To God

[Nathan]

Everywhere we lay our gaze we are forced to endure through heinous ugliness. And yet with a simple shift of our head we are waylaid by staggering beauty. We see these things and envision some means by which they might have come to fruition. We make a valiant effort to see through the veil that enshrouds most things, be they hideous or lovely. We try to think nothing but sweet thoughts of the world in which we live and the people with whom we share it. We strain to seek truths and to discard the countless lies with which we are confronted day in and day out.
Yet who among us does not see exactly what our heart of hearts wants us to see? Who among us adamantly refuses to be deceived by our ideals? Who among us fights tooth and nail so as to NOT see a perfect picture of the world in which we live?
God is a manifestation of the ideals of our society, ideals in which the good are rewarded and the evil are punsihed. God is nothing more than a word to describe our hope for eternity, our hope for immortality. We fear the mystery of death to such a great degree that countless among us devote their lives to comforting themselves on this front. We do not wish to feel alone in this appaulingly immense universe in which we dwell and we are afraid to accept our own fragility. Thus, we willingly embrace false ideals that keep us afloat. We happily lie to ourselves.
The universe is a terrifying place and perhaps deception is the only means by which many of us can cope with the fear. Don't get me wrong, we are all afraid. We all see things that aren't there. We all lie to ourselves to save our delicate fantasies. It is interesting, however, that so many have chosen different variations of the same lie to get through life. How is it possible that so many can all be wrong? I would venture to guess that the answer lies in the fact that so many share the same fear.

 

[Nathan]

You'll have to forgive me lately but I have to write the GRE's in a week and so I'm kinda practicing. I would like to hear a good discussion though.

 

[HappyScrappy]

ooo, nice

I give it two snaps up

 

[Star]

Well, I am not gonna read that long ass thing.......but.........remember that song Dear God, I think it was by Simple Minds.......EXCELLENT SONG!!!!!!!!!!

 

[HappyScrappy]

Dear God was by XTC

 

[Star]

That's Right!!!!!!!!!!!!! damn I love that song!

 

[plornive]

God is replaceable. Drugs (prescription and/or non-prescription) come to mind.

 

[JarHed]

Midge Ure

Dear God
from the album: Answers to Nothing

Dear God, is there somebody out there?
Is there someone to hear my prayer?
I'm a simple man with simple words to say
Is there some point in asking?
Asking for more only got us where we are today
Lost and alone and afraid

Give me, love for the lonely
Give me, food for the hungry
Give me, peace in a restless world
Give me, hope for the children
Give me, a worldwide religion
Give me, peace in a restless world

Dear God, can you hear me crying?
A whole world crying
Looking for something to say
We had it all and we threw it all away
Is there somebody watching?
Somebody watching over the mess that we've made
We're lost and alone and afraid

Give me, love for the lonely
Give me, food for the hungry
Give me, peace in a restless world
Give me, hope for the children
Give me, a worldwide religion
Give me, peace in a restless world

And we need to know there's something good
Though all our years of solitude go on and on and on...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.musicfolio.com/modernrock/midgeure.html

 

[Nathan]

God is replaceable. Drugs (prescription and/or non-prescription) come to mind.

For some, but not for all. With drugs though it's somewhat like chosen a different reality to live in, one in which no comfort is required.

 

[plornive]

For some, but not for all. With drugs though it's somewhat like chosen a different reality to live in, one in which no comfort is required.

The same is true of religion, isn't it? We don't have "religious lobes" in our brains and religion is just one method of conformity, control and sedation.

 

[Nathan]

The same is true of religion, isn't it? We don't have "religious lobes" in our brains and religion is just one method of conformity, control and sedation.

I'm not entirely sure what you mean. But I agree that religion is exactly that. Many don't even really ever put much thought into the existence of a God, they are more concerned with what their religion is all about and how it might benefit and entertain them. So much bulshit politics and knit-picking is ludicrous.

Jesus-freak #1: "While we feel God exists of course, we do not feel he ever wears red pants."

Jesus-freak #2: "Fuck you, he wears red pants on Tuesdays but doesn't enjoy it."

 

[plornive]

It is interesting, however, that so many have chosen different variations of the same lie to get through life. How is it possible that so many can all be wrong? I would venture to guess that the answer lies in the fact that so many share the same fear.

This is a bit flawed, IMO. Buddha, the Christian God, Confucianistic "God" and "Heaven" and the pantheistic "God" are all very distinct ideas of existence. The only reasons they are considered similar are that a few of them are anthropomorphic and all are equivocated with the Christian God by people in the west (which is a mistake).

Let me illustrate my point further. The Christian God operates outside of the rules of the universe. He is distinct from the universe. The pantheistic "God" and the Confucianistic "God" and "Heaven" represent the known and unknown inanimate forces of the universe. These two ideas are not similar in any way.

 

[plornive]

But actually, most religions are patriarchical and anthropomorphic, so your point stands. I was just being anal.

 

[Nathan]

It's quite alright. I find it odd that no one is arguing FOr the existence of God. My guess is that they are afraid.

 

[plornive]

It's quite alright. I find it odd that no one is arguing FOr the existence of God. My guess is that they are afraid.

There is only one person on this board I have ever seen argue for the existence of God in an intelligent fashion --- Rotovibe.

Most others on this board wouldn't be able to use "Intelligent Design" or any other theological argument correctly, and would get smoked in this debate.

 

[HappyScrappy]

hello?! I am God. jeesh.

 

[Nathan]

I'd like to hear what Rotovibe has to say. Could be interesting. And also, I think you're forgetting about curling.

 

[plornive]

hello?! I am God. jeesh.

Did you use neural nets to make a build of the universe, or did you throw a bunch of bots into the Quake engine and compile? Is that why we get such good resolution, no lag and clipping everything is shaded so nicely? Do you have the code for 'pussy'?

 

[HappyScrappy]

Did you use neural nets to make a build of the universe, or did you throw a bunch of bots into the Quake engine and compile? Is that why we get such good resolution, no lag and clipping everything is shaded so nicely? Do you have the code for 'pussy'?

neural nets are just a way of describing how I do things. they are a construct that one needs to use because the overall scope of... me, is too large for you to grasp.

the most annoying part of the universe, and I'm still trying to work it out, is there is this annoying memory leak in it.
it is growing right now, and after a certain amount of time, it will crash and then I have to fucking reboot and start it up all over again.
it is neat because each time things don't play out the same way they did before.
this particular go 'round has a divide by zero error that I totally missed, resulting in the platypus.

 

[Nathan]

I don't understand how the universe would successfully compile with such a glaring error.

 

[HappyScrappy]

I don't understand how the universe would successfully compile with such a glaring error.

well, quite frankly I'm embarrassed even to have written it. it wasn't like I said "(iWeightOfDuck / 0) * iLengthOfBeaver" - it was caught up in several loops (there are a lot of objects to create and then the genetic algorithms take some time as well), so somewhere in there I missed a limit - I think I found it near the code that makes a donkey.

the next time I reboot the system will run a little faster due to weeding out some of the bugs like that, I'm curious to see how long it takes before life shows up next go 'round.

 

[Nathan]

Do me a favor and make me a giant man with both scorpion and wasp parts next go round. If I'm not gonna be in next time round could you make it so that I will be please?

 

[plornive]

I suppose you have an interface that allows you to participate in the world and post on these forums. Do you also have some other worlds running your fanatasies?

Can you insert a Britney Spears bot into my presence right now?

 

[HappyScrappy]

Do me a favor and make me a giant man with both scorpion and wasp parts next go round. If I'm not gonna be in next time round could you make it so that I will be please?

there was a similar thing one time, I think iteration 4350228 IIRC - it was like what you call a zebra, but with huge breasts and a long neck and tail. The face was more like a chimp, and it howled a lot... I guess really it was nothing like what you described.

So far the only object that successfully generates each iteration is the cockroach. It is permanent and unchanging, really indestructible because I'm a conceited bastard. the cockroach is modeled after myself.

 

[Star]

neural nets are just a way of describing how I do things. they are a construct that one needs to use because the overall scope of... me, is too large for you to grasp.

the most annoying part of the universe, and I'm still trying to work it out, is there is this annoying memory leak in it.
it is growing right now, and after a certain amount of time, it will crash and then I have to fucking reboot and start it up all over again.
it is neat because each time things don't play out the same way they did before.
this particular go 'round has a divide by zero error that I totally missed, resulting in the platypus.

ROTFLMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[HappyScrappy]

I suppose you have an interface that allows you to participate in the world and post on these forums. Do you also have some other worlds running your fanatasies?

Can you insert a Britney Spears bot into my presence right now?

as I just explained, the cockroach is the representation of myself. it allows me to see into all the nooks and crannies of the universe I wrote.
I tend not to care as much about the shit that goes on when there is a lot of water on a planet, so I'm not entirely sure what all is there - but I have it setup so that those things are usually bigger due to the phyics routine.

as for Brittney Spears, it is funny you mention her - she is an anomaly that normally doesn't show up for some time - it makes me nervous because I'm afraid that it might be that I have a trojan.
you see, satan sometimes hacks into my system and dicks around with these things - which is annoying to me, because I'm sitting trying to debug the system and then I don't know what shit is my bad, and what shit is him fucking with me.