This is silly... Why don't God-believers ever ask: Why should Gods exist at all? Oh, but they do, it's just their answer is stupid: Gods have always existed, or one has or two or whatever. Flying Spaghetti Monsters have always existed, we just can't see them, but when I die I will float up into a pasta bowl and live life forever in this heavenly sauce.... We know the Universe exists - - and that's it. All this nonsense about Gods and Heaven/Hell is just some bullshit used to control people's behavior. If you stop to think about it: it's got to be the silliest bullshit ever peddled. BUT brainwash a child to believe that bullshit and it's no longer funny, but "serious stuff". George Carlin - Religion is bullshit. To think, there are literally MILLIONS of people who believe in an Alien Overlord named Xenu ... and these millions of people (many whom used to Muslim) worry about their Thatan-levels and whether or not the "Mother Ship" is going to pick them up AFTER they die. People really believe that bullshit. They worry about a magical Alien Overlord Ooooo and if they don't pray to Xenu five times a day and worry all damn day long, Xenu will use his magic invisible death-ray and send them to Hell ... other idiots pray towards a magical moon rock and worry about Allah. Same bullshit, different smell.
Mod note: Am I really going to be forced to lock this thread? That's enough of the atheism/theism debate herein folks. The topic clearly is not concerned with that issue per se.
It is interesting. I'm not sure why exactly. In any case, suffice it to say that, while theism may be contingently related to the topic at hand, it's certainly not necessarily so. I know this is an online forum and so, discussions do tend to drift, but I'm constantly surprised at how people seem unable to focus on the proper scope of an investigation here.... :shrug:
I wouldn't be so certain about that ... Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! The difference between a professional philosopher and an amateur is that the amateur actually finds it personally relevant what he discusses, while the pro is just spinning his wheels. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
I would like to define happiness. I do not know if you have the difference between happiness, which can go up to euphoria and satisfaction(I have not found a better word in English) which is closer to the optimism. I think that happiness depends on external factors.So in certain circumstances, anyone can be happy.Also consider that happiness takes very short time. Optimism does not depend on external factors.It is a characteristic of the individual. I also believe nihilism and optimism,this two characteristics are incompatible.
Happiness is a warm gun... Lyrics by John Lennon. The Beatles, White Album.Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
You're right,is not a scientifically definition. But I'm curious what you understand by happiness? I read the definition from Wiki: From Wikipedia But as I said before,in Romanian we understand differently for happiness(fericire) and satisfaction(mulţumire). For you there are these differences? Or those two words are synonyms?
I didn't post anything to make it seem like an atheism/theism debate you might have understood it that way from Michael's post...
No worries BC, I wasn't making reference to your posts in particular. It was just a general pre-emptive observation..
Are they not thoroughly nihilistic? Does a person's philosophical outlook have no bearing on how happy or how functioning the person will be? Not really. Everyday, the universe collapses onto my senses. I stand on my balcony in my underwear and imagine what it would be like to not have a beer.
Maybe we should be more careful of our Shakespeare, as infinite monkey theorem always applies to a Darwinian context... It "almost surely" seems to be our indefinite fate to keep typing like monkeys until "heat death" in the universe. and after almost surely just keep clicking on obvious buttons till you get to infinity. lol lol ahh... Laughter- What both symbolism and metaphor do to any personification.
