message will be sent to everyone on this mailing list ([address removed])
This message was sent by jetroy ([address removed]) from Socrates Cafe Louisville.
To learn more about jetroy, visit his/her member profile
To unsubscribe or to update your mailing list settings, click here
Meetup Support: [address removed]
632 Broadway, New York, NY 10012 USA
Get free photo software from Windows Live Click here.
People in thisMeetup are also in:
