OMG! IS breathing required to live??

I really, really hope tomatoes don't have souls! I love tomatoes!!

Didn't the Irish invent potatoes?

Nah, they just rather foolishly based their entire economy on growing them and then were suprised when a blight of the crop caused hundreds of thousands of deaths.

You need to diversify, people!

It's the soul that gives it that tanginess to the flavour. Mmmmmmm, fresh soul.
Can't beat a nice bit of soul.

The people in the examples you gave usually get back on their feet, yes things are tough but they don't wallow in the culture of poverty like the people Conan is talking about.


The culture of poverty is just that a culture and way of life. It happens for the most part because of a certain way of thinking. "I want my pleasure now, I don't want to plan for the future." Both of my parents come from the coal fields of Kentucky, I have known poor people. Not having or making a lot of money isn't what makes you poor, it is how you deal with not having much money. When the family down the street gets their relief checks and goes to buy a new TV instead of food or clothes, yes I will say it is their own damn fault they are poor. When they get a legal settlement, the white trash lotto, they don't use it to improve, they buy toys.

As far as being hungry, well when you spend your money on cigarettes and malt liquor instead of milk for the baby, you will be hungry.

Homelessness is in most cases due to two factors: 1. Nanny state do gooderism and zoning laws or wait...........wait 2. Personal choices, "I would rather stay high or drunk than get a job and pay the rent."

Yeah california does have a lot to do with it. When you have nice weather all the time, your mind gets mushy. I don't deny that those books have helped people, OK not Dianetics, but the others, but I don't have a lot of use for them. To each his own.

I went to a bookstore and asked the saleswoman, "Where's the self-help section?" She said if she told me, it would defeat the purpose. *Steven Wright*

LOL


of course the fact that Book stores have self help sections - says something by itself.

I think Kenny G would make it register in Negative Numbers.

Hahha! That's f'ed up. Testing tomatoes to see if they have souls. Seriously. Every time you put ketchup on your fries, God adds some time to your sentence in purgatory.

L. Ron Hubbard invents a machine to tell if you have a soul, then tests it on produce. Hilarious. I can't believe Scientology actually took off. He should have tested it on Congress.

Speaking of taking off, this biplane ain't getting any younger, folks.

Sorry Squeeze, I missed this post otherwise would have replied earlier. No, I'm not one of the Upper Crust, I'm from what I would consider a lower-middle class background.I did add the proviso that I was referring to people living countries with "a decent educational system", which, from your description, the USA clearly isn't. In the UK, we have a national curriculum - as is the case in most developed countries - whereby every single student in every school all over the country is taught the same thing, sits the same exams and has the same opportunities to get the same qualifications. University is significantly cheaper here (again, as it is in most developed countries) than in the USA, and there are substantial government subsidies for those whose incomes are below a certain threshold.
The concept of there being "poorer school districts" only seems to exist in the USA, as most developed nations have national standards that all schools are compelled to reach. Those schools which fall below this standard in the UK do so because of bad students, not lack of funding - because parents refuse to discipline their children and teachers aren't allowed to any more.

I also did add the qualification that there were some exceptions, those who fall ill and a re unable to work being the example I used. However, I stand by my statement that the majority fall into the "made bad choices".

If I had to give up tomatoes because of the soul issue I'd probably switch to big platters of monkeys and dolphins.

How much tomato do you think is actually in most ketchup brands?
I'd be amazed if some of them have even been introduced to a tomato, let alone contain one.

This is not exactly true. Spend a holiday in soup kitchen feeding the homeless and what you will see is the 90% of the people there have either mental disorders or are so socially unaccepable that they are basically unemployable.

Potatoes and Tomatoes originated from Africa, if I remember correctly.

I will add one exception here, after reading Chris's response to Squeeze. A significant proportion of homeless people, in most countries, have severe mental illness. Whether being homeless is the cause, or whether the illnesses are the cause of their homelessness is hard to say, but it stands to reason that a big chunk of the homeless population have got that way through lack of support for long term mental illness.

You don't

Tomatoes are from Mexico, potatoes are from Patagonia (modern day Argentina).

The people with mental disorders were kept in hospitals, until the 60s and 70s, then the courts turned them out on the streets. And I don't consider drinking and drug use to be disorders, they are personal choices.

I agree in part - it's a choice to start taking drugs - but once you start the choice to stop is removed from you. So we chose what path to take, but not all of us have the option to back up and take a different turning.

This is more hogwash then religion ever was.

1) IQ has NOTHING to do with wisdom, common sense, or even actually intelligence. If you had such a high IQ...why don't you get this?

2) We aren't just meat on a stick. We are sentient creatures....singular to every living creature in the known Universe.

3) There are things out there that science can't explain...yet 'should' be able to.

4) Taking what you want has nothing to do with using thought to beget action. There is a parallel there, but there is a difference between me saying, "I want to meet a beautiful woman and fall in love", and then go out to a bar and find it...as opposed to saying, "I've already found that woman, and she will come to me", and then not looking and falling in love the next week. That is just ONE example of using The Secret. I have DOZENS of these examples that I have created...

5) Just because you can't see it or touch it, does not mean it isn't real. This argument is impossible to 'win'--we can not sway those that don't wish to be swayed.

6) For someone so smart, why would you say, "...because the universe likes you." This is completely not the point, nor does it have any baring on The Secret, or spirituality in general.

7) If the word "spiritual" makes you laugh...you've much to learn grasshopper.

Economic standing has NOTHING to do with quality of life. Nothing. I'd rather be happy with who I am, and content with my existence, than rich and unhappy. Money has nothing to do with Wealth. Again, with such a high IQ, I'd thought you'd know this.

I could go on and on...but it's pointless. I'm not a bible thumper, again, don't confuse spirituality with religion. I don't believe in organized religion...however, I'm very spiritual.

Open your mind Quad...

BTW: my IQ is 145...does that make my opinion any better than your's? Also, if you actually WERE as smart as you claim, you'd know that true IQ tests run in multiples of 15. Cheers!

You're also forgetting, The Secret IS part of religion. It's all through-out religion...and is just as old. Put two and two together...publication doesn't change anything. It's the word...not those that print it, when they print it, or under what auspices.

That's what is known as random coincedence. The fact is, you get what you want by grabbing the world by it's throat and shaking it until what you want falls out of it's pockets. If you didn't think about this unknown woman, you'd still meet the same woman and either a) fall in love anyway or b) not fall in love, which means that the love you would have fallen into had you had the though would not be real anyway and merely a delusion. Besides, love doesn't exist - but that's another story.



There's no such thing as being rich and unhappy. People who have money and aren't happy just need even more money to sort things out.

While it is true that money can't buy love, it can be rented for the evening quite reasonably - or so I've heard.

I'm glad you're content. However, we're not talking about the secret any more, it's old thread-news.

So, those tomatoes then.....

Let us all imagine hopeful and fun things in our various realities and see what happens?
Perhaps if nothing else possibly it will give us a break from negative thoughts?

But our sentience itself is biological - it is a part of the "meat" on our stick, because it exists in our brains, the most highly developed and evolved part of our "meat", but "meat" nonetheless. I've personally yet to see any compelling evidence that any other perspective on that is "true" for me, but as I wrote above, I respect the right of others to believe what they wish about those kinds of issues.

Bravo. I too respect the right for people to delude themselve if they so wish - it makes no real difference to me.

Ahh which religion is it then? I havent heard of "the Secret" religion.

I looked up "The Secret" it didnt say what religion it was part of, or that it endorsed.

You said Eastern

Shinto, Bhuddist, Tao, Confucism?