Twirlip, i noticed that too one of your atters has not been here long, all though he would have you believe other wise,, and the Mods are dealing with him ,
Personally I have enjoyed reading your comments and what you have seen since you have been here is not the norm by any means,, hang in there,, there are a lot of very bright minds in this group,, and I do not include my self among them.. Most of the time what is said is very interesting exchange of ideas. Allan On Mon, Jan 18, 2010 at 7:33 PM, Twirlip <[email protected]> wrote: > On Jan 18, 5:32 pm, Lee <[email protected]> wrote: > > > So I have been away for a week(damn me am the only IT bod in the world > > without Internet access at home,this is NOT the question) and when I > > come back i see all sorts of rows and arguments and I guess what can > > only be described as 'bad bood' > > It's probably me, in some mysterious way (unless this sort of thing > happens a lot here, which I don't get the impression it does). I only > joined a few days ago, and already I've been ranted at by two people, > and threatened with a ban by at least two moderators if I persist in > responding to my, er, critics > > I wonder if I'm a Jonah. I probably carry a dark cloud, an emotional > microclimate, around with me. Perhaps I'll soon be thrown overboard, > and swallowed by a whale, so you won't have to worry, and Minds Eye > will no longer be the eye of a storm.. > > > Do we really choose to have faith in God's existance though? Can we > > literaly choose what we wish to belive or not? > > Lets try it, please try to choose to belive that God exists and let us > > know what happens. > > I suspect that I can no more choose not to belive in God than I have > > chossen the opposite.' > > > > Am I right? Rather like one's sexual preferance, is it true that one > > can choose to belive in God or not? > > Interesting. Pragmatism, and Pascal's wager, and Existentialist self- > creation and Nietzschean transvaluation of values, or whatever (I'm > bluffing), have a lot to be said for them, no doubt, but not by me. > > I'll stick to what I know, and try for once to be brief. I'll just > give what I think are a few examples, from my own (superficially quiet > but inwardly wildly disordered) life, of what I think you are talking > about. > > (1) I could choose to feel guilty about my sexuality and gender > identity confusion, but, insofar as I am able, I choose not to, I > choose to make this aspect of me a part of my identity, even if it > feels worthless and evil and mad. > > (2) I could choose to believe that the reason I have failed to develop > a career as a mathematician is that I am inherently incapable of > understanding the subject, and never had a genuine vocation for it in > the first place, but I choose to persist grimly in renewing my > acquaintance with it, even if I hate it and am bored and uninspired > and cannot understand why it was ever important to me. > > (3) I could choose to believe that the enormous, overwhelming, almost > universal social pressure to accept some everyday social construction > of reality (and morality) as real reality (and true morality) is right > and good and true. But, like Bartleby, and as far as I am able, I > "prefer not to". I have learned this the hard way, because for most of > my life I really believed I was totally mistaken about everything, and > I subjected myself slavishly to the social consensus around me, > thinking there was nowhere else to turn, other than my own self, in > which (whom) I had utterly lost faith. > > But I don't think these are really arbitrary choices, and, insofar as > I understand them (which is not much), I am not with Pascal, William > James, Nietzsche, or Sartre. I'm a realist; and the reality I believe > in might also be known by the name "God". Or might not. (It is most > certainly not what the vast majority of people mean by "God".) > > Finally, may I ask you a question? What do you mean when you > apparently assert, casually and in passing, that sexual preference is > a free choice? > > (I don't want to argue with you until I know what you mean, and in any > case, there are bound to be plenty of other people to argue about it, > and I can perhaps shut up for the rest of the day and get some rest!) > > (Did I say I would be brief? I'm afraid 'ME' seems to be a lot about > 'me' at the moment! Please at least partially blame the two people > who have chosen to focus aggressively on my personality, and to accuse > me of being some former member of Minds Eye, returning in false > disguise to plague the group as a troll! I have no idea what's > happening, and I am more than a little punch-drunk from it all.) > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > ""Minds Eye"" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]<minds-eye%[email protected]> > . > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/minds-eye?hl=en. > > > > -- ( ) I_D Allan--
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