Letting Go Of God

Thank you, SVReX.

The only way to experience anything is through your senses. You have 5. Sight, Touch, Hearing, Smell, Taste. This is a fact despite the insistence of the mediums on TV. When you experience something it is only through the inputs you have available. You don't really interface directly with the world at all. You sample it. You can know nothing that was not interpreted somehow thru these inputs and presented to your brain. You cannot really ever experience everything about a light switch or a glass of water. You only get what you can sample of it. Even if you use technology to bring some of the things about it into view - you don't really experience them - you interpret other properties of them into inputs you can readily digest. Like using a microscope to extend your vision or a particle accelerator to bust it apart into measurable things you can sample through tools that bring aspects of its makeup into view. The world would be very different to us if we used echo location instead of vision or had eyes that saw things at a sub atomic level but we would still be limited to our inputs. I see a lot of baseless statements in this thread that begin with "I believe". The gods of man are all defined outside of the physical realm. Therefore, you cannot sample them. Perhaps we could devise some instrument that could - but then how do you tell god from a higgs-boson? Best to just move on and not waste any more of the time you have left thinking about it. Sample more of the things that please the senses you do have.

This concludes today's episode of The Pot-Talk Philosopher. Carry on.

The hornets at your house are all scratching their hard little pointed heads, looking at each other through their multifaceted eyes and going 'WTF? This guy killed a bunch of us?'.

all this "I Believe" talk reminds me of a song.

You cannot really ever experience everything about a light switch or a glass of water.

You've never dropped acid, have you?

poopshovel wrote:

You cannot really ever experience everything about a light switch or a glass of water.

You've never dropped acid, have you?

I remember scooting the seat up in my buddies Beretta all the way, shins on dash, and looking out the windshield for a solid 3 hours.

Wait, what were we talking about?

z31maniac wrote:

poopshovel wrote:

You cannot really ever experience everything about a light switch or a glass of water.

You've never dropped acid, have you?

I remember scooting the seat up in my buddies Beretta all the way, shins on dash, and looking out the windshield for a solid 3 hours. Wait, what were we talking about?

I watched a wood paneling wall pulsate for hours.

In reply to joey48442:

You never saw "Mystery Men"? :)

turbojunker wrote:

z31maniac wrote:

poopshovel wrote:

You cannot really ever experience everything about a light switch or a glass of water.

You've never dropped acid, have you?

I remember scooting the seat up in my buddies Beretta all the way, shins on dash, and looking out the windshield for a solid 3 hours. Wait, what were we talking about?

I watched a wood paneling wall pulsate for hours.

Wood is good.

There was no letting go of anything. It's all looked like science and physics and weather and geology and biology and what not since I was old enough to have conscious thoughts. If I get a brain tumor, for example, it's a cellular aberration that was either coded in my DNA or brought on by exposure to some nasty carcinogen - not "god's will". If I happen to discover this particular brain lesion by falling of a skateboard - years before it developed to a point of being symptomatic and subsequently likely to be less treatable - it's a favorable accident. Not "god's will".

When I go to John's Hopkins for brain surgery, I genuinely hope my surgeon has had a great night's sleep, a nice breakfast, and neither a fight with his wife or a run-in with a road rage commuter or mean-spirited traffic cop on the way to the hospital. But I cannot influence this, and asking someone I can't see to make sure things go well doesn't seem prudent, or helpful.

If things go well and the lesion I have proves to be an uncommon, slow developing type in the best possible location, is easily resected and upon examination is low grade, and requires no further attention beyond observation - again, this is a good outcome. It's a result of how long it developed and when I became aware of it, the quality of care I received and a thousand other factors big and small. They're all finite things that can be quantified for the most part. Chance is hard to quantify, but that which is attributable to chance is pretty obvious.

If it all goes well (which it did, and has) it's a good story, and I'm a lucky guy. If it went badly (and this all went down like 6 years ago, so I most likely wouldn't be here) I'm just another guy who got the sh!t end of the stick.

For me, god played no role in this. Didn't give me a tumor as part of his great plan. Didn't make me fall off a skateboard. Didn't grace the surgeon with steady hands. None of it.

And I'm not lacking anything for it. When times are tough it's up to me to sort it out. If I need to seek strength - I have my wife, my cat, my parents, my friends. You guys. Tangible physical things I can see and touch.

I can't find it on Netflix.

poopshovel wrote:

turbojunker wrote:

z31maniac wrote:

poopshovel wrote:

You cannot really ever experience everything about a light switch or a glass of water.

You've never dropped acid, have you?

I remember scooting the seat up in my buddies Beretta all the way, shins on dash, and looking out the windshield for a solid 3 hours. Wait, what were we talking about?

I watched a wood paneling wall pulsate for hours.

Wood is good.

And those crappy area rugs with the patterns in them. Oh man.

turbojunker wrote:

poopshovel wrote:

turbojunker wrote:

z31maniac wrote:

poopshovel wrote:

You cannot really ever experience everything about a light switch or a glass of water.

You've never dropped acid, have you?

I remember scooting the seat up in my buddies Beretta all the way, shins on dash, and looking out the windshield for a solid 3 hours. Wait, what were we talking about?

I watched a wood paneling wall pulsate for hours.

Wood is good.

And those crappy area rugs with the patterns in them. Oh man.

And grass. Big fat blades of grass. Lookin like snails & E36 M3.

Anti-stance wrote: I can't find it on Netflix.

I got it on DVD. It may not be available streaming.

ddavidv wrote:

Anti-stance wrote: I can't find it on Netflix.

I got it on DVD. It may not be available streaming.

I'm sure that's the case....I could not find it, either. Anti-stance, follow the links I posted at the start of the thread. You can hear her telling the same story in standup.

motomoron wrote: There was no letting go of anything. It's all looked like science and physics and weather and geology and biology and what not since I was old enough to have conscious thoughts. If I get a brain tumor, for example, it's a cellular aberration that was either coded in my DNA or brought on by exposure to some nasty carcinogen - not "god's will". If I happen to discover this particular brain lesion by falling of a skateboard - years before it developed to a point of being symptomatic and subsequently likely to be less treatable - it's a favorable accident. Not "god's will". When I go to John's Hopkins for brain surgery, I genuinely hope my surgeon has had a great night's sleep, a nice breakfast, and neither a fight with his wife or a run-in with a road rage commuter or mean-spirited traffic cop on the way to the hospital. But I cannot influence this, and asking someone I can't see to make sure things go well doesn't seem prudent, or helpful. If things go well and the lesion I have proves to be an uncommon, slow developing type in the best possible location, is easily resected and upon examination is low grade, and requires no further attention beyond observation - again, this is a good outcome. It's a result of how long it developed and when I became aware of it, the quality of care I received and a thousand other factors big and small. They're all finite things that can be quantified for the most part. Chance is hard to quantify, but that which is attributable to chance is pretty obvious. If it all goes well (which it did, and has) it's a good story, and I'm a lucky guy. If it went badly (and this all went down like 6 years ago, so I most likely wouldn't be here) I'm just another guy who got the sh!t end of the stick. For me, god played no role in this. Didn't give me a tumor as part of his great plan. Didn't make me fall off a skateboard. Didn't grace the surgeon with steady hands. None of it. And I'm not lacking anything for it. When times are tough it's up to me to sort it out. If I need to seek strength - I have my wife, my cat, my parents, my friends. You guys. Tangible physical things I can see and touch.

wow. You were pretty smart when you were born. I had to be taught most of that stuff, and then choose whether to believe my teacher or not.

SVreX wrote: I have since become a Christian. Every day that goes by as I grow in my Christianity helps me realize how much less I know, and how much more real my need for salvation is. Used to think I was a pretty decent guy. Now, I'm pretty ready to fall on my face asking forgiveness. Lots of people are born religious. NO ONE is born Christian.

X10

"Born Again" by Nicodemus.

JoeyM wrote:

ddavidv wrote:

Anti-stance wrote: I can't find it on Netflix.

I got it on DVD. It may not be available streaming.

I'm sure that's the case....I could not find it, either. Anti-stance, follow the links I posted at the start of the thread. You can hear her telling the same story in standup.

Ah-ha! I should have figured it was not on streaming.

If there was a god he would have killed the progressive insurance chic by now . And whoever came up with Farmers insurance jingle .

Karl La Follette wrote: If there was a god he would have killed the progressive insurance chic by now

I find the character Flo to be rather attractive..... Maybe it is the retro head band

Curmudgeon wrote: The hornets at your house are all scratching their hard little pointed heads, looking at each other through their multifaceted eyes and going 'WTF? This guy killed a bunch of us?'.

There are no hornets at my house. It was a complete genocide.

The mice are next. Right after the walls stop breathing.

I think the actress who plays Flo is kinda hot when she's not wearing her Flo suit.

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote:

Curmudgeon wrote: The hornets at your house are all scratching their hard little pointed heads, looking at each other through their multifaceted eyes and going 'WTF? This guy killed a bunch of us?'.

There are no hornets at my house. It was a complete genocide. The mice are next. Right after the walls stop breathing.

Dood. All you need is a pore hole key spring. Which Mr. Haney will sell you for only $982.00.

http://www.tv.com/shows/green-acres/the-free-paint-job-32501/

friedgreencorrado wrote: I think the actress who plays Flo is kinda hot when she's not wearing her Flo suit.

Every time I see her I think of all the dozens of actresses who tried out for that role and feel they could have done a better job than she does...

stroker wrote: Every time I see her I think of all the dozens of actresses who tried out for that role and feel they could have done a better job than she does...

She's still lbetter than Geico's Cavemen... that got old real quick...