Why I believe what I do. And, the purpose of life.

I was asked recently why and/or how I came to believe what I do. I suppose first, one must explore what I believe.

I believe in nothing supernatural. Hence, I am a Bright, see www.the-brights.net.

I have a degree in Archaeology and have a fairly good grasp of technology and history, our momentum and the kick we've given to the environment thanks to CO2 emissions, will cause "havok" in Earth's climate for many centuries to come.

We have yet to see any "Real" weather activity, thanks to the inertia of atmosphere and ocean to absorb some of what we've done, but we've nudged them and now they're moving, and nothing can keep them from going where they wish.

They just might not have room for us to be around anymore!

We have ALREADY done enough to set the systems off kilter just so that conditions on the planet will no longer support human life, REGARDLESS of any actions we take to stave off the inevitable...

I believe that having children is immoral given the current state of the world. Hence I am a VOLUNTEER in the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement www.vhemt.org.

I believe that our thoughts and our mind and our body and our brains are all one single solitary thing. There is no "soul" or "life essence" that somehow transcends our lifetime. Death comes at the end. Cessation. Finality. Nothing.

Ashes to ashes as it were.

The sooner all learn this, the less fantasy and faithfulness will blind the ignorant, and true human progress can be obtained.

Think about how much money could be saved if no one contributed one dime to religious organizations that promise an afterlife?

 There is no afterlife, no matter how much you want there to be one, and no matter how good you are in this life.

The conditions for life were already in place when the solar system and Earth formed. Life is the inevitable outcome of the chemistry that naturally occurred, given those initial conditions. There is no other explanation necessary, and the proof is that we are here.

If you think that each individual is somehow "special", well we certainly are, however, we are also part of the entire web of interconnections that is life on Earth.

The nature of life is to exploit energy resources encountered in the environment. Some life forms inhabit "black smokers" at the bottom of the sea, and get their energy from chemical reactions other than photosynthesis.

Most everything on the surface is dependent somehow on photosynthesis to obtain sunlight energy to drive the chemistry that supports our existence.

Each species occupies an energy niche where they, as a whole and overall, are the most fit individuals to obtain that particular energy. When that isn't true, they will go extinct, or evolve to obtain energy from a less competitive or more available source.

Humans have obtained a degree of separation from natural systems. This stems from our "Culture" in the Anthropological sense. It is all behaviors we do that are not inherited per se, along with the technology to support our culture.

Language may be the main culprit if we look back as to what drove humanity to be "outside of nature".

That about sums it up.

Except, life, all of it, and overall, exists to digest the Planet Earth, eating up all available chemical and light energy possible.  Any individual species is just on a continuum of other species, taking up an 'energy niche'.

So, as we as individuals, as a species, and as life, eat and shit, that is the purpose of life.

Why I believe what I do. And, the purpose of life.

I was asked recently why and/or how I came to believe what I do. I suppose first, one must explore what I believe.

I believe in nothing supernatural. Hence, I am a Bright, see www.the-brights.net.

I have a degree in Archaeology and have a fairly good grasp of technology and history, our momentum and the kick we've given to the environment thanks to CO2 emissions, will cause "havok" in Earth's climate for many centuries to come.

We have yet to see any "Real" weather activity, thanks to the inertia of atmosphere and ocean to absorb some of what we've done, but we've nudged them and now they're moving, and nothing can keep them from going where they wish.

They just might not have room for us to be around anymore!

We have ALREADY done enough to set the systems off kilter just so that conditions on the planet will no longer support human life, REGARDLESS of any actions we take to stave off the inevitable...

I believe that having children is immoral given the current state of the world. Hence I am a VOLUNTEER in the Voluntary Human Extinction Movement www.vhemt.org.

I believe that our thoughts and our mind and our body and our brains are all one single solitary thing. There is no "soul" or "life essence" that somehow transcends our lifetime. Death comes at the end. Cessation. Finality. Nothing.

Ashes to ashes as it were.

The sooner all learn this, the less fantasy and faithfulness will blind the ignorant, and true human progress can be obtained.

Think about how much money could be saved if no one contributed one dime to religious organizations that promise an afterlife?

 There is no afterlife, no matter how much you want there to be one, and no matter how good you are in this life.

The conditions for life were already in place when the solar system and Earth formed. Life is the inevitable outcome of the chemistry that naturally occurred, given those initial conditions. There is no other explanation necessary, and the proof is that we are here.

If you think that each individual is somehow "special", well we certainly are, however, we are also part of the entire web of interconnections that is life on Earth.

The nature of life is to exploit energy resources encountered in the environment. Some life forms inhabit "black smokers" at the bottom of the sea, and get their energy from chemical reactions other than photosynthesis.

Most everything on the surface is dependent somehow on photosynthesis to obtain sunlight energy to drive the chemistry that supports our existence.

Each species occupies an energy niche where they, as a whole and overall, are the most fit individuals to obtain that particular energy. When that isn't true, they will go extinct, or evolve to obtain energy from a less competitive or more available source.

Humans have obtained a degree of separation from natural systems. This stems from our "Culture" in the Anthropological sense. It is all behaviors we do that are not inherited per se, along with the technology to support our culture.

Language may be the main culprit if we look back as to what drove humanity to be "outside of nature".

That about sums it up.

Except, life, all of it, and overall, exists to digest the Planet Earth, eating up all available chemical and light energy possible.  Any individual species is just on a continuum of other species, taking up an 'energy niche'.

So, as we as individuals, as a species, and as life, eat and shit, that is the purpose of life.

Frish's Missing Link Theory! (Copyright 07052005)

Quote in entirety permitted
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Earth supplied the NATURAL components needed to have life happen here.

2. Life is a GEOLOGIC process. Biology is a natural outcome of geology.

2a. Life uses energy and chemistry to process organic and inorganic chemicals. Life is most essentially digesting the planet Earth and the potential energy provided by Earth's chemistry.

3. That's Life.

4. Monkeys obey the golden rule. They are social primates. They do unto others (pick lice for one thing), as they would have others do unto them (pick lice for one thing). Monkeys (and humans) are social primates, DEPENDENT AND RELIANT on each other.

5. The GOLDEN RULE IS BUILT IN to human-kind. Any charlatan can claim it for his or her own, as it is built-in! This fact may be one more than can be contained in a "true-believer"'s head, but morality comes built into humans, almost all of us act "right" almost all the time.

6. Humans and our technology evolved to dig up oil which is just what is needed for the next stage of life's evolution on the planet.

7. Humans have served their function and will be recycled into the ever active treadmill of chemicals and geologic processes that fluxes upon the Earth at all times.

8. “Live long and die off!”

The only moral choice... www.vhemt.org

A secular Religion - some thoughts

Can we build a self replicating intelligence so that at least learning can continue, even if not in a biological being.

Our challenge, as the World shuts down, is to create an intelligence within an electronic cloud, so that management structures could be implemented and whatever "success" was asked for it can be achieved.

Humans need a "universe solving problem".
USP - Can "intellingence" as we call it, outlive humanity, as humanities end is near.

Expressions from the Online Dating Scene

I'm on a particular dating site.

While reviewing various profiles I found the following gems, tonight:

can except me for who I am

I am multi dimentional in many ways.

love the beach at 5:30am but can dance until 3am.

Im a young, vibrant 45 yr. old

A job is a good thing for him to have.

Most importantly, he doesn't have to look as good in jeans as in an evening gown.

I love my work (and my days off), getting together with friends and family, love my kids and dog (not necessarily always in that order) do things I enjoy.

Interested in traveling, quite times at home and "exploring" the city!

He should also have a social conscious (believes in helping others) and is kind to animals!

is open to the fact that I do not eat meat (I eat fish)... But... I don't mind if he does!

I have had the good fortune of exploring the world we live in

not intimidated by a woman who is self assured and passionate.

i want someone who enjoys spending time together, but who can have a life of there own.

This was a comment on an Alternet article concerning nutrition and depression and violence...and how fishoil seems to help.

The Completely Nutrition less Diet!

Posted by: williameon on Aug 28, 2007 6:31 AM
In this fake society.
Where we let a Cor‘pirates’ ruin everything
They have ruined our diet also.
For Greed!
There is no accountability
They know that poor diet, pollutants and stress causes disease.
What is, is.
That’s the way
That’s the way
On Ha!
They like it.
Sick people make them happy and rich.
Raking in huge profits for theAMAPharmaceuticalsAndFaux Food Companies.
It’s so easy to make and completely nutrition less also!
The Nutrition less diet!
Boxes filled with fullers and poison,
Never meant to be eaten by man!
Read the label!
In this situation less is more.
The shorter the list of ingredients
The better it is!
In fact fresh fruits, vegetables and foods without any labels are best of all!
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Flax Seed Oil.
Brown rice.
Stone Ground Flour
Whole Grains
Rolled oats.
Dried fruits and nuts.
These are all Manna.
Food of the Gods!
The Corpirates want sick ignorant peons.
To pillage and plunder.
Where’s the Information?
Where’s the BEEF?
That:Hydrogenated oils
High Fructose Corn syrup
And
Overly refined White flour
Are
POISON.
Clogging the minds,
bodies and arteries of our friends.
Nobody seems to know why our country
Is being over run with FAT people.
Child hood diabetes is epidemic!
Kindergartens are Fat farms!
People are literally eating themselves to death
Looking for the Nutrients,
For a healthy life.
Inside every fat person is a skinny person,
Starving to death.
Eating garbage!

---------------------------------------------

Wow, what else can one say...

www.vhemt.org

Sure, there are corpirates, but I don't put much "direction" to their actions. It is inevitable, it is greed, we are all driven by our tastes (sugar, fat, alcohol, drugs, whatever), and the marketing crowd take advantage of our weaknesses, while their manufacturing brethern serve us their muck...to make a buck not to keep our class powerlessness from being evident.

Bushes Should Not Have Children!!!

http://news.yahoo.com/comics/uclickcomics/20070823/cx_tr_uc/tr20070823

Jenna's kid will be 40 just about the time the world's fisheries totally fail.

He'll make a great president...

Surgically alters thumbs to better use iPhone

Frish sez: Human evolution cannot possibly keep up with our technology...love the editors (bottom line) comment...

"Warning satirical social commentary"...

From the North Denver News

Written by James Benfly

Wednesday, 08 August 2007

Thomas Martel, 28, of Bonnie Brae is a big guy. So he has a hard time using the features on ever-shrinking user interfaces on devices like his new iPhone. At least, he did, until he had his thumbs surgically altered in a revolutionary new surgical technique known as "whittling."

"From my old Treo, to my Blackberry, to this new iPhone, I had a hard time hitting the right buttons, and I always lost those little styluses," explains Martel. "Sure, the procedure was expensive, but when I think of all the time I save by being able to use modern handhelds so much faster, I really think the surgery will pay for itself in ten to fifteen years. And what it's saving me in frustration - that's priceless."

"This is really, on the edge sort of stuff," explains Dr. Robert Fox Spars, who worked on developing the procedure. "We're turning plastic surgery from something that people use in service of vanity, to a real tool for improving workplace efficiency."

The procedure involved making a small incision into both thumbs and shaving down the bones, followed by careful muscular alteration and modification of the fingernails.

While Martel's new thumbs now appear small and effeminate in comparison to his otherwise very large hands, he says he can still lift "pretty much anything I could lift before the surgery - though opening spaghetti sauce jars has been a problem. That was a big surprise."

Mommy, Daddy, where did I come from?

https://www3.nationalgeographic.com/genographic/pdf/PLOS_paper.pdf

If you can decipher this paper, you will understand the history of human development, as told through our very genes.

I'm reading it, again, and it is mostly intelligible, although fog factor of 42 and Dense!

My data are part of this paper...happy to contribute!

"One more baby means one more tomb!" China Changing Child Controls

China Bans Crude Birth Control Slogans August 5, 2007 - 5:10am

BEIJING (AP) - China's top family planning agency has cracked down on crude and insensitive slogans used by rural authorities to enforce the country's strict population limits, state media said Sunday.

Slogans such as 'Raise fewer babies but more piggies,' and 'One more baby means one more tomb,' have been forbidden and a list of 190 acceptable slogans issued by the National Population and Family Planning Commission, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

Such slogans are often found painted on roadside buildings in rural areas.

China's 28-year-old family planning policy limits most urban couples to just one child and allows some families in the countryside to have a second child if their first is a girl. Critics say it has led to forced abortions, sterilizations and a dangerously imbalanced sex ratio due to a traditional preference for male heirs, which has prompted countless families to abort female fetuses in hopes of getting boys.

The Chinese government contends that the one-child policy has helped prevent at least 300 million births _ about the size of the U.S. population _ and aided China's recent, rapid economic development.

Xinhua said slogans such as "Houses toppled, cows confiscated, if abortion demand rejected," threatened to undermine China's efforts to keep the population under control.

Examples of authorized slogans include "Mother earth is too tired to sustain more children" and "Both boys and girls are parents' hearts," it said.

The commission said some slogans left the impression that the government was "simply forcing people to give up having more babies, causing misunderstanding (of) the policy and even tarnishing the image of the government," Xinhua reported.

(Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

237 Reasons Why Humans Have Sex

Frish Note: I have not edited the list, it came from legitimate research.
see this link:http://homepage.psy.utexas.edu/Homepage/Group/BussLAB/pdffiles/why%20humans%20have%20sex%202007.pdf
It is long, but it is surprising how many I answered as Yes, at one time or another (or maybe several why's at one time!) I had this reason for having sex...I placed some colors around a few that were particularly fascinating to me...I am certain each of us have their own "favorites"...


1 I was ‘‘in the heat of the moment.’’
2 It just happened.
3 I was bored.
4 It just seemed like ‘‘the thing to do.’’
5 Someone dared me.
6 I desired emotional closeness (i.e., intimacy).
7 I wanted to feel closer to God.
8 I wanted to gain acceptance from my friends.
9 It’s exciting, adventurous.
10 I wanted to make up after a fight.
11 I wanted to get rid of aggression.
12 I was under the influence of drugs.
13 I wanted to have something to tell my friends.
14 I wanted to express my love for the person.
15 I wanted to experience the physical pleasure.
16 I wanted to show my affection to the person.
17 I felt like I owed it to the person..
18 I was attracted to the person. .
19 I was sexually aroused and wanted the release.
20 My friends were having sex and I wanted to fit in.
21 It feels good. .
22 My partner kept insisting..
23 The person was famous and I wanted to be able to say I had sex with him/her.
24 I was physically forced to..
25 I was verbally coerced into it.
26 I wanted the person to love me.
27 I wanted to have a child.
28 I wanted to make someone else jealous.
29 I wanted to have more sex than my friends.
30 I was married and you’re supposed to.
31 I was tired of being a virgin.
32 I was ‘‘horny.’’
33 I wanted to feel loved.
34 I was feeling lonely..
35 Everyone else was having sex.
36 I wanted the attention.
37 It was easier to ‘‘go all the way’’ than to stop.
38 I wanted to ensure the relationship was ‘‘committed.’’
39 I was competing with someone else to ‘‘get the person.’’
40 I wanted to ‘‘gain control’’ of the person.
41 I was curious about what the person was like in bed.
42 I was curious about sex.
43 I wanted to feel attractive.
44 I wanted to please my partner.
45 I wanted to display submission.
46 I wanted to release anxiety/stress. .
47 I didn’t know how to say ‘‘no.’’
48 I felt like it was my duty.
49 I wanted to end the relationship.
50 My friends pressured me into it.
51 I wanted the adventure/excitement.
52 I wanted the experience.
53 I felt obligated to.
54 It’s fun.
55 I wanted to get even with someone (i.e., get revenge).
56 I wanted to be popular.
57 It would get me gifts.
58 I wanted to act out a fantasy.
59 I hadn’t had sex for a while.
60 The person was ‘‘available.’’
61 I didn’t want to ‘‘lose’’ the person.
62 I thought it would help ‘‘trap’’ a new partner.
63 I wanted to make someone else jealous.
64 I felt sorry for the person.
65 I wanted to feel powerful.
66 I wanted to ‘‘possess’’ the person.
67 I wanted to release tension.
68 I wanted to feel good about myself.
69 I was slumming.
70 I felt rebellious.
71 I wanted to intensify my relationship.
72 It seemed like the natural next step.
73 I wanted to be nice.
74 I wanted to feel connected to the person.
75 I wanted to feel young.
76 I wanted to manipulate him/her into doing something for me.
77 I wanted him/her to stop bugging me about sex.
78 I wanted to hurt/humiliate the person.
79 I wanted the person to feel good about himself/herself.
80 I didn’t want to disappoint the person.
81 I was trying to ‘‘get over’’ an earlier person/relationship.
82 I wanted to reaffirm my sexual orientation.
83 I wanted to try out new sexual techniques or positions.
84 I felt guilty.
85 My hormones were out of control.
86 It was the only way my partner would spend time with me.
87 It became a habit.
88 I wanted to keep my partner happy.
89 I had no selfcontrol.
90 I wanted to communicate at a deeper level.
91 I was afraid my partner would have an affair if I didn’t have sex with him/her.
92 I was curious about my sexual abilities.
93 I wanted a ‘‘spiritual’’ experience.
94 It was just part of the relationship ‘‘routine’’.
95 I wanted to lose my inhibitions.
96 I got ‘‘carried away.’’
97 I needed another ‘‘notch on my belt.’’
98 The person demanded that I have sex with him/her.
99 The opportunity presented itself.
100 I wanted to see what it would be like to have sex while stoned (e.g., on marijuana or some other drug).
101 It’s considered ‘‘taboo’’ by society.
102 I wanted to increase the number of sex partners I had experienced.
103 The person was too ‘‘hot’’ (sexy) to resist.
104 I thought it would relax me.
105 I thought it would make me feel healthy.
106 I wanted to experiment with new experiences.
107 I wanted to see what it would be like to have sex with another person.
108 I thought it would help me to fall asleep.
109 I could brag to other people about my sexual experience.
110 It would allow me to ‘‘get sex out of my system’’ so that I could focus on other things.
111 I wanted to decrease my partner’s desire to have sex with someone else.
112 It would damage my reputation if I said ‘‘no.’’
113 The person was too physically attractive to resist.
114 I wanted to celebrate something.
115 I was seduced.
117 I wanted to increase the emotional bond by having sex.
118 I wanted to see whether sex with a different partner would feel different or better.
119 I was mad at my partner, so I had sex with someone else.
120 I wanted to fulfill a previous promise to my partner.
121 It was expected of me.
122 I wanted to keep my partner from straying.
123 I wanted the pure pleasure.
124 I wanted to dominate the other person.
125 I wanted to make a conquest.
126 I’m addicted to sex.
127 It was a favor to someone.
128 I wanted to be used or degraded.
129 Someone offered me money to do it.
130 I was drunk.
131 It seemed like good exercise.
132 I was pressured into doing it.
133 The person offered to give me drugs for doing it.
134 I was frustrated and needed relief.
135 It was a romantic setting.
136 I felt insecure.
137 My regular partner is boring, so I had sex with someone else.
138 I was on the ‘‘rebound’’ from another relationship.
139 I wanted to boost my selfesteem.
140 I wanted to get my partner to stay with me.
141 Because of a bet.
142 It was a special occasion.
143 I wanted to get a special favor from someone.
144 I wanted to get back at my partner for having cheated on me.
145 I wanted to enhance my reputation.
146 I wanted to keep warm.
147 I wanted to punish myself.
148 I wanted to break up a rival’s relationship by having sex with his/her partner.
149 I wanted to stop my partners’ nagging.
150 I wanted to impress friends.
151 I wanted to achieve an orgasm.
152 I wanted to brag to my friends about my conquests.
153 I wanted to improve my sexual skills.
154 I wanted to get a job.
155 I wanted to get a raise..
156 I wanted to get a promotion..
157 I wanted to satisfy a compulsion.
158 I wanted to make money.
159 I wanted to keep my partner satisfied.
160 I wanted to change the topic of conversation.
161 I wanted to get out of doing something.
162 I wanted to test my compatibility with a new partner.
163 I wanted to get a partner to express love.
164 I wanted to put the passion back into my relationship.
165 I wanted to prevent a breakup.
166 I wanted to become one with another person.
167 I wanted to get a favor from someone.
168 I wanted to breakup my relationship.
169 I wanted to give someone else a sexually transmitted disease (e.g., herpes, AIDS).
170 I wanted to breakup another’s relationship.
171 I wanted to avoid hurting someone’s feelings.
172 I wanted to make myself feel better about myself.
173 I wanted to get rid of a headache.
174 I was afraid to say ‘‘no’’ due to the possibility of physical harm.
175 I wanted to keep my partner from straying.
176 I wanted to burn calories.
177 I wanted to even the score with a cheating partner.
178 I wanted to hurt an enemy.
179 I wanted to feel older.
180 I wanted to raise my selfesteem.
181 It was an initiation rite to a club or organization.
182 I wanted to become more focused on work sexual thoughts are distracting.
183 I wanted to say ‘‘I’ve missed you.’’
184 I wanted to celebrate a birthday or anniversary or special occasion.
185 I wanted to say ‘‘I’m sorry.’’
186 I wanted to return a favor.
187 I wanted to say ‘‘Thank you.’’
188 I wanted to welcome someone home.
189 I wanted to say ‘‘goodbye.’’
190 I wanted to defy my parents.
191 I wanted to relieve menstrual cramps.
192 I wanted to relieve ‘‘blue balls.’’
193 I wanted to get the most out of life.
194 I wanted to feel feminine.
195 I wanted to feel masculine.
196 I am a sex addict.
197 I wanted to see what all the fuss is about.
198 I thought it would boost my social status.
199 The person had a lot of money.
200 The person’s physical appearance turned me on.
201 The person was a good dancer.
202 Someone had told me that this person was good in bed.
203 The person had beautiful eyes.
204 The person made me feel sexy.
205 An erotic movie had turned me on.
206 The person had taken me out for an expensive dinner.
207 The person was a good kisser.
208 The person had bought me jewelry.
209 The person had a great sense of humor.
210 The person seemed self confident.
211 The person really desired me.
212 The person was really desired by others.
213 I wanted to gain access to that person’s friend.
214 I felt jealous.
215 The person flattered me.
216 I wanted to see if I could get the other person into bed.
217 The person had a desirable body.
218 I had not had sex in a long time.
219 The person smelled nice.
220 The person had an attractive face.
221 I saw the person naked and could not resist.
222 I was turned on by the sexual conversation. .
223 The person was intelligent.
224 The person caressed me.
225 The person wore revealing clothes.
226 The person had too much to drink and I was able to take advantage of them..
227 I knew the person was usually ‘‘out of my league.’’
228 The person was mysterious.
229 I realized I was in love.
230 I wanted to forget about my problems.
231 I wanted to reproduce.
232 I wanted to feel loved.
233 I wanted my partner to notice me.
234 I wanted to help my partner forget about his/her problems.
235 I wanted to lift my partner’s spirits.
236 I wanted to submit to my partner.
237 I wanted to make my partner feel powerful.

Great separation of Church and State article, from the UK

http://www.skandavale.org/

This Hindu Temple site from the U.K. is aghast that the government "put down" their sacred cow that was also suffering from TB!

Here was the "webcam" to keep track of Sambo, the cow in question.

http://www.skandavale.org.uk/webcam.htm

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/world/20070726-1333-britain-sacredbull.html

That's the article about the cow.

Here's an excerpt, in case it gets archived...

Police seized a sacred bull from a Hindu monastery in Wales on Thursday, cutting locked gates and dragging away protesters before taking the animal for slaughter because he had tested positive for tuberculosis.
The plight of Shambo the bull attracted worldwide attention after the diagnosis this spring and prompted the Skanda Vale monastery to create an Internet petition campaign to try to save him. Hindus revere cattle and say killing the bull violates their religious rights.

“This is about the freedom of human beings to express their religious values,” said a monk, known as Brother Alex. “We can't be party to the destruction of life.”

The monastery suggested it could isolate Shambo to prevent the TB from spreading or send him to a willing charity in India, but authorities nixed those ideas.

Some people in Britain supported the seizure. Keith Porteous Wood, director of the National Secular Society, claimed Shambo's supporters were “putting religious dogma before the welfare of the community.”

“This case represents another example of religious bodies trying to put themselves above the law,” he said.

Christianity - The Cult Continues!

The Los Angeles Times newspaper ran an article today regarding home-churches, evangelical gatherings without a formal church building that occur in people's houses. I decided, as a Bright, to write a letter to the editor of the Times.

The letter I wrote is in RED below.

The parts I didn't send are in BLUE below.

As a Bright, (everything stems from nature not superstition), I was heartened to read about home-church-goers sincere in their desire to live moral and law abiding lives.

If that form of worship helps them do that, I say excellent, how ironic their detractorsconsider them "non-biblical".

There are already several hundred Christian sects, this is how they all started, it is a grand tradition.

.....Even after 2000 years, It seems it is difficult to know what is truth!

Alternative Ending instead of Even after...
....And while it threatens the status quo, it should not threaten others.

However, while these don't appear to be "American Madrassas" (yet...) the internet can magnify the influence of a cult leader, and quickly. These folk deserve to be observed and documented, to ensure they are not being "anti-social" in a large sense.

I'm staying with my non-deistic worldview, thanks!

Here's the article...

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-housechurch23jul23,1,6106562.story?coll=la-headlines-california&ctrack=2&cset=true

What holds the thoughts of God?

I see neither evidence nor any REASON for god. Therefore, I'm a strong atheist.

(I will capitalize REASON whenever possible...I mean this in many senses, and capitalization serves as emphais!)

There is no machinery behind the facade. What you see is what there is.

What you feel, well, that's not necessarily what there is.

Feelings are a result of evolution of personality, and are all about our social nature, since we evolved to live in groups...they are chemistry too, as are the thoughts you are having while reading this...but they are all contained within your ears.

The separation we all feel, of our thoughts separate from our bodies, is an illusion.

There is no separation from our bodies by our thoughts. Thoughts are TOTALLY contained in the chemistry within our bodies. The separation illusion allows us to do "rote" tasks (like breathing, or walking, or a myriad of other activities) while we are thinking of something entirely different.

It also gives rise to the idea that our minds are somehow separate entities that can survive on their own! NOT.

Your nervous system does not control anything outside of your body, not now, and not when you die.

There is no REASON to believe that we have a soul, distinct from our bodies and mind.

Very useful to be a thinking creature, and mankind has been quite successful (in both range and total population on the planet, we are as numerous as any other large land mammal has ever been!).

We know the thoughts within our minds are contained in the chemistry in our bodies...encoded somehow (some say holograms...whatever) in the neural network of our nervous system, brain and bodies.

No one claims a REASON on how thoughts could be separate from bodies, since that isn't our experience.

We by no means understand exactly what thoughts are or how they form or for how long they last with or without reinforcement and how reliable they are etc. etc. etc.

But no one argues that thoughts are somehow extra-corpular, don't we all agree that thoughts are electrical potential within our nervous systems that allow us to experience shared reality?

This leads me to the question...where is the information storage for god in the universe?

On what particle of matter does god exist?

If god is not at all material, on what basis is the information encoded?

What allows god to operate at greater than light speeds (being everywhere and knowing everything...)?

What holds the thoughts of god?

As I said above, humans are social creatures, and we evolved in groups. In the extended family that is the basic unit of human existence there was an alpha. That leader was to be obeyed (unless one was a teenage male attempting to upset the harem or whatever), THEIR VERY LIVES DEPENDED ON IT.

So, obedience to a "father-figure" is "built-in", simply because of our social heritage, WE'VE EVOLVED IT as a means to keep the group under control. Therefore, evolutionary forces are at work, as the god belief is far more ingrained and widespread than simple indoctrination could explain. There is a place in our brain that accepts authority, the Chief's authority.

(The chief may not always have been a male by the way...in the really olden days...)

Having a concept such as "god" around is quite useful as a placeholder, something that we don't or can't know, and all of those things that are unknown are attributed to god.

Humans have evolved (SOCIALLY) to use a crutch like god to be more successful.

This happened a long time before agriculture and the current trend towards monotheism, which grew out of the fields!

The current idea of god as father figure (the traditional on a throne white bearded fellow) is only a recent rendition of god.

So, evolution of our social nature makes it easy to believe in god, a higher power, a boogey man for the kids, a catch-all bucket within which to put whatever is unknown...and by naming the unknown, we make it less scary and more under our control...even while "giving control to god".

The whole idea is childish actually and literally (somehow people actually think somehow the very idea of god is good for kids! I'm not much in favor of anything that doesn't help kids understand the REAL world.)

We're here because the universe, as it formed over time, brought what was needed to have life exist here, whenever and however it was created and formed.

No one argues (well, no cosmologist would argue) that the chemicals we find around us are made from elements that were fused within stars. We literally are made of star dust.

Whatever happened to float on by in this region of the galaxy was just what was needed to have life form.

I don't claim to have all the answers about how life formed or how evolution got us to what we observe today.

I know exactly how unlikely it was to have happened.

(This part of the Galaxy (not in the radiation filled center, where almost all the mass of the galaxy is!), on a rocky planet (not on a gas giant which are by far and away the mass of the solar system), that has a water cycle (not too common we're guessing, just the right distance from the star and just enough of whatever it took for life to form so that the oxygen and water cycles could ensue on the planet. Not too likely, any of it!)

The most obvious observation we're here, THEREFORE LIFE HAPPENED.

Although it may have happened in parallel multiple times until life "took" here on Earth...it only HAD to happen once.

I believe science will someday, given enough time and experimentation and observation, understand it all.

Why would an "intelligence" need to be behind any of it? I see no REASON.

If humans are around long enough…and, therein lies the rub… The universe selects against "intelligence" whatever that is...

We see no "Contrails of Advanced Civilizations" in the stars...we hear no telepathic chatter of disembodied highly evolved intelligences that float between the stars (I mean, we're already here 15 BILLION (BILLION IS A REALLY REALLY LONG TIME!) YEARS, SO WHERE ARE THEY?)

evolution selects against "intelligence"...

"NATURE" does what it does. Intelligence cannot avoid nature or stem Nature's twitch or shrug that will remove humanity from the Earth. There is no intelligence in the Universe, it cannot coexist with nature.

GAIA selects against intelligence... while using our culture and technology to follow our biological imperative to obtain energy from any possible ecological niche. Igloos and spears and ice saws, or poison darts to fell prey out of the rain forest, humanity is pretty good at exploiting a wide variety of ecological niches.

Our intelligence will wipe us out, long before we're star trekkers!

That's why there are no signs of extraterrestrials, since there aren't any, their intelligence wiped them out if they ever existed!

We (all life forms taken as a whole in this case) are simply fulfilling the GEOLOGIC PROCESSES of planet Earth.

The Solar System and Planet Earth formed with the potential for life.

It is simply part of the geology and chemistry of our planet and solar system and, as "luck" would have it, we're here.

We are no more than the sum of our chemical processes. The slaves of the biology and geology that reared us. We're much dependent on being Earth-Bound actually.

Some think bioforming or terraforming or genetic mutation will somehow allow humanity to exist for longer than geology and evolution would otherwise allow...

We encounter, ingest, and digest, and turn sugars and oxygen into heat and sound and motion and digestion and thoughts and "night soil" and sweat and whatever else our chemistry accomplishes, and then we no longer operate and so die.

Why is this so hard to believe? Seems evident. Seems obvious. It is what we see happening, nothing is not explained.

Life is Chemistry
Evolving into niches
Expend Energy

my post on a philosophy forum

[QUOTE=Respondent]Any time a race becomes "enlightened" and tries to be peacefull I'll pick on them too. Once I got bored I'd flush that galaxy and do the benevolence/observance thing. Once I get bored of that I'd pick on them again.[/QUOTE]
(((I have snipped a small portion of "Respondent"'s post responding to a question about what he would do if he were god, here is my response to this portion of his rant.)))

You have stated my theory precisely, and if I thought there were a god, he'd act exactly as you.

Intelligence evolves and the universe strikes it down.

That is why there are no "little green men" or radio signals or contrails between stars.

Space is really really big.

But we've seen no evidence of space faring intelligences in our galaxy .

Space is really really big, it cannot be overemphasized!

However, even given current technology humans could in the not too distant future find our way to multiple star systems or even the entire galaxy...does 10,000,000 years sound a long time?

I would maintain that even a very slow progression of human colonies could conceivably stretch across the galaxy in 10,000,000 years...that is a really long time...

Well, the universe has been around 1000 times that long and there are no little green men visiting us are there!

Evolution cannot tolerate intelligence.

Intelligence (and the technology (think language and all that accompanies our most basic "CULTURE" in the anthropological sense, all that is not biological about us, non-instinctual, nurture, fire, tools, perhaps even consciousness, sentience, etc.)) is SELECTED AGAINST by the universe.

We will be the victims of our own success. Our technology has unburdened us from the vagaries of mother nature, we call anywhere home thanks to technolgy, we have health care and vaccinations, we have agriculture, we have energy, for now...we also are totally out of control when it comes to population, and worse, our impacts on natural systems have damaged them severely.

Chaos is inevitable (if really drastic things aren't accomplished right away) given current trends, no less the trend in human population - 9 billion humans by 2050, 1.5X as many as on the planet today (2007).

We will attempt to have technology save us. It will only speed our demise, as it is the reason we're engineered to fail!

Technology is simply an extension of our human nature. As living beings, our DNA drive us to obtain energy from the environment, and reproduce. Technology allows us to obtain energy from environments we weren't evolved to survive. Without a lot of very delicate and necessary technology people couldn't exist on much of the planet.

Technology has now ((or has already) (or will soon)) disrupted every biozone on the planet. The delicate web of interconnections between and amongst the various species is disrupted.

The web of life is constantly in flux. It is never in equilibrium. However, mankind's disruption allows certain energy niches on the planet to be very much more readily available. So, algae grow in the oxygenated and fertilized ocean water, and then die and suck up the oxygen, creating a dead zone in the ocean for Christ's sake.

There will be massive efforts put human knowledge into cyber minds before the end, or there would be, except the end will be here way sooner than most predict!

We won't be here long
So no need to have children
So they won't suffer.

CAUTION: VIOLENT contents - here is the headline, read post at your own risk..."Witness says accused Pickton surprised at how much prostitutes bled"

Monday, July 16, 2007
Witness says accused Pickton surprised at how much prostitutes bled

NEW WESTMINSTER (CP) - A key Crown witness told a hushed courtroom Monday that Robert Pickton was surprised at how much the women he murdered bled and how much of their remains his pigs ate.

Andrew Bellwood told court he and Pickton were watching television in Pickton's residence in his trailer in March 1999 when Pickton described how he killed prostitutes by having sex with them from behind, handcuffing them and strangling them before taking them to his slaughterhouse.

There they were bled, gutted and fed to the pigs, Bellwood testified, recounting how Pickton told him he couldn't believe how much the women bled.

He told court that as Pickton talked, he acted out some of the gestures, such as making a stroking motion as if he were caressing a woman's hair.

Bellwood, who has testified to being a crack cocaine addict, going on "binges," and having had relapses since 1999, said Pickton showed him how he would reach around and take the woman's arm and handcuff her before using a leather belt or wire to kill her.

"He had mentioned to me, 'You know what I do with these prostitutes?"' Bellwood said as the jury listened transfixed and the gallery was silent.

"From there he reached underneath his mattress. He pulled out a set of handcuffs that looked like a set of police handcuffs. He pulled out a belt and he pulled out a piece of wire.

"The wire had looped ends on it that looked like it had been spliced. The wire was the same consistency as piano wire.

"He had motioned to me that he would put them what we call doggy style on the bed, having intercourse with them. As he was telling me this story it was as if there was a woman on the bed. It was pretty much like telling me he'd reach behind their back for their hand and slid it behind their back and put on the handcuffs, stroking their hair, telling them that it's going to be OK. Everything's all over now.

"After he got the handcuffs on them he would strangle them either with the belt or the piece of wire."

Bellwood told Crown prosecutor Geoff Baragar that the conversation occurred after Pickton suggested the two of them hire a prostitute, but Bellwood said he wasn't interested.
Baragar asked Bellwood what was his state of mind was at the time.

"I was coherent," he said, adding that he had not been smoking crack cocaine or drinking alcohol.
Bellwood continued with his testimony.
"From there he would take them to the barn, bleed them and gut them. He commented on how much they bled. He kept telling me, 'Oh, you know how much they bleed, you wouldn't believe how much blood comes out of a person.'

"He proceeded to tell me, after he gutted them, hung them in the slaughterhouse, how much pigs ate of the carcass and whatever the pigs didn't eat, would end up in the 45-gallon drums of entrails he put the pigs in, you know, the pig guts into."

Bellwood is expected to be one of the last major Crown witnesses in the case and Baragar indicated the Crown's case is nearing an end "subject to other matters."

Bellwood began his testimony by explaining he started using drugs when he was 15 and moved up to crack cocaine by his mid-20s.

He told court he had a criminal record and there were occasions when he could spend as much as $5,000 on crack binges that could last as long as four days.

But he testified he never hallucinated while he was taking the drug and had never seen anyone hallucinate while on crack.

He explained he was introduced to Pickton in February 1999 and later lived for a time on Pickton's Port Coquitlam property.

Bellwood said he met Pickton through a man named Ross Contois, who was attending the same drug treatment facility as Bellwood on Vancouver Island.

Contois was married to Gina Houston, a good friend of Pickton's who has already testified at the trial.

Bellwood, 37, who now works in the oil industry in Alberta, said he first met Pickton when he and Contois went to the farm to buy hay for Houston's horses.

On subsequent visits, Bellwood testified he got to know Pickton better and eventually spent some time living on the property.

Bellwood recalled another woman named Lynn also lived there at the time.

The jury has heard from a witness named Lynn Ellingsen, who testified she lived in a spare bedroom at Pickton's trailer residence.

Ellingsen said that while high on crack one night, she walked into the pig slaughterhouse and saw Pickton butchering a woman who was hanging from a hook.

Bellwood said Lynn and Pickton appeared to be good friends and that he helped her a lot.

"He basically supported her," said Bellwood. "He was a sugar daddy of some sort."

In its cross-examination of Ellingsen, the defence suggested numerous times that she was hallucinating about the incident in the slaughterhouse and saw a farm animal and not a woman.

On Monday, Baragar asked Bellwood to describe Lynn when she was high on crack and whether he noticed any hallucinations.

"No, I've never seen anybody on crack experience hallucinations," Bellwood testified.

He said for him, crack use caused depression and remorse, but it did not affect his memory or induce hallucinations.

Pickton, who appeared to listen to the witnesses, did not look at Bellwood as he testified but he wrote several notes and passed them to his lawyers.

An RCMP officer also testified earlier in the trial that he met with Bellwood in September 2004 and paid for his dinner as they discussed the case as part of a "witness maintenance program."

The RCMP agreed to pay Bellwood's $925 monthly rent for three months while he attended a drug program at the Edgewood Treatment Centre, which the police also paid for.

In January 2005, the officer again met with Bellwood and his common-law wife and agreed to pay for the woman to take a course at the same treatment centre for $1,000.

Pickton is charged with the murders of Sereena Abotsway, Mona Wilson, Georgina Papin, Marnie Frey, Brenda Wolfe and Andrea Joesbury. He will face a further 20 murder charges at a later date.

Bellwood told the jury of beating he received by two men who came to the property after the alleged conversation with Pickton and accused him of stealing tools from Pickton. He said at the urging of "Lynn," the men punched him twice in the nose and head.

He told the jury he never stole anything from Pickton and left the farm after the beating.

He testified he never returned to the farm and didn't tell police of the conversation until he was questioned by officers in early 2002.

© The Canadian Press, 2007

What Have I shown you so far (the top of A Decahaiku):

Eagerness to meet
Openness, safety first, warmth,
I know what you need...

Wonderful nice time.
I dressed right do you agree?
I was O.T.T.

(ask mom)

If/When you want to
Know what I know, I'm happy
To share anytime.

I am not compelled
since I know I can frighten,
You ought to meet Mom!

It is up to you...
if I've disrespected you
I apologize

Those are all Haikus
And this is, This is as well,
Who else posts like this?

My profile's true.
As you said!: You're only human...
Taught me a lot thanks!

Astonishingly
We're going Italian
Relax, enjoy ride.

Bring your mom over
and meet my mom and then you'll
Know a lot more.

Hi mom, how are you?
Cheers to all and Hasta,
La vista to you.

(A goodbye note after a failed first date. She was three year widowed and still wearing black!)

Joke comprehension may decrease with age

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070711/ap_on_sc/joke_comprehension_age

By BETSY TAYLOR, Associated Press Writer (From the web, July 10, 2007.)


ST. LOUIS - A new psychology study at Washington University was no laughing matter: It found that older adults may have a harder time getting jokes because of an age-related decline in certain memory and reasoning abilities.

The research suggested that because older adults may have greater difficulty with cognitive flexibility, abstract reasoning and short-term memory, they also have greater difficulty with tests of humor comprehension.


Researchers tested about 40 healthy adults over age 65 and 40 undergraduate students with exercises in which they had to complete jokes and stories. Participants also had to choose the correct punch line for verbal jokes and select the funny ending to series of cartoon panels.
Findings were published earlier this month in the Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society.


The research conducted by graduate student Wingyun Mak and psychology professor Brian Carpenter showed that the younger adults did 6 percent better on the verbal jokes and 14 percent better on the comic portion than did older participants, Mak said.


But who decides what's funny?


The researchers, citing past work in the field, wrote that humor research is "rooted in the philosophical notion that humor arises from a sense of incongruity, a conflict between the expected and the actual."


"Successful comprehension of humor occurs upon resolving something that is seemingly incongruous with a logical but less obvious explanation."


Researchers used a verbal joke test developed in 1983 and used in other humor studies. Mak added a new element, though, by showing participants cartoons from the Ferd'nand comic strip, and asking them to choose between four panels to locate the funny ending. Three of the choices for each cartoon were the wrong ones, created by an artist for the study.


Participants had to respond to jokes like this one:


A businessman is riding the subway after a hard day at the office. A young man sits down next to him and says, "Call me a doctor ... call me a doctor."


The businessman asks, "What's the matter, are you sick?"


Participants then had to choose the right ending. For this one, the correct answer was "I just graduated from medical school."


Wrong choices were straightforward answers or conclusions that did not follow from the premise. Among the wrong answers: "Yes, I feel a little weak. Please help me."


"This wasn't a study about what people find funny. It was a study about whether they get what's supposed to be funny," Carpenter said.


"There are basic cognitive mechanisms to understanding what's going on in a joke. Older adults, because they may have deficits in some of those cognitive areas, may have a harder time understanding what a joke is about."


Mak said humor comprehension merits further study because of the potential physical and psychological benefits of humor.


"I think it's really important to note this doesn't mean older adults aren't funny or don't understand humor," Mak, who is from Los Angeles, said.


She said humor comprehension and humor appreciation are tested in different ways. The Washington University study didn't delve into humor appreciation. In fact, Mak said, older study participants who may have picked the wrong answers may also have been laughing at their choices at the time.


Josephine Bertani, 73, of St. Louis, took part in the study. She has some memory issues, and thinks she probably didn't come up with all the right answers.


Even so, she leads tours of senior citizens as a volunteer through St. Ambrose Catholic Church.


"I'll entertain them with jokes," she said, adding that some tour participants bring her jokes that she can read aloud on bus trips. Any cases of the older people not laughing? "Not yet," she said.

Tolerance, why is it so hard?

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/05/27/news/moscow.php

Gay Rights Campaigners
No surprise, they got beat up
No rule of law.

Human Culture - escaping mother nature's restrictions

The economic assumption of a continuously growing population is the basis for all government planning, and stockholder expectation, when it comes to business.

Life is a chemical process, whereby each species attempts to fill an "energy niche" in the ecosystem in which it finds itself.

Humans have used technology (for at least the last 100,000 years!) to thwart the natural boundaries our ancestors faced.

Technological innovation is simply the natural outcome for our species, as it allows human life to exist in more and varied ecological energy niches.

We use technology to overcome nature, which of course is the cause of the overpopulation and destruction of our environment.

Our CULTURE, which is technology plus behaviors plus language etc., is the real culprit, that removed Humans from natural governors on our compulsions.

From tops of mountains
shore to shore, desert, forest
Technology wins