Delivered-To: darwin@atheists.net
To: darwin@atheists.net
Subject: [WEB-20041023.3deeda] Message to Darwin
Comments:  User's address = 198.81.26.102
From: www.CAPT_AHAB888@YAHOO.COM
Reply-xxy: www.CAPT_AHAB888@YAHOO.COM
xxy: darwin@atheists.net
Subject: [WEB-20041023.3deeda] Message to Darwin
Date: Sat, 23 Oct 2004, 10:05:19 -0800

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date and Time: Saturday, October 23, 2004, 10:05 PST
Host address:  198.81.26.102 []
Source URL:   
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

From:
  Harley Weiss

email
  www.CAPT_AHAB888@YAHOO.COM

Message:
  My philosophy of life is that you feed your body not your taste buds therefore you strive to consume only foods and beverages that are specifically good for you. You try to sort out what food supplements that contribute to maximizing your health but you don’t make a religion of it. You consume as little of the worlds resources as you can and you do your part to make the world a better place. You exercise and keep fit; you take care of you and yours and be sure to respect your obligation to yourself to be good to yourself and also to each other. You question all that you hear from the so-called authorities plus anyone else that sounds like they’re trying to be an authority and try to figure what their real motives are. You try to find a quiet corner of the world where people don’t screw with you and a good mate who will.
    The following are what I perceive as useful inner-related concepts and are a work in progress. They may be modified, deleted or added as thoughts and discussions indicate.
 
  I.    Organized superstition (religion) is a structure designed by and modified by man to both protect and to promote itself.
  II.   Having read several books about the life and times of the late, great J.C., I’ve concluded that he did in fact live. He lived in a time of turmoil not unlike conditions in the Arab countries today. The old testament stated that a messiah was coming and many “messiahs and false prophets” were attempting to move in on that prophecy as seems to be the case today. He did manage to gather a large enough following to scare the local authorities at a time when the Roman empire was feeling the crunch of their own mismanagement. He therefore got zapped by the establishment for “crimes” that were pretty dubious, “arose” and the rest is history. The new testament was written at a time between 30 years and 400 years after his death primarily by members of his group’s ancestors called the “Q groups” and some other group whose name I don’t recall. If you’ve ever read anything about the lack of reliability of eyewitnesses in criminal cases, you may strongly question the reliability o!
 f those accounts that have become the basis for the new testament especially with the time passage, the second hand reports and a constructed message that those people truly wanted to believe. Not much has changed. I think that the reason that this particular following survived was because during that time the Roman Empire felt vulnerable and was killing off any perceived threats. The leaders of these followers opted for a “turn the other cheek policy” to prevent their being annihilated. This allowed them to escape the wrath and to get along with other populations and thrive then and with modifications, in future generations. Plus the bible was written in a way that can be interpreted to fit the needs and/or desires of the leaders and times.
  III.  Scientific discipline seeks to understand truth rather than selecting data to support their beliefs, as does Creation Science. Science points out evidence of evolution as the source and developments on earth, the universe and the creatures in it. Psychology studies of the mental characteristics of man is useful in understanding how religion has utilized these needs to gain support and promote itself. One child’s question is “If god made everything, who made god. And if god made himself why aren’t there gods all over the place making themselves” It and other arguments very strongly suggests that god is a figment of man’s imagination. Religion can’t seem to find a way to reconcile the evidence with their beliefs, so therefore their beliefs prevail and they fight the evidence with every tool available to them. It continues just as it did for centuries fighting the concept that the earth was not the center of the universe for instance.
  IV.   Humans, as with most animals, have been mentally structured for survival by evolution to uncritically retain what is perceived early in their life and are driven to comply with that perception by an almost guilt like feeling throughout their life.
  V.    There is a truth that is real, concrete and unbendable that happened, is happening and/or exists that we as reasoning beings have an internal drive to search for and that everyone else attempts to bend to their benefit.
  VI.   The true scientific discipline is an endeavor to find the truth in all things and to re-examine in any and all ways possible what is previously thought to be truth.
  VII.  There is nothing mysterious or mystical about life, it just is. Because we don’t now nor probably never will totally understand it, it seems mysterious or mystical to us.
  VIII. All creatures by necessity expend no more energy than they perceive as required to supply their needs.
  IX.   All creatures construct their perception of reality based ONLY on the information their senses provide.
  X.    The logical deductive reasoning that all creatures have to varying degrees, which is perceived by that individual as logical, is a teachable/learnable discipline.
  XI.   Fear and distrust of anyone/anything outside your own group or your own normal experience is an evolved protective device.
  XII.  People are better at solving the symptoms of problems than they are the causes.
  XIII. The essence of a creature is their mind. When the mind shuts down, as far as that creature is concerned, nothing, not even itself exists. We cease to exist roughly 365 times a year. If you were not to awaken, you would have no way of knowing or careing.
  XIV.  People, of necessity for survival, have a structure in their mind that allows them to do and say most things without having to examine the logic of their action. They couldn’t get through the day if they didn’t.
  XV.   Good things are people or things that make you feel good, expand your horizons and allow you to grow as a person. Bad things are people who try to impose their bad things on you.
  XVI.  People have an obligation to their self to make their life satisfying. No one else will do it. The best you can hope for is to find someone where you’re on each other’s “team” at least until you find out how obnoxious the other is. Depending on your situation you may tough it out and appreciate what is good or you may take other action. Hopefully you won’t wake up one day and find you’re dead without having enjoyed your life. :-)
  XVII. All matter is energy held together into a structure by forces of repulsion and attraction.
  XVIII.        Energy in our universe rebounded 13 billion years ago from a soccer sized ball to the expanding universe we observe today with dense black holes forming and combining to eventually sweep a new volume of universe into a single dense ball to once again rebound within an infinitely large space. Perhaps on another insignificant rock, life will form and develop into a fungus of relatively intelligent beings (relative to what?) until that rock also becomes uninhabitable. It’s like an infinitely large cauldron bubbling and swirling for eternity. So maybe I’m wrong. Tons of smart people have also been wrong during this brief time we have existed on this rock. At least it’s easier to visualize than to think something that sort of resembles and thinks like us has made us plus all these other things to amuse him (her?… Hmmm- maybe that isn’t so hard to visualize :-)) and it does sort of fit some scientific observations.
  XIX.  All individuals are correct in their understanding until they decide they are wrong.