What Do You Believe In?

[Mike Cl]

I believe I will have another beer...but...you saw that coming.

I don't think so.

[Cavebear]

The question of "belief" always comes up when someone learns you are an atheist.  They say "well, you must b3lieve in something".  No.  I don't "believe" in anything.  That really twists people up.  I'm not surprised by that.  Believers "believe"; its part of their mindset.

So they say "well you believe that that sun rises in the east".  No.  I have rational expectations of it.  It matches prior experience and there are good reasons to expect it (not bothering to explain that it the Earth turning that causes it).

So they say well, you "believe" in love.  No.  Love is strictly an emotional attachment.  Very powerful and important to be sure, but not a belief. 

So they say I must believe I continue after my mortal death.  No.  I'll be as dead as a stomped spider.  No existence beyond mortal death.  No gazing down on my loved ones, no afterlife days walking around in some Eden-like garden, no communion with a deity, no hellish punishment.  Dead.  Dead.  Dead.

How DEAD do I have to describe it?

[Baruch]

But since you are predicting your own future ... is that a belief?  You don't have any personal experience of being dead.

[Cavebear]

But since you are predicting your own future ... is that a belief?  You don't have any personal experience of being dead.

I am predicting my future only in the sense that when you swat a fly into oblivion, it is  UTTERLY AND MOST SINCERELY dead and that we are the same when dead ourselves.  Dead is dead...

[Baruch]

I am predicting my future only in the sense that when you swat a fly into oblivion, it is  UTTERLY AND MOST SINCERELY dead and that we are the same when dead ourselves.  Dead is dead...

A materialist definition of dead.  An external to self version of dead.  But materialism is just another kind of narrow thinking.  And external to self views while important, aren't relevant to the discussion.  Internal to self is.  Materialists are selfless, which is why they make such good saints ;-)

[Cavebear]

A materialist definition of dead.  An external to self version of dead.  But materialism is just another kind of narrow thinking.  And external to self views while important, aren't relevant to the discussion.  Internal to self is.  Materialists are selfless, which is why they make such good saints ;-)

Hallaluieh, I'm a saint!  Seriously, is there any level of utter bodily oblivion that would make you think "yeah, he's DEAD"!  Or does every corporeal being have an afterlife.  Do you draw the line at humans?  What about apes?  What about cats.  I really care about my cats.  That would be good.

[Mike Cl]

Hallaluieh, I'm a saint!  Seriously, is there any level of utter bodily oblivion that would make you think "yeah, he's DEAD"!  Or does every corporeal being have an afterlife.  Do you draw the line at humans?  What about apes?  What about cats.  I really care about my cats.  That would be good.

To hell with people--I want to cross that Rainbow Bridge to get to my dogs and cats--all of them!

[SGOS]

When you go under anesthesia, get knocked on the head, or go to sleep, you loose consciousness, but when you die, you not only remain conscious, but you see everything with a clarity you never had before. 

Death can be a horrifying experience.  Imagine!  Seeing everything with clarity!   You are not the intellectual that you thought.  You are just an average prick.  God hates you.  You never were a hit with the ladies.  And you were a shitty driver.

[Cavebear]

To hell with people--I want to cross that Rainbow Bridge to get to my dogs and cats--all of them!

The closest I will come to any afterlife thoughts is the Rainbow Bridge.  There are 2 cats I want to be reunited with.  It is a sorrow in my heart that that will never happen.

[Cavebear]

When you go under anesthesia, get knocked on the head, or go to sleep, you loose consciousness, but when you die, you not only remain conscious, but you see everything with a clarity you never had before. 

Death can be a horrifying experience.  Imagine!  Seeing everything with clarity!   You are not the intellectual that you thought.  You are just an average prick.  God hates you.  You never were a hit with the ladies.  And you were a shitty driver.

I'm never sure when you are serious...  Not worried about God or afterlife consciousness.   I actually am a good driver though.   ;)

[Baruch]

Hallaluieh, I'm a saint!  Seriously, is there any level of utter bodily oblivion that would make you think "yeah, he's DEAD"!  Or does every corporeal being have an afterlife.  Do you draw the line at humans?  What about apes?  What about cats.  I really care about my cats.  That would be good.

The ancients understood life and death a lot better than we do.  So how are you enjoying your trip to Hell, Mr Dante?  Good thing he moved on to Purgatory, and after that to Paradise.

[Mike Cl]

I'm never sure when you are serious...  Not worried about God or afterlife consciousness.   I actually am a good driver though.   ;)

Well, Baruch is not serious, even when he is not serious.  And is serious even when not being serious.  Humor Baruch does have!

[Unbeliever]

The ancients understood life and death a lot better than we do.  So how are you enjoying your trip to Hell, Mr Dante?  Good thing he moved on to Purgatory, and after that to Paradise.

Indeed, it would've sucked for him were it the other way round!

[Baruch]

Well, Baruch is not serious, even when he is not serious.  And is serious even when not being serious.  Humor Baruch does have!

Is the laugh on me, or on the reader?  In English, the negative of a negative is a positive.  But in other languages, the negative of a negative is a super-negative.  People are unconscious all the time, of how their own language controls what they can or cannot think.

[Mike Cl]

Is the laugh on me, or on the reader?  In English, the negative of a negative is a positive.  But in other languages, the negative of a negative is a super-negative.  People are unconscious all the time, of how their own language controls what they can or cannot think.

The laugh on you??? I find myself laughing with you quite often.