:
|
No, no, no. I didn't see any horns, plus if it was a "Welcome to the faith" Present it was totally belated. I was the Wiccan Wonder of the West long before this.
|
:
|
Point taken...
|
DISCLAIMER: I THINK GHOSTS ARE BULLSHIT AND CAN BE EXPLAINED WITH SCIENTIFIC THEORIES AND A LITTLE COMMON SENSE
I've seen creepy stuff myself on occasion. Usually I dismiss it, but I always make a mental note of what happened and where, so I can keep a look out if anything screwy starts going on. Most of it's in childhood, as with most people, since imagination is less suppressed back then. But I've seen a translucent horseman pace around my garden, spectral faces in curtains, and when I was really tiny, the headlights on my toy bus kept flashing on and off, and I could see tiny pupils in the centre. The problem was that the headlights had never had light bulbs in them, or mirrors. They were just matte plastic. I tapped it the following morning and nothing happened, but I never played with it again. I also have a tendency to find symbols or messages in natural formations. Even today I saw a weeping pace in the snow, next to a pair of overlapping leaves resembling a broken heart. Oh, and once I was sitting on the crapper, doing my buisness, and my entire perception of reality flickered. It was like when a cinema changes rolls of film, I saw a flicker of black, then a flicker of white. For a few seconds I couldn't remember where I was, who I was, or what was going on. It was a bit like The Matrix but with no green numbers. A few seconds later, normal service is resumed, and I go back to my shit in peace. If ghosts did exist, I suspect they'd just be people. Nothing to be scared of, they're probably just trying to finish something they died halfway through. That gives the happy idea that you could have a friendly chat with your dead relatives. I also suffer from horrendous deja vu, lucid dreams (Unparachuted basejumping. Wheee!) and that thing where you feel like you're falling. |
I had a friend who seemed a pretty strong believer in modern occult. Claimed that he had used a Wigi board that had actually worked. I never really found that believable.
But he did say that he had woken up to the sound of typing, and realized that the computer was typing on it's own. Then, as if it wasn't creepy enough, he said that there were footsteps coming from the stairs. I've never had any real expiriences with this who supernatural thing. Lots of Dejá Vu though. Almost once a month, I look at something at a certain angle and know I've seen this exact image somewhere else. I love remembering the feeling the next day, just not the feeling itself, because I can never remember where I've gotten it from. This does tend to needle at me for a few minutes, and can be become very irritating, until I decide to dismiss it as just me being paranoid. EDIT: I just remembered a single incident that scared me to death. I used to sit outside with my family and look up at the stars in the evening. I would get bored very quickly, and once I went inside, I'd usually end going back outside, for the company. One time I chanced upon looking into the bathroom. Behind the curtains, was a humanlike shape, and moving. I freaked out and ran back outside and decided it was probrably better to wait out there than with whatever that was. To this day, I have no clue what it was, and I've long since moved out of that house. I still think that has to be one of the most creepy expiriences in my life. |
:
|
:
|
Well, yeah. They are horrible bastards, and I certainly didn't mean to make it sound like anyone is making light of a serious situation (especially as this is my specialty). My point was only that you can look at them in a removed sort of way. I actually know what it's like to live with that dogma.
|
:
|
A couple of times now me and a good friend I'm in the room with have both reported having a sexual experience at the same time. We both seem to share largely the same feelings and experiences with eachother and it seemed to happen again and again whenever we were in close contact. I think we may have had a psychic link it was so uncanny.
|
WoF is touching penii again.
|
lol Fred Phelps.
Why isn't he dead yet? Oh, I forgot. The people that desperately need to die are the ones that live forever. Ghosts or no, I hope there is no afterlife for that fuck. |
:
:
:
That said, I do believe in interpreting the traditions and texts through the filter of the modern world. For instance, in Judaism there are rules about decency and modesty in dress and behaviour. The most extreme example of this is that Ultra-Orthodox women have to be dressed completely covered from neck to ankles and also have their hair covered after marriage. They're also not allowed to sing in front of men. The primary reasoning for this is so as not to inflame sexual urges in the men who look at/listen to them. On the other hand, Modern-Orthodox Jews say that standards of decency are a cultural thing, and that women should be able to wear pants or t-shirts if they want to, simply because that's what everyone wears today and we're used to seeing it. *Massive simplification of the history. Don't quote me on it. |
:
|
I don't really think there are bad religions (well, there are certainly some), just bad people who use religion as a scapegoat.
It is capable to be religious and fair-minded, perhaps not logical, but at least fair-minded. Anyone who reads in the bible that it's okay to subjugate women, throw stones at sinners, and condemn those of opposing faiths and believes it was either foolish or bad to begin with. This is why I think religion should be a choice, and I think it's sick that people like you, Mat, were subjected to such a cruel environment during a time in your life when you did not have the capacity to make your own rational decisions. I'm simply glad you grew out of it as opposed to becoming another ravenous bible-thumper. The Amish sort of had the right idea in giving their kin a choice. Trouble is, they cram religion down their throat all through childhood and don't give them a choice until it's too late. Not all religions call for an all-or-nothing deal though. Christianity is certainly one of the zanier dogmas out there, but even it has factions that don't advocate extremes. |
No. I said fuck religion. Good day, sir.
|
Religion as in Religion *spooky organ music*
or Religion as in collective spiritual beliefs? ie Buddhism is technically a religion, even though it's not. |
What did Jesus learn when he went to China?
Jew-Do |
No, that's what you call a Jewish family celebration, like a wedding or bar mitzvah.
|
:
*snort* |
|
I was wondering why my sensai spoke Hebrew.
|
Logic, I think, is no better than faith as a foundation for beliefs. Logic --- theoretically, at least, usually not practically --- is self-defeating, because of those two words that are so pernicious to any logician: "What If?" Any statement created using those words would technically be logically sound, but could also contradict itself, and, of course, there is no way to "disprove" a What If, so it remains valid possibility.
I'm quite aware of this fact, and after asking myself the question, "What If God exists?", have decided that the "scientific" explanation of the universe is just as ill-conceived as creationism. If, for instance, you say that the Big Bang theory or the Membrane theory or whatever your heart desires is corroborated by mathematics, how would you know that mathematics even worked at the time of the occurrence, or was not something completely different altogether? Mathematics is an abstract science, and only gains practicality when we assign certain representations to symbols known as numbers. Numbers by themselves do not exist. There may be such a thing as one foot, or one pound, but there is no such thing as one, or at least not in this world. It's an illusory idea, really. That said, I really despise the idea of just-add-water religion. Following tenets without question that are given to you by other men seems to me, to say the least, bizarre. In regards to what you said, Splat --- a slave, even in a palace, or at the throne of God itself, remains at the end of the day only a slave at heart; whereas a king, be he king of a wasteland or of nothing but himself, has the heart of a king, and is master over himself; I find this sufficient. After all, I am the only thing I have; I am not yet so mad as to put it in another's power. But perhaps your choice may be different. |
Go humanism!
|
I don't think I'd call it humanism, though. Humanism, if you'll notice, rejects the idea of the supernatural and places an emphasis on dry, empirical reason. I believe instinct and emotion are very natural and powerful parts of human nature, and they oughtn't be underplayed.
|
Pure humanism perhaps, but I subscribe only to the idea that my own values and interests come ahead of most anything else including any external, collective governing body be it spiritual or otherwise. This does not mean I don't think humanist values and spirituality cannot co-exist, especially considering I don't pursue any spiritual endeavors that aren't self-serving in some way. :p
|
:
|
I think there's a pretty much equal probability of there being a God than of no God/entity/afterlife/whatever. Only one way to find out...
|
Why do you think that but.
|
Taco, you worship ground beef chili and cheese. this is no place for you.
|
:
|
YOU CAN'T MIX THEM
you've got to choose. the meat or the cream. didn't mean for that to be innuendo, but i can't be arsed to edit. |
:
|
i am Kosher.
|
:
:
:
|
probably a nacho aspiring to something out of their reach.
|
:
You or your friend (not both) may be experiencing something called "psionic empathy" what basically happens is one person feels something and the other picks it up and feels it themself. It's actually surprisingly common, although usually a person with psionic empathy picks up feelings from everyone around them in a short distance around them (varies from person to person). You'd know if both of you were doing it (think of two radios close to each other). |
We were indeed both doing it.
So if ever I'm asked about the sweat on the sheets 'Psionic empathy' is what I'll tell them. |
I love how Joe feels the need to sneak in as much information about his sex life as possible in every single thing he posts.
Did I ever tell you about the time Joe touched my penis? |