Some more thoughts

[pasithea]

It's interesting to take a stand a live with the consequences of your actiosn. Sometimes not an alltogether happy experience but so much of our world is without consequence, mabe it's good to experience it now and then.

the only person I'e banned was mercia. Someone I really expected more from. Kind of disappointed, but we hadn't talked much in the past year or so so it's no huge loss to either of us.

On the other hand, I do regret having hurt neogeen I can say that I feel she's in the top five for friendly and positive people I've met on the internet in the past fifteen years and someone I truly respect and admire. I guess the only small comfot is tha tshe has lots of friends and will hopefully heal quickly. I won't be going to make an apology or try to put it aside. I know that I am a viper. Sooner or later I would strike again, and there's no sense in posioning someone who doesn't really deserve it.

I guess that's all I have to say about it. Been too busy to deal with the fallout from this thread I really should have planned better and made this statement on a weekend or something. Or maybe it's better that I can't dwell on it.

Done is done and in part, it's liberating to finally have said it.

For what it's worth to the hurt and angry, I had a religion once, even twice. People within my religion posioned it for me and drove me out to explore other religions I found some of those 'better' but they were still toxic, if to a lesser degree, and they left me vulnerable to attacks from those of the first faith.

Over time, they wore me down and beat all sense of the divine out of me. This blade I swung was forged by those it was welded against. Every blow that was dealt to my spiritual identity helped to shape it's blade.

Comments

[yetanotherbob.livejournal.com]

I feel uneasy saying this in such a public or out loud arena, but I suppose it needs saying. I myself am, well, I'm not sure if I'm religious or not (I had no religious teaching until high school, as my parents wanted me to choose my own beliefs), but I have a burning need to play the devil's advocate here, so bear with me.

Those burned by something are the strongest critics. This is not the time nor place to reopen the wounds caused by those that wore you down, especially by me, because I do not know what happened. And I will not lie and claim to understand or 'have been there'. I have not had that experience, and have no intent of insulting you by saying I have.

Your blade is sharp and well honed. This is very true. But it was wielded not at those who forged it, but within range of your brothers and sisters at arms who gathered 'round. But it was a swipe of catharsis, so as you mentioned, it is liberating, and must be done. So I will not fault you on that.

Now the devil's advocate bit. Science, as I see it, is not of discovering the truth, but of modeling it. You know as well as I do that a hypothesis and a theory are observations, statements about what we find in nature, and are attempts to model it, testable to see if the model fits. Sometimes, the model doesn't fit exactly. That is, the model is still false, yet usable. I'll give you an example:

Gravity. Newton's lie. The fictional force. The planet Mercury disproved this little falsehood, as its elliptical path rotates around the sun at a rate different than Isaac's equations predict. Of course, it did take an Einstein to figure out a new theory, called General Relativity, where the charlatan force is now an expression of the curvature of spacetime.

And yet, we still teach F = G mm/r^2. Like we teach Niels Bohr's model, and potential and kinetic energy equations that ignore relativistic speeds. Because the models, while imperfect, still work in many cases, and if treated not as Truth (capital T) but as models, they are still useful.

As long as a model generates results that are useful in most cases, it still has worth. If a shared concept gets required results, it can still be used. Santa does not exist, but using his image to help spread happiness is no less valid. The flat, green scraps of trees we all carry can neither sate hunger nor quench thirst, save for the shared delusion of worth we attribute to them. I could be sardonic about the value of magnetic regions on metal, but the point is made. Stupid or not, real or not, the placebo effect does have merit.

Yes, there are many flawed models out there. And those that use models as means to ignore social contracts deserve no defense from your sharpened wit. Regardless of their religion, or lack thereof, those that have harmed you are indeed stupid. You may be right about the Emperor's clothes, and our clothes as we wear the same cloth. But you have to admit, in our house, as long as it's harmless, it feels good to wear something that comfortable.

[kensan-oni.livejournal.com]

You know, I was going to narrow my points from the previous threads for you, but I'll narrow it down to just one point. Although, for reference, I gotta stop trying to defend other people's religions by using a religion I don't understand...

What the heck did they do to make you so upset? I mean, right now, this time, not what they've done through out your lives. I understand that you've gone through a lot of hard things in your life, but open aggression against most of the open world isn't going to make it any easier, either.

[acertaindoebear.livejournal.com]

May I say that I understand; I thought it was something like that.

And don't beat yourself up too much about it: you'll find your own meaning, purpose, if you haven't already (it took William Blake his whole lifetime). That's one of the joys of life, searching around for the hidden treasures hiding there in plain sight.

That, and friends.

[centauress.livejournal.com]

There's no fucking god to come save you.

Who cares.

If belief in an organization or a supernatural force is required to be a friend, I don't want to be that friend.

Because I live in the real world, the one which we strive to explore and explain. One where reason and dreams are used as gifts and tools.

I don't want to live in fear of the supernatural.

[kyhwana.livejournal.com]

If belief in an organization or a supernatural force is required to be a friend, I don't want to be that friend.

Those're called cults. ;)

[ilthuain.livejournal.com]

I don't think it was the religious divide that caused the problem, I think it was the "you're stupid" thing. I guess you could call it 'lack of respect', but that would actually mean that you should respect people who are different from you, and I guess you shouldn't.

[centauress.livejournal.com]

Respect people who don't return that respect?

You make little sense.

[ilthuain.livejournal.com]

I thought Neogeen was DV's friend.

I'm religious. I have a roomie, Kyhwana. He's an atheist. I respect him, and I expect him to respect me.

My best friend is a Christian. He was the best man at my wedding when I married my boyfriend AND a woman. He respects me, and I have nothing but respect for him.

I know, it sounds fucking nuts. People CAN actually learn to love one another without thinking the same thing. What's funny is, most people can actually manage it. I don't feel threatened by those with different beliefs. If people wanna be a jerk to me, hey, it's on, but if there is a good person who prays to a different (or no) God, there's no problem.

Call me wacky, but I love diversity. Discussing theology 'till the morning light with someone who TOTALLY disagrees with me actually sounds like an evening well spent. Hell, I might even learn something.

[centauress.livejournal.com]

Where was Neogeen mentioned, at all, in the article?

What did Neogeen say, exactly, in response?

How is this any different from someone coming out as having taking Jesus as savior and having their friends disavow them with nary an attempt to keep them as friends?

[neogeen.livejournal.com]

Hey, if you are gonna sully my name, you can do it to my face at least. :[


I have no hard feelings towards DV.