I pray, I also sometimes do sitting meditation. I believe that there is "inside" me and permeating the universe a something or other that unites and interreleates to all things. I believe it is personal to me, but also to every other being and that it is the real one truth and identity of the universe. I dont believe this whatever it is can be explained away by materialism or reductionism. I have seen the difference it makes in my life and in the lives of others. I dont even believe it is actually seperate from me, or for that matter seperate from anyone or anything. I bash religion here sometimes, but what im really disagreeing with is rote repetation of simplistic formulae and the attempt to force a fit of the spiritual on the empirical. Creationism is the worst example of this.
Us gays have 'coming out of the closet' under patent Get your own analogy!!! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Hell no, I've tried both butter and margarine and can quite confidantly say I cant believe it's not butter! Girls have their advantages I must admit. They come self lubricating and theres a wider choice of orifice but on the down side they do tend to use their hands like they're un blocking a sink and oral? Don't remind me the memory's too painful, in fact I think I still have the scarPlease Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Horses for courses Adam me ol' chum but I'm too set in my ways now Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Meanwhile back at the ranch.........
Oh, I've known some girls with magic hands. I think it just takes practice, as with all things. But please steer well clear of further mention of horses...
Ya know there's a name for girls who get lots of practice Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! The only other horse reference I'd dare share is bare-back butcha can't do that any more since the plague! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Ah well. Don't get me wrong I know there are many accomplished female sex gods who don't have bad reputations. Problem is they don't have dicks eitherPlease Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
My ex's claim to fame was that she could finish a lollypop in under two minutes, without biting. Of course, she had that reputation.
No not like that. No dark side, no light side and not traceable to mitochondrial boojums in peoples cells. Not reduceable to anything physical.
I don't like all these groups of people going all arround and saying- I'm gay! and what? what's it to be so proud of. I don't go all arround and say- I'm heterosexual and prefer chicks. It's my personal thing and I don't bother others with it. Why do they have to bother me about their problems or sexual preferece. It's no mine fucking business and I have no desire to listen to what others fuck in their free time. It's their own business. anyways what I wanted to say is that I don't understand this all going all arround and saying to everyone- I'm gay and then cry to others because they don't lsiten to their problems. It's a personal thing that should not be forced on others. imho
other analogy ============================================== bbcboy wrote: Us gays have 'coming out of the closet' under patent Get your own analogy!!! ============================================== What were all those gay men doing in the closet anyway...Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! -Mike
Morlock, Your brain is a large matrix of tiny electronic computers (neurons) that communicate with each other via chemical transmitters (synapses). This massively parallel computational resource is several million times more powerful than our best man made computers, and immensely more subtle and complex in how it operates. This is what you are. It is not inside you, it is you. Can you show that your claimed connection to the universe is anything more than just imagination? I too have practiced meditation since the early 1970’s. The effects are measurable in terms of changed and increased electrical activity in my brain as well as my entire nervous system that in turn affect other bodily functions. I see no reason to imagine that I am connected in any other way to the universe other than that I am a physical entity within a physical universe. Cris
Lets say that you have two people meditating and your measuring their brain waves. Can you prove that one isnt thinking about lunch or taking a nap? The researchers (each of whom has individual subjuctive reasons for participating in the project) write their report in a language, an inter-subjective set of symbols whose meaning (as illustrated in this thread) is a moving target. The report is read by individuals who have differing sets of belief and different individual and cultural backrounds through which the information is filtered. If you eliminate the subjective the data gathered means nothing, reducing anything to the merely empirical makes it meaningless and useless. Empiricism and objective method cant prove or disprove my connection to the universe any more than it can prove or disprove what any given person is thinking at a given time. Humans live inner lives of ideas not of empirical data. The first datum of consciouncess is impressions not neurons firing. The bio-electrical computer model of consciousness is itself an idea of consciousness and belongs to the set of shared cultural ideas. The attempt to reduce conciousness and the subjective to the merely empirical is as doltish as the creationists trying to reduce the scientific and empirical to faith and dogma.
Morlock, Your description of the meditation example didn’t seem to have a point apart from describing a poorly designed scientific experiment. I’m not sure what point you are trying to make. You appear to be explaining no more than the limitations of current technology that cannot as yet show what people are thinking, or whether there is some unseen force connecting you to the universe. Dismissing objective methodologies leaves you with a vacuum in where you will never be able to determine if you have acquired knowledge or not. What the heck is an inner life? This phrase has no meaning. Our very material brains feed on externally acquired data which in turn allow us to create and imagine new ideas. Without neurons firing there would be no consciousness, no ideas, no impressions, and you would be dead. What is your point? You cannot disconnect the physical activity of the brain with what you imprecisely call consciousness. The rapidly increasing knowledge we are acquiring of brain functions show this to be near to fact and not a model. This is born out by the thousands of clinical studies performed on those, most often who have experienced some form of brain damage. There is always a direct correlation between physical brain parts and thoughts, personality, memory, behavior, emotions, etc. The bio-electrical functioning of the brain and the connection with all those ‘human’ attributes is fact. Subjectivity is usually the result of ignorance and imprecision that in turn lead to the creation of superstitions and the fantasies of religions. Cris
EKIMKLAW WROTE What were all those gay men doing in the closet anyway... Trying on all the nice clothes of coursePlease Register or Log in to view the hidden image! AVATAR WROTE I don't like all these groups of people going all arround and saying- I'm gay! and what? what's it to be so proud of..... Firstly I am an individual and speak for no group. Secondly, having pride in oneself for any reason is a wonderful thing. I hope you can achieve it some day !! AND "anyways what I wanted to say is that I don't understand this all going all arround and saying to everyone- I'm gay and then cry to others because they don't lsiten to their problems. " You did say that...Twice! Perhaps if you were to ask questions instead of making bland statements you might develop the understanding you lack. and finally my strength of character and undeniable spirit, mean I have to cry to no one for them to hear me, if we were to trawl through the archives for some of your posts however I'm sure the answer would be different. Adam was joking with his comments as was I. You should maybe read yourself sometimes. Don't take it all so seriously man, anyone would think forums is your only friend or something.
YES YOU WERE DAMMIT!!! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Otherwise send me a plane ticket and I'll show ya some real skill with a lillipop! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
sorry, bbcboy- I have nothing against you, I was/am just really pissed off by some ppl over here. sorry again
Cris, There is a possibility that human thought and the universe can interact with each other, I mention this because it's based on a paradox theory. I've mentioned multiworlds time and time again, but to put it bluntly if there was a difference it could cause a "Layer of perception" that see's one reality existing, in a world where it doesn't. This in all due respects might be put down to imagination but it's likely that "parallel worlds" could allow it. I could go on to mention the FTL communication method of creating "Different" parallels, through a "Thought" of doing something, when you don't actually do it. (I know I seem to mention about this with every post, but it does fit in this discussion).
My point was that any scientific experiment necessarily includes subjectivity, even the hypotheses tested first have to occur to the scientist testing them, which means that the number and kind of possible hypotheses are influnced by both the individual and cultural backround of the scientists. There will always be limitations to empirical knowledge, for at least two reasons, empirical knowledge has to be put in a subjective setting before it can have meaning or be used and secondly, as the body of human knowledge increases so does the boundary of the unknown, paraphrasing Einstein " as the circle of light grows the perimeter of darkness increases". Its the grandiose display of neurons firing that you see when you look inward Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Yes there is a correlation between the objective and the subjective, however if you attempt to reduce one to the other you lose either meaning or sense. In the same way that if you try to reduce the truth of myth to the empirical you lose meaning and if you try to reduce science to myth you lose sense.
