h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

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I've heard of Rand but never read anything by her.

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Perhaps, if there is something better you could find to do with it.




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"Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorius triumphs, even though checkered by failure... than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat. "

---Theodore Roosevelt

Tis nobler to try the impossible and fail, then to attain unchallenging goals.




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I am not convinced that being whole or being human is a good thing.

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That's why I'm trying to find a logical arguement to justify them. If I cannot find a logical reason for my beliefs, then I have to give them up. But I think I can find one.




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Perhaps, but perhaps being social animals is one of the problems with humans. We're too willing to be part of the group.




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I have gotten some interesting ideas from this thread, it has been worth talking about this and I will continue to if others wish to talk about it.

Thanks Noggin
I'll have to mention that possibility to my Dr.
How they hate it when the patient brings up something they havent considered
Quite cheered me up that has

Thanks HS
Noggin also mentioned this
I shall defnitely mention SAD to my Dr.
It does occur every year around the same time, although the intensity and duration varies

Because some of you knew him, I have to tell all of you here, that Empty Sky (my brother Garth) died at about 2.00 a.m., New Zealand time, yesterday, 2nd March.

SD

"Joan brought her faith in god to the french nation in the face of english oppression"

And delivered them to several centuries of enlightened rule under the French monarchy. Joan and the ordinary French and English soldiers might have been fighting for nationalist reasons but the feudal nobility was much the same wherever you went. Most of the English nobility was descended from Normans and the Plantagenets came from Anjou originally. The would've spoken French, not English, with each other.

however if us atheists lapsed Christians can nominate saints I'd go for Simon de Montfort, a Frenchman who led the Barons Revolt against Henry III, and died at the Battle of Evesham in 1265. I also voted for him for Great Britons partly because I'd have liked to see some peoples faces if someone born in France had won.

Della. I didn't know him, but you have my condolences and doubtless those of many others whom I ought to allow to speak for themselves.

toxx

Della, very sorry to hear of your loss. My condolences to you and your family.

az

He and you are in my prayers. I shall light a candle to guide his passing tonight.

Blessings,
Matholwch /|\.

Della the Cat Woman


From Personal experience I know any words I write will be inadequate.

My condolences and sympathy.

Strontium Dog

Re Joan

I struggled to properly identify what it was that Joan did that was important, I was looking for something short and succinct and was failing myserably. There was something inspiring in Joans faith and determination in the face of not only the english (Even though their nobility spoke french) but also and probably more significantly the blind stupidity of the inquisition.

For me there is an interesting overlap between the lifestyles of saints and poets/poetic artists. There seems to be something in their approach to life which in my mind appears to make them kindred spirits in some way. The difficulty with this is that some poets/artists have led anything but saintly lives. Byron leaps instantly to mind.

It may be that I consider them linked becasue faith/belief have a similarly committed quality to the passion of the artist, the levels of committment involved have a very similar quality.

Della,

I'm very sorry.

Deepest Sympathy to you and to your family.

F

Della

All words are inadequate, but you have my deepest sympathy.

Noggin

Lemmon Blossom

There is something in your last post which leads me to believe that you are seeking a way of understanding the actions, behaviour and beliefs of others, whilst finding a way of living which gives you a sense of order and safety.

It might be that you find two difficulties,

1) You can never really know why someone does what they do, or thinks the things they think, or say the things they say. Careful observation of others, but more importantly yourself, can help develop an understanding: BUT you can never know.

2)Order and Safety will come from abstinence,but it is difficult to discover yourself if you have no ooprtunity to see yourself reflected in the eyes of others.

I sense from an earlier post that your xeperience of your Mum is of someone undecided about her faith, and that your experience of your father is of someone inconsistant in his beliefs. I wondered if like many children you are determined to not make the same mistakes they have.

It may well be that in years to come this will haunt you. I vowed as a child that there were certain things I would never do or say because my mum or dad had said them ect.. Now I hear those things from my own mouth and see myself do those things, prehaps because I swore 'never' or prehaps despite this.

Some of the responses to you on this thread have seemed to me to want to 'Rescue' you from bad decisions or ideas. Your decisions and ideas may or may not be bad, but I think you should make them and learn from them.

The best advice that I have ever been given has been 'Never say Never' Always allow yourself to change your mind, particularly in the light of experience or if you get better evidence than you had before. Those people I know who have the biggest difficulties in life are those who choose a path and refuse to deviate from it no matter what.

It's a big task but don't allow passion and committment (Valuable things) get in the way of good sense and never let a mistake stop you from trying something new or making a whole lot of new mistakes.

Buddhists belive that life=suffering, I am not certain I wholey agree with this but it seems to me that there is certainly a lot of truth to it.

e.g. If you Love someone you are at the very least accepting the pain of grief, for one day you will lose them, either through your own demise or because of theirs. Because of Love you risk heartbreak. By giving trust you risk betrayal. By seeking passion you encounter boredom. If you seek abstinence you will be beset by temptation.

Many of your post talk about what you think and how you reason, a lot of responses to you discuss the logic of your position. Some implore you to embrace 'Gut Feelings'. I wonder how: how you feel influences how you think, and visa versa.

[ltp]Garth







There is something in your last post which leads me to believe that you are seeking a way of understanding the actions, behaviour and beliefs of others, whilst finding a way of living which gives you a sense of order and safety::

In short try walking a mile in my shoes before you judge me
[not that i am refering to me}

logicus tracticus philosophicus l.o.o.n

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'Sorry I have resisted temptation long enough'

Hi LTP,

Of course the true benefit of walking a mile in someone else's shoes is that if you decide you really like them you can keep them, after all they are a mile away with no shoes.



Blessings,
Matholwch /|\.

SD

Math,

Or they have an extra pair tucked away somewhere . . .

az