Ron, On Mon, Dec 22, 2014 at 7:15 PM, Ron Kulp <[email protected]> wrote: > > >> On Dec 22, 2014, at 2:18 AM, Dan Glover <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> The first paragraph caught my attention: >> >> "There is but one truly serious philosophical problem, and that is >> suicide. Judging whether life is or is not worth living amounts to >> answering the fundamental question of philosophy." > > Ron comments: > Truly a great post Dan.
Thank you, Ron. >Ron: > I recently viewed the film "God is > Not dead" in which the defining justification for the belief in God was > That life wasn't worth living without > The concept. Dan: I haven't seen the film but yes, especially in Western culture, the belief in a god is tantamount to a belief in a worthwhile life. These strange holidays that we celebrate are in actuality old pagan rituals deeply rooted in nature and taken over by the christians and made their own.The celebration of the winter solstice becomes a god's birthday. Easter was once a celebration of fertility and sex, the blooming of a new world out of the depths of winter. Ron: > Shakespeare answered > That it is also the fear of death that makes it better to be than not to be. > Then we have Socrates that asks > What it means to lead a Good life Dan: What was his answer? And does leading a good life equate with knowing that a life is worthwhile? Ron: > And Aristotle that states wonder and the ecstasy of being, of life at its best > Is the reason for living, that knowing increases this feeling. Dan: This brings to mind a book I read a while back called The Road, by Cormac McCarthy. The book is about life at its worst. At first I couldn't help but think the author must have been in a dark place to have written it. Yet at the same time, I got the distinct impression he was trying to show how life was worthwhile even in the most terrible of circumstances, when the odds are all stacked against you, when the only thing you know is that you'll be just as hungry, cold, and tired tomorrow as you are today and there isn't a thing you can do to change that. Still, you go on. Why? Ron: > The Buddhists and the bushido say > You do not fully live unless you are > Constantly aware of your own death > That transitory knowledge of being makes life more meaningful. Dan: Absolutely. >Ron: > That's why I like the idea of realizing > The dynamic within the seemingly > Rigid and static. > > If you call it God, it doesn't quite > Ring, because what drives it is not > Fear of death but the joy of being. > > With the joy of being there is no > Fear of death no use for the concept > Of God. > > Or so it seems to me. Dan: I tend to agree with this. Keeping our inevitable death in mind doesn't mean we are running scared. Rather, by living each moment as fully as we might, by seeking out our inner destiny, and by taking incremental steps towards implementing it Dynamically into a culturally static world that does not care one way or another, we become our self. > > Thanks Dan You're welcome. Thank you too, Ron. http://www.danglover.com Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org/md/archives.html
