So, a man dies.

Actually, bodies really do decompose - you can see that yourself. So there is proof of mine. Have you ever seen a "soul" "ascend" to "heaven"? Didn't think so. Plus, mine has started less Crusades

What if the answer to that is yes?

Actually, bodies really do decompose - you can see that yourself. So there is proof of mine. Have you ever seen a "soul" "ascend" to "heaven"? Didn't think so. Plus, mine has started less Crusades

Me, I get tired of people thinking dying is anything but biological matter decomposing, but I'm too much a realist for most people.

Don't play games

The "anything but" is a belief, not a provable fact.

Crusades is a nice effort at redirecting the issue, however, it boils the argument down to yours vs. Christianity. The Buddists are feeling left out. They could rebut that their beliefs have caused less death in the world.

As opposed to an invisible sky pixie who alternates between forgiving us and making us suffer horrible firey spankings if we don't listen to him?

I have verifiable evidence to support my beliefs, no religion does, no matter what "miracles" they believe they witness. If you believe in something, and you expect me to believe in it, you have to offer evidence in it. It's not my job to prove you're wrong.

Me, I get tired of people thinking dying is anything but biological matter decomposing, but I'm too much a realist for most people.

in an odd, way, yes.

I belive as we have experiences we 'build up' energy

once we get enough 'energy' we cease to reincarnate truly and the energy splits to make 2 lifeforms..be it animal babies, human babies, alien babies, or even trees.

OMG!!! Who did i actually hug, then?

Present evidence to uphold your assertion then.

And.. I have very carefully not stated my beliefs, nor have I asked you to believe in anything. I've pointed out that you are doing exactly the same thing that a thiest does, presenting your belief as fact.

No, because you know what? Unlike most persons of religion, I don't care what you believe, as long as you leave me alone.



Once again, I wrote that I was tired of it, not that they were necessarily wrong, or that I had any problem with people believing things not based on reality. The difference between me and most people who are religious is that I don't care what anyone else thinks, I just wish they would stop pestering me with it.

I am tired of it because religion causes so much pain and heartache all over the world, not because I have any problem with anyone's belief system. If religion were a simple matter of each person believing it on their own time, and it not impacting their interactions with the rest of the world, I would have zero problems with it.
Even my initial statement did not reveal precisely what my thoughts on the matter were, just that I was tired of people thinking anything but that. I didn't even write "I believe that..." in my initial post, now did I?

The way you stated it implies belief.

Which religions? All? Does that include earth-based religions too? I'm not a big fan of organized religion, but I recognize that religion has also played a positive part in the world as well. I tend to blame people for screwing things up, not belief systems.

well isn't the meaning of faith "believing without proof" ?

oh and I believe in reincarnation ... so beware if you walk on a worm ! it could have been your grand mother

Well, I can't be responsible for your assumptions.

I didn't write all, but you're right - I should have written often or usually. Since I don't believe in any religion or deity, I don't believe that one is better or worse than another. I think they're all pretty much equal, and I care equally little about all of them as long as they leave me alone. Problem is, that rarely happens. A huge portion of ideologies really exist - in my opinion - to control as many people as possible. People would be more free if they just interacted with the world on a day-to-day basis and had their own beliefs based on that, rather than simply accepting what others tell them.

There's a phrase from theatre that I think often applies to religion and politics as well: suspension of disbelief. If you somehow can suspend people's natural inclination to disbelieve things told to them by others without proof, you can get them to believe darn near anything.

I believe in the Invisible Pink Unicorn.

I'd just like to toss out an idea. If you believe, as I do, that all consciousness and experience lies within the human skull, then why is it that both of us have the same physical hardware, and the same kinds of electrical circuits, but I only experience *me*, and not you? In other words, what makes me *me*?

Well, imagine that in fact I *do* experience both of us. But not at the same time.

Imagine a single spark of sentience, of consciousness. When I die it immediately moves to another body, another person, perhaps, at an earlier time. Or an animal, even. This spark is in an almost eternal dance through time, lighting on one physical being and, when it dies, darting to another in a different place, a different time.

So when I look at you from my perspective, so I - as you - look at my present incarnation from the perspective of another time and see myself as another person.

This of course is karma made incarnate. Because we are the criminal, and simultaneously, the one harmed. We are both the murderer and the victim. The rapist and the one raped. The hunter and the fox.

Not that I believe this - it would be my definition of hell - but I think it's a lot more plausible than many of the weird things that people believe, and it does give a rational underpinning to morality.

But I think I will stick with the IPU - Blessed Be Her Hooves!

The video, as I paraphrase partially from the description, accurately details what Abba's retarded stepchildren would be like

That video made my eyes bleed. It was awesome, I give it 8/10!

-Ghoti

Interesting story.

<IMO>

I believe in reincarnation to the extent that I believe Consciousness inhabits our physical forms for the length of their existance. At the body's death, the Consciousness realizes the truth.... it was never seperate from the whole to begin with.

There is only one Consciousness, it is only through the filter of our biological senses, which each of us individual organisms use to perceive the world around us, that we come to imagine ourselves as seperate.

Contrary to materialist belief, Consciousness does not rise out of phyical matter (our brains). Consciousness is primary, and physical reality is the epiphenomena which rises out of Consciousness.

Consciousness has gone by many names. For example, some call it God, some call it Nirvana, some call it the Tao. It always was, is, and always will be.

</IMO>

-Ghoti

could the backup "dancers" have upstaged the singers any more?

How is this stance any different from a theist? Theist says YES, there is an afterlife. You say NO, we're worm food. No proof for either.

But there is pretty good evidence that consciousness and personality reside within the human brain. Brain damage can affect not only physical things, but also personality and our sense of reality.