Art Bell

[SredniVashtar]

I think SiFiAuthor, is trying to say that its their crutch. Without it they would fall into despair.  Sadly, I fear this to be true.  Worse than any drug IMO, in many ways, including withdrawal.

Look, I'm sure we have all faced tough times in the past but that sort of thing just masks the pain, it doesn't actually help. If you delude and drug yourself with something like religion because reality is biting too hard then you are denying yourself the chance to actively change your situation.

[FightTheFuture]

That sort of Consequentialism doesn't work. You could defend human sacrifice on that basis by saying it gave comfort to the Aztecs. I have never been convinced that telling lies - however well-intentioned - is defensible. That's religions biggest crutch and someone ought to have kicked it away by now.

What are these lies of which you speak?

[Lilith]

Look, I'm sure we have all faced tough times in the past but that sort of thing just masks the pain, it doesn't actually help. If you delude and drug yourself with something like religion because reality is biting too hard then you are denying yourself the chance to actively change your situation.

I agree wholeheartedly.  But the withdrawal is long and severe.  I can say that, cuz I been there.

[FightTheFuture]

Look, I'm sure we have all faced tough times in the past but that sort of thing just masks the pain, it doesn't actually help. If you delude and drug yourself with something like religion because reality is biting too hard then you are denying yourself the chance to actively change your situation.

Why do think it`s delusional to believe in "religion"?

[pyewacket]

Someone a few pages back called Metaphysics a 'subjective science'. That's a total oxymoron. If you want to believe something absurd then that's your prerogative, but if you want to extend that into the physical world then you need more than your own assertion to back it up. Art 'saying' he had an out of body experience is just that. There is no reason for believing it is true. We know so little about the mind that we can't conclusively say that it is a delusion, of course, but I don't think we can take it much further than seeing it as any other hallucination until more evidence comes in. I once (several weeks after her death), saw my dead mother looking down at me while I was in bed. Do I regard that as conclusive evidence of life after death? No, I regard it is a natural consequence of someone who had barely slept for a month and was under severe stress.

The ability to think and gradually lift ourselves out of ignorance and superstition is what distinguishes us as a species. I don't know how people can justify not using their brains when they are all we have.

I was going to take a vacation from posting, but this conversation piqued my interest. In my younger years, I took a great interest in metaphysical practices. I had many lucid dreams and OBEs. I thought I was "evolving" my consciousness. After awhile, I noticed that the experiences were reflecting the books I was studying. I came to realize that I was merely programming my brain with my expected outcomes. When I stopped this course of study, the experiences lessened and then ceased altogether. The only times they reappear is under stress or lack of sleep.

Rose-unit, methinks your fixation on "power", and its figuring so prominently in your "chart", would preclude the possibility of understanding, let alone recognizing or being initiated into, any adult expression of Spirituality, Mysticism, or Magic whatsoever -- and in any land, or in any age, for that matter.

I totally agree with this statement. When I was active on this "path" I met all sorts and the ones most obsessed with power were the most egotistic and the ones most likely to use you or harm you to get themselves further ahead in this delusion. No different than political and corporate types clawing their way to the top.

I happily left this course as I did Catholicism and feel that I'm a better person for it. I do like Buddhism as it is more compatible with science. I don't know if there is anything for us after this physical life, but I'm thinking that we'd all be better off ridding ourselves of beliefs that keep us bound to ego and power and materialism. Maybe we'd have a chance to create a more liveable world for everyone. 

[aldousburbank]

Debating ontological vs spiritual is the most boring shit ever. I'm going to Disneyland and dropping acid. Adios!

[Lilith]

I was going to take a vacation from posting, but this conversation piqued my interest. In my younger years, I took a great interest in metaphysical practices. I had many lucid dreams and OBEs. I thought I was "evolving" my consciousness. After awhile, I noticed that the experiences were reflecting the books I was studying. I came to realize that I was merely programming my brain with my expected outcomes. When I stopped this course of study, the experiences lessened and then ceased altogether. The only times they reappear is under stress or lack of sleep.

I totally agree with this statement. When I was active on this "path" I met all sorts and the ones most obsessed with power were the most egotistic and the ones most likely to use you or harm you to get themselves further ahead in this delusion. No different than political and corporate types clawing their way to the top.

I happily left this course as I did Catholicism and feel that I'm a better person for it. I do like Buddhism as it is more compatible with science. I don't know if there is anything for us after this physical life, but I'm thinking that we'd all be better off ridding ourselves of beliefs that keep us bound to ego and power and materialism. Maybe we'd have a chance to create a more liveable world for everyone.

Hey pyewacket!!  Great to see you. I don't usually post here either, just read to keep up, but alas, I also was magically lured into posting,   lol's

[jazmunda]

I heard Art Bell quit Coast. Too soon?

[Lilith]

I heard Art Bell quit Coast. Too soon?

Are you serious?  NO you're Joking!!!  Great to see ya Jaz!!  You had me fooled there for a moment, Ya GOT me! 

[SredniVashtar]

Debating ontological vs spiritual is the most boring shit ever. I'm going to Disneyland and dropping acid. Adios!

You've probably never heard the expression 'coals to Newcastle', have you? 

[FightTheFuture]

I heard Art Bell quit Coast. Too soon?

You called him, didn`t you??

[SredniVashtar]

I heard Art Bell quit Coast. Too soon?

Just the man I wanted to see!

I heard Leo Ashcraft doing a story about 11 Australians wandering around the UK bleeding from the anus?

Art thinks it's the chupacabra. Any ideas?

[jazmunda]

Are you serious?  NO you're Joking!!!  Great to see ya Jaz!!  You had me fooled there for a moment, Ya GOT me! 

Just a bit of 2010 humour. 

[pyewacket]

Hey pyewacket!!  Great to see you. I don't usually post here either, just read to keep up, but alas, I also was magically lured into posting,   lol's

Hiya back, Brig! You are, by far, one of the nicest, most easy going people on this forum. Glad to see you active here. 

[Lilith]

Just a bit of 2010 humour. 

Yeah, memories, history, all that.

[SredniVashtar]

Why do think it`s delusional to believe in "religion"?

Well, the odds are pretty well against it being true, aren't they? Take the three major ones. They have so little common ground that, just calculating the odds, you have to assume that if you are believer of one then the likelihood is that you are going to Hell.

It's no more delusional than believing in the Tooth Fairy, I suppose, but that's not a good reason for believing it.

[HorrorReporter]

This is my favorite time of year.. late summer. Early fall. Halloween through thanksgiving.
And this Friday coming, I will be going to a ghost hunt in Gettysburg.
And on the way home, my friend and I will open the windows and blast Art Bell as he rages through the night.
That is what life is all about.

[Lilith]

Hiya back, Brig! You are, by far, one of the nicest, most easy going people in this forum. Glad to see you active here. 

You would be surprised how many people thought I wouldn't manage to be around long.  Thank You for the kind words!!   

[FightTheFuture]

Well, the odds are pretty well against it being true, aren't they? Take the three major ones. They have so little common ground that, just calculating the odds, you have to assume that if you are believer of one then the likelihood is that you are going to Hell.

It's no more delusional than believing in the Tooth Fairy, I suppose, but that's not a good reason for believing it.

No, I don`t think so at all.

Who created the universe? Do you know? Just answer that

[FightTheFuture]

This is my favorite time of year.. late summer. Early fall. Halloween through thanksgiving.
And this Friday coming, I will be going to a ghost hunt in Gettysburg.
And on the way home, my friend and I will open the windows and blast Art Bell as he rages through the night.
That is what life is all about.

Take plenty of pictures. My brother was there last year and caught something strange on a photo.

[SredniVashtar]

No, I don`t think so at all.

Who created the universe? Do you know? Just answer that

No, but neither do you. I'm not even sure that using words like 'creation' are even appropriate, we know so little about what went on, although we are doing our best to get there. If you want to live life being fed simple ideas then go ahead, you are free to believe what you wish. That's all religion is 'good' for.

I'd rather find out what is true than be told a fairy story that raises more questions than it answers.

[FightTheFuture]

No, but neither do you. I'm not even sure that using words like 'creation' are even appropriate, we know so little about what went on, although we are doing our best to get there. If you want to live life being fed simple ideas then go ahead, you are free to believe what you wish. That's all religion is 'good' for.

I'd rather find out what is true than be told a fairy story that raises more questions than it answers.

No, actually we know quite a bit about what went on. And by every scientific definition, it had to be "God"

Here`s an interesting video by Gerald Schroeder that may help you understand:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQVm8RokoBA

[Lilith]

No, actually we know quite a bit about what went on. And by every scientific definition, it had to be "God"

Here`s an interesting video by Gerald Schroeder that may help you understand:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQVm8RokoBA

Whats to say that our universe is not just the offspring of an older universe?

[SredniVashtar]

No, actually we know quite a bit about what went on. And by every scientific definition, it had to be "God"

Here`s an interesting video by Gerald Schroeder that may help you understand:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQVm8RokoBA

And who 'created' God?

[FightTheFuture]

Whats to say that our universe is not just the offspring of an older universe?

Who knows. But then, who created the other universe?

[Lilith]

And who 'created' God?

I didn't do it!!!!!

[Lilith]

Who knows. But then, who created the other universe?

Whose to say it wasn't an even older universe?  Like a Grandpa Universe.

[FightTheFuture]

And who 'created' God?

God existed before there was anything. Time, dimension, space. He is, that He is. For a better explanation, I guess you`ll just have to wait until the day you stand before him.

[Lilith]

Everything in the universe works this way, that a seed is born of its own kind: plants, stars, humans......

[Meister_000]

I haven't yet managed to train myself to recognise an OBE, but I have managed to train myself to spot being baffled by bullshit from a bunch of woolly-headed crystal slingers. 

YOUR dvd, I would buy, and promote