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Inane ramblings

My dad was supposed to come some time last week, but didn't show up. He says he tried to call but couldn't get around the unlisted filter I have for my phone line, even though it gives instructions when you call. I didn't find out until I called him at his own house 4 days after he was supposed to be here. So, I guess I won't call him anymore, and we'll see how long it is before we talk again. My mom and wife were much more pissed than I. Speaking of my wife being pissed, it looks like I'll be patronizing a floral shop tomorrow, as I passed on a quite night at home for an unbelievable evening of fishing - so between fishing and work, my wife took care of my son all day. I've gotta get up in 5 1/2 hrs and do another full-time week at work, which sucks because I'm used to spending all but 20-30 hrs/wk with my son. The chief wants me to stay full-time permanently, but I guarantee that's not going to happen. I finally have a job I love, but 9 mos out of the year I have a full-time class load and 2 part time jobs. I'm not pissing these 3 mos away. I think I'll scrap the Linux-on-my-Mac idea. It'd be beautiful could I get it working, but I think I'll just run it on Ol' Bessie for the time being. I can't believe I'm rambling over the internet. When do I get my "Certified Geek" badge? I should go to bed, but I really enjoy the lucidity of the late night/early morn. I had to buy a size 33 waist after being a 32 since Junior High. I guess it's time to start working out like my shrink wants me to. I'm surprised I don't have "secretaries butt," considering how much time I park my ass in front of the computer. Maybe I do, I can't see my ass very well. Jesus, I'm hairy. I wonder if I'll be one of those guys with thick, black hair everywhere except the top of my head. Maybe if my back hair gets long enough, I can braid it and put beads in it. I hear that drives chicks wild. I guess the real question is whether or not to hit that submit button. I can't imagine marcus or James being too amused paying for the bandwidth to cover this post. Maybe I can make it up to them if I click some links and buy more stuff. But then I'll have to explain to my wife why I needed a Chia Pet from Amazon, and I don't think I can B.S. that well. I'm good, but I'm not that good. The thread will probably sink like a rock, anyway, so I guess it's no skin off my nose. It's odd that I can argue for the existence of a merciful Creator, given the existence of mosquitos. It's time to go to bed. The missus never sleeps well if I'm not in the bed with her. I wonder why.

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-Joshua
Abortion: Darwinism at its finest.

criky, that reads like the emails I send my friends. I thought I was the only one who wrote like that (that's what they tell me, anyway).

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Wow. Umm...wow.

As far as the job goes, what's the difference between having two part time jobs and one full time job? Seems like you'd be spending the same number of hours either way, and if you really love the job (a rare quality, IMO) why not jump on the opportunity?

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-- ComaVN (from Slashdot)

Josh - Relax

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-miradu

GOOD GOD! Insane ramblings is right. And I thought I was bad!

LOL!

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My blog: Pocketfactory

What the scary part is that Josh probably had other thoughts that he had that he wasn't fast enough to type down. These are probably the filtered thoughts!
(I'm supposing that from my own experience, I couldn't type stream of consciousness 'cause I would need to type about 300 words a minute!)

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"I am a debtor both to Greeks and to Barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish."

sowens, the two jobs only add up to 25-30hrs/wk. I'll really enjoy working full-time, but only when my son is in school.

Mike, I was actually quite relaxed. A lot more than I am after getting home from work.

foo, it's inane, not insane. Though after reading my post again, the line is pretty fuzzy.

BobbyMike, I filtered out all the thoughts dealing with sex. They're rather redundant, anyway. "Geeze, I wish I were having sex. I can only imagine how much fun I'd be having if I were having sex right now. Having sex is good and good for you. I thought married people had sex all the time..." You get the picture.

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-Joshua
Abortion: Darwinism at its finest.

Yes I do....
My wife figures if scientists could develop a way to tap into the energy men use thinking about sex, we would never ever have an energy crisis.

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"I am a debtor both to Greeks and to Barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish."

Re: Inane ramblings

quote:

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Originally posted by dick-richardson
[...]It's odd that I can argue for the existence of a merciful Creator, given the existence of mosquitos. [...]

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Re: Re: Inane ramblings

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Originally posted by dietrichbohn
...Actually, better not, Religion hasn't been broached yet and I could see it sending us into lockdown land right quick.

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...P.S. Have you read The Unbearable Lightness of Being? A great Disproof of God because of the existence not of evil, but of poop. couldn't help myself

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-Joshua
Abortion: Darwinism at its finest.

I wrote a research paper on Kerouac like that, had to edit it quite a bit afterwards though. Damn research paper requirements make you take out all the good stuff.

I'm staying far away from the religion topic unless you all share my contempt for organized religion. Spirituality is a different story, but I suppose some of those ideas would rub the same people the wrong way, oh well.

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Re: Re: Re: Inane ramblings

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Originally posted by dick-richardson
I needn't. I've seen some beautiful arguments dealing with religion. Then again, I've seen some pretty ugly ones, too. I think part of it comes from the impression that the unreligious are amoral and the religious can't think for themselves.

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Originally posted by lennonhead
I'm staying far away from the religion topic unless you all share my contempt for organized religion. Spirituality is a different story, but I suppose some of those ideas would rub the same people the wrong way, oh well.

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Those closer to college years will remember the philosopher, but I always fall back on this premise when doubting the existence of God:

If you believe in God, that's great. You'll be rewarded in the afterlife. If you don't believe, act as if you do anyway - on the off chance that a God exists. That way, you've got your bases covered.

Love the ramblings.

Originally posted by Morris:
Those closer to college years will remember the philosopher, but I always fall back on this premise when doubting the existence of God:

If you believe in God, that's great. You'll be rewarded in the afterlife. If you don't believe, act as if you do anyway - on the off chance that a God exists. That way, you've got your bases covered.

Love the ramblings.

Well, I've been out a little while, but I recognize Pascal's wager when I see it. It's actually a fairly weak argument that's easily beaten since an omnipotent God (if said being exists) is not going to fooled by someone only going through the motions of belief. Pascal's wager is rather like the lottery or any number of other things: relatively small cost with huge potential payoff, but infinitesimal odds of actually paying off.

There are undoubtedly many results that would turn up if one searched for Pascal's wager, but here's one that I had bookmarked one time that the question came up elsewhere.

Pascal's wager gets especially interesting if you don't allow him to lay down the infinite gain and loss in the afterlife. In fact, with the assumption that you won't experience infinite loss if you don't believe, most modern decision theory shows Pascal's wager is either useless as a decision making tool or even argues against belief!

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Re: Re: Re: Re: Inane ramblings

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Originally posted by dietrichbohn

For nonreligious people, the idea of God/spirituality can be rationally understood and rejected. For religious people, the idea of no god strikes them as just plain absurd

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Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Inane ramblings

Originally posted by linguas
Not believing in religion doesn't necessarily mean not believing in a force beyond our physical realm. Religion is a man-made device - spirituality comes from within.

Right, good point. I was operating under lennonhead's distinction bewt. spiruality and organized religion, above. By religion I meant organized religion. Let's just define terms, we'll call Organized religion "Religion," and spiritual, non-organized belief "Sprituality"

Non-religious, yet spiritual people may have the same visceral feeling about non-believers, but I don't think it's as powerful. With organized religion, the belief is part of an entire structured framework for understanding the world, one that's passed down and is a part of the culture, this lends it more force in the psyche.

...I feel that by now I should mention that I've a BA in Philosophy of St. Thomas University in St. Paul. That's St. Thomas as in Aquinas, and the philo dept. was in his camp, to say the least. I'm almost embarrased to call it a philosophy degree instead of an analytic apologetics degree! I also feel that I should admit to being an agnostic: not because I don't want to bother deciding, but because I'm leaning towards a Zen flavor of talking about God.

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The only thing I have against the idea that you can be "spiritual", and not be "religious" is the way some people go about it. The reason "New Agers" get ridiculed sometimes (see "Mars Attacks" for an example) is that they pick and choose from different religious systems, taking what intrigues them and discarding anything that offends them. Part of Religion is that it often challenges you to be different from who you are/were. No-one falls over Heaven/Nirvana, they achieve it through discipline (and no, not every one will make it there- 'cause it's a choice thing). We are all born equal, with the right to become unequal.

Part of the beauty of Religion is the shared cultural and generational beliefs and traditions. Choosing to participate can be fulfilling, but like everything worthy of your time you have to work at it, not just pay lip service to the principles. Too many people get away with calling themselves Christians when they publically expouse hatred towards other human beings. Since Jesus was pretty clear about loving one another and not hating anyone, common sense would dictate that regardless of what such a person called themself, they couldn't truly be a Christian. Too many times, I as a Christian, get blasted for what someone else (a self-described Christian) said about gays, Jews, Muslims, etc.

People can use a the cover of a Religion for their own agendas, and often do. Please don't get into the habit of lumping everyone who believes in with the obvious hypocrites. Mans' inhumanity to other men is one of God's greatest sorrows.

It's kinda like the song by XTC ("Dear God") where the guy whines about all the "bad" things in the world and why he can't believe in a god that would allow bad things to happen.
That would be like my kid not listening to me when I say to stay off the roof 'cause it's dangerous and after he falls off, he won't talk to me 'cause he can't believe I let him fall off the roof.

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"I am a debtor both to Greeks and to Barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish."

It's hard to express my views on Religion. I believe in God (which I can argue) and I believe He is interested in my well-being (which is much harder). Religion is much different. On the one hand, I see the Church (Christian) as being as hypocritical and bureacratic as the Jewish religion is portrayed during Jesus' time; I see the damage done in the name of Religion throughout history, etc. On the other, I see some good done by religions as well. I always used to advocate that people follow their morals and intelligence, but I forgot to factor in how amoral and stupid people could be. So Religion is good for idiots - much the same way padded rooms are good for schizophrenics (ok, padded rooms aren't good for schizophrenics, but the expression works). But there are plenty of times where a given religion matches a person's moral code and intelligence. The closest to mine would be Catholicism (part of which springs from upbringing, I'm sure), but it could hardly be considered a spot-on match. C'est la vie.

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-Joshua
Abortion: Darwinism at its finest.

quote:

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Originally posted by dick-richardson
It's hard to express my views on Religion. I believe in God (which I can argue) and I believe He is interested in my well-being (which is much harder). Religion is much different. On the one hand, I see the Church (Christian) as being as hypocritical and bureacratic as the Jewish religion is portrayed during Jesus' time; I see the damage done in the name of Religion throughout history, etc. On the other, I see some good done by religions as well. I always used to advocate that people follow their morals and intelligence, but I forgot to factor in how amoral and stupid people could be. So Religion is good for idiots - much the same way padded rooms are good for schizophrenics (ok, padded rooms aren't good for schizophrenics, but the expression works). But there are plenty of times where a given religion matches a person's moral code and intelligence. The closest to mine would be Catholicism (part of which springs from upbringing, I'm sure), but it could hardly be considered a spot-on match. C'est la vie.

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