So I am going to try this. I have been doing some push ups every monday and wednesday with some regularity after each kung fu class anyways so I think this will be a good intensive way to help build up my upper body strength and hopefully build my endurance up a bit more anyways. I'm not in terrible shape but I'm not in great shape and there's no such thing as too good of shape right? I just did my initial test and was able to do 19 push-ups. not the 60+ I was hoping to achieve but hey, it's a good solid number to work from. I plan to go friday sunday and tuesday. I wonder if I'll have any of my comics scripts finished before I can do 100 push ups? :D
8.06.2008
What has religion done for you lately?
Okay, so I was talking with Justin today about religion and atheism and there's a few things I want to clear up for anyone who reads this and anyone who may have a misconception about what an atheist is.
First of all, an atheist does not "believe" that there is no god or supernatural power. There is no room for something like "belief" in the mind of an atheist. All a belief does is allow your mind a shortcut to thinking about an idea in a particular way and maintaining that it does not require any further investigation; that it is what it is. I "know" that there is no proof of a higher power existing because of the fact that all of the so called proofs for said higher power existing have been explained with only a little scientific investigation.
Second of all, that faith exists and that religions (any religion at all!) exist is definitely in no way, not even one fucking iota of a shred of proof that God or any semblance of God exists (except in the way that ideas exist if you want to get technical you dick). You think that people are incapable of putting trust in the unknown or having faith in the absence of God? Even I do it more than I'd like to admit. It doesn't mean that a single one of the Judeo-Christian mythologies or any number of other polytheist mythologies are anything more than fanciful what-if tales written by people that had nothing better to do than sit and wonder about such things. And they're great and fun to read (when they aren't tedious and boring). You may even learn something from them (when they actually have something to teach).
But this brings me to my final point. If the lessons you are taking away from religion or your spirituality are that it is right and noble to commit yourself to some unknowable or even knowable higher power and that you are made even more holy by yielding unquestioningly to the words of such a power that have only ever been interpreted and presented by other men...
The fact of the matter is, you are a slave.
And you're not a slave... are you?
I forgot though! You don't 'believe' in all these religions, of course they all are getting it wrong. They are interpretations by men of something that is unknowable and undefinable! Faith is an ongoing battle and it's natural that it should be tested by the acts of wickedness that surround us all but is that not just the devil trying to convince you to give up? You think you've come to spirituality on your own terms but you really haven't. Instead you are now subscribing to the raving lunacy of your own mind instead of that of another's. I guess that's kind of mean. But I'm allowed to be mean cause I'm an atheist. I don't have to worry about any repercussions due to this. Unless you want to try to test me physically. Be satisfied in your knowledge that I am spiritually bankrupt because I revel in it. I party as hard as I can in it. Because I know there is no such thing as hell and that all the evil in the world is simply the cruel acts that we perpetrate on each other in our endless struggle to survive and be one better than those around us.
Justin made a good point in response to this:
"You might point out that the only thing atheist readily agree on is 'there is no god.' Beyond that: questions about morals, ethics, science, taste in music....whatever, that is open for debate...atheism makes no such dogmatic claims."
And this is true.
The thing that is most frustrating is that people will read this with the mindset that I am a hypocrite because for all my noise, I certainly "believe" pretty firmly in what I am saying. I can't tell you how nonsensical that is. These ideas and thoughts are like water flowing through my consciousness and open to be modified whenever there is some new bit of knowledge that presents itself in spite of what I think. People with faith on the other hand... The ones who think that faith somehow proves the existence of god and brag so loudly about their 'faith' proves god exists... well look, here is definition number 2 for faith from dictionary.com
2. belief that is not based on proof: He had faith that the hypothesis would be substantiated by fact. (this is kind of funny because as I said before, even the scientist participating in the scientific process of proving his hypothesis can be susceptible to faith)
Well how the fuck can you say that your faith proves god exists when the reason you have to resort to faith in the first place is because there is no proof? The thing is, it automatically is no longer faith at that point. You're basically saying you "know" god is real, negating any amazing power that your so-called blind devotion to a mysterious unknowable entity provides you. I'm not going to talk about the people who seem to actually "know" god is real. They have spoken for themselves throughout history through the many atrocities committed in his holy name.
The point at the end of all of this i suppose is that, you can believe whatever you want because your mind developed the ability to extrapolate upon the sensory data that it receives. If you want to believe this is a magical ability granted to you by an omnipotent and omniscient being with a vested interest in your future, that's fine. But personally, as an Atheist, the quest for knowledge and understanding about life and everything will never be satisfied by such a mundane answer as "God did it."
http://www.godlessgeeks.com/LINKS/Dragon.htm
http://www.400monkeys.com/God/
First of all, an atheist does not "believe" that there is no god or supernatural power. There is no room for something like "belief" in the mind of an atheist. All a belief does is allow your mind a shortcut to thinking about an idea in a particular way and maintaining that it does not require any further investigation; that it is what it is. I "know" that there is no proof of a higher power existing because of the fact that all of the so called proofs for said higher power existing have been explained with only a little scientific investigation.
Second of all, that faith exists and that religions (any religion at all!) exist is definitely in no way, not even one fucking iota of a shred of proof that God or any semblance of God exists (except in the way that ideas exist if you want to get technical you dick). You think that people are incapable of putting trust in the unknown or having faith in the absence of God? Even I do it more than I'd like to admit. It doesn't mean that a single one of the Judeo-Christian mythologies or any number of other polytheist mythologies are anything more than fanciful what-if tales written by people that had nothing better to do than sit and wonder about such things. And they're great and fun to read (when they aren't tedious and boring). You may even learn something from them (when they actually have something to teach).
But this brings me to my final point. If the lessons you are taking away from religion or your spirituality are that it is right and noble to commit yourself to some unknowable or even knowable higher power and that you are made even more holy by yielding unquestioningly to the words of such a power that have only ever been interpreted and presented by other men...
The fact of the matter is, you are a slave.
And you're not a slave... are you?
I forgot though! You don't 'believe' in all these religions, of course they all are getting it wrong. They are interpretations by men of something that is unknowable and undefinable! Faith is an ongoing battle and it's natural that it should be tested by the acts of wickedness that surround us all but is that not just the devil trying to convince you to give up? You think you've come to spirituality on your own terms but you really haven't. Instead you are now subscribing to the raving lunacy of your own mind instead of that of another's. I guess that's kind of mean. But I'm allowed to be mean cause I'm an atheist. I don't have to worry about any repercussions due to this. Unless you want to try to test me physically. Be satisfied in your knowledge that I am spiritually bankrupt because I revel in it. I party as hard as I can in it. Because I know there is no such thing as hell and that all the evil in the world is simply the cruel acts that we perpetrate on each other in our endless struggle to survive and be one better than those around us.
Justin made a good point in response to this:
"You might point out that the only thing atheist readily agree on is 'there is no god.' Beyond that: questions about morals, ethics, science, taste in music....whatever, that is open for debate...atheism makes no such dogmatic claims."
And this is true.
The thing that is most frustrating is that people will read this with the mindset that I am a hypocrite because for all my noise, I certainly "believe" pretty firmly in what I am saying. I can't tell you how nonsensical that is. These ideas and thoughts are like water flowing through my consciousness and open to be modified whenever there is some new bit of knowledge that presents itself in spite of what I think. People with faith on the other hand... The ones who think that faith somehow proves the existence of god and brag so loudly about their 'faith' proves god exists... well look, here is definition number 2 for faith from dictionary.com
2. belief that is not based on proof: He had faith that the hypothesis would be substantiated by fact. (this is kind of funny because as I said before, even the scientist participating in the scientific process of proving his hypothesis can be susceptible to faith)
Well how the fuck can you say that your faith proves god exists when the reason you have to resort to faith in the first place is because there is no proof? The thing is, it automatically is no longer faith at that point. You're basically saying you "know" god is real, negating any amazing power that your so-called blind devotion to a mysterious unknowable entity provides you. I'm not going to talk about the people who seem to actually "know" god is real. They have spoken for themselves throughout history through the many atrocities committed in his holy name.
The point at the end of all of this i suppose is that, you can believe whatever you want because your mind developed the ability to extrapolate upon the sensory data that it receives. If you want to believe this is a magical ability granted to you by an omnipotent and omniscient being with a vested interest in your future, that's fine. But personally, as an Atheist, the quest for knowledge and understanding about life and everything will never be satisfied by such a mundane answer as "God did it."
http://www.godlessgeeks.com/
http://www.400monkeys.com/God/
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