/lit/ - Literature

>>4149673
Have you actually read it? I have a feeling that many people who hate the book have not read it. A person who is not delusional should go and experience everything first-hand instead of trusting second-hand knowledge.

Secondly, do you know how to remove pre-affirmed hate for a book? Coudl you honestly sit down and read The God Delusion without any bias? You probably can't do this unless you have some good discipline over your mind...something very few people have.

You will probably reply to this post and say, "Fuck you, I have control over my mind. I'm not subjected to bias!" And yet I can see it now: you open up the God Delusion, saying in your mind

>"This is gonna fucking suck. I'm ready to tear his argument to shreds...b-b-but I'm not biased!"

Face it. You are not in control of your mind. If you want control of your mind, go to Buddhism first. Believing in God is a second step which is totally up to you.

Furthermore, Buddhism is actually not knowledge gained by reading much...it is knowledge gained by REMOVING unnecessary ideas that books have taught you. Jacques Derrida's deconstruction can teach you quite a lot about Buddhism, if older texts are not as appealing.

>>4149649
Also, the point of this thread is not religion. It is happiness and a clear understanding of the world.

>"White magic [...] makes our world what we want it to be by giving us the power to see that the real world is already more beautiful, more wonderful, and more harmonious than we can possibly imagine."

-a hidden text

You are doing yourself a disfavor if you see the world in a negative light. You can call it white magic if you want, but you should do whatever it takes to view the true nature of reality as being a positive and beautiful thing, with or without a God. That is what true Buddhism is, anyways; understanding the true nature of reality without God. Which is completely compatible with Christianity; for every good Christian is a Buddhist who believes in God.

>>4149649
>"I´m smarter than you and if you disagree you´re just not as smart as me" is not really an argument

Nobody has said that. Put no limits on what you read. Read The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins, and read The Bible as well.

The image explains the Zen story in the green text, if that wasn't clear.

I've seen this image posted on /lit/...I thought I would make it a bit more realistic with my poor photoshop skills.

>“Thirty years ago, before I had studied Zen, I saw the mountains were mountains and the rivers were rivers. Later, when I had personally seen a Zen teacher and had attained initiatory experience, I saw that the mountains are not mountains and the rivers are not rivers. But now that I had attained peace, I see the mountains simply as mountains, and see the rivers simply as rivers. Tell me, everyone, are these three views the same or different? If anyone can distinguish the black from the white, I will admit that you have seen me in person.”

Zen Master Wei Cheng

I always thought of it as the moment that you REALLY think about death. I don't mean "death"----some concept, some word looming at the end of the finish line for the race called "life"---I mean, actually thinking of your life ending and what that entails, in great detail. Not just the pain of aging, not the afterlife. Not talking about either of those. Just the event of life ending. The curtains coming to a close, and the actors going backstage to have a chat after playing their roles out as well as they could, patting each other on the back & weeping.

>>4098666

Not sure what you're trying to say...Is English not your native language?

I mostly hear angels chattering. Heavenly choirs.
This erowid report describes how Piracetam will make you feel most accurately:

http://www.erowid.org/experiences/exp.php?ID=92934

>>4098629
Legal in the US and Canada. Need a prescription in Europe. It is not a recreational drug really. It is a life-enhancer. You will dance with the angels in your dreams, and heavenly music will play in your mind at all times. You can find out much more if you google it, lots of people love this stuff.

Society, language, history, knowledge. It's all a wobbling tower of plates we are holding up. It's all an act. A performance, like Shakespeare said:

>All the world’s a stage,
>And all the men and women merely players:
>They have their exits and their entrances;
>And one man in his time plays many parts,

We don't really know anything special. We are just acting. A few nuclear bombs and the drama is over; the new actors will have to start from scratch.

I suggest you all look into using a chemical called Piracetam on a regular basis as it will strengthen your bond with earth & God.

>>4004216
And though not everyone is accepting of an "all-loving character" in our age, you can put on a facade. Act like everyone else. Act "cool". But retain your inward infinite love. They will indeed see you as "cool", but they will see a glow in your eyes that they will not be able to understand; an aura will emanate from you.

The only feeling you should ever have is love, and a sense of loss when something you love goes away.

>>4002127
Why?

>>4002133
All free will is illusion. The fact that we don't have free will and don't have personalities, that is probably the most beautiful truth you can realize, if you do ever realize it.

>>4002114
Yes, but a single observation means nothing unless you can reproduce it in multiple scientific trials. There is a reason TBBT was created as a theory and has remained only a theory.

>>4002096
Furthermore, that is only one criticism of The Big Bang. What's to say that the universe wasn't expanded before, and then compacted to a central point, and THEN exploded? The whole theory is based on the OBSERVATION that the universe APPEARS to be moving outward from a central point.

>>4002096
I'm not talking about the thermodynamics, I'm talking movement of the specific particles in the explosion. One can predict the radius of an explosion, but eon cannot predict where every specific atom of that explosion will go precisely.

>>4002080
Then you are either being a troll right now, or you are the one who is seriously misinformed. By its very definition in the scientific field of physics, and explosion is a movement of pure chaos. The Big Bang, pure chaos. So you cannot believe in the Big Bang if you do not think chaos is what created our universe and the life on it.

>>4002065
You forgot to post evidence again. What specifically about my argument is "misinformed"? Do atheists actually believe that we are not here by chaos? That would mean that they believe in a design in the universe though, and therefore a creator.

>>4002066
It is not a strawman. Atheists always tremble and shit themselves when the subject of death comes up. They pretend to be fearless, but God sees all: they stand there like a lone soldier on a field, with a full battalion of soldiers and tanks rolling towards him when they think of death. It is not a strawman. It knowledge given to me by God about atheists.

>>4002050
>Everything you say refers to things we either don't know yet

You can learn them if you truly want to. Don't want to meet a certain man? Good. You'll never meet him. Want to meet someone? Knock on his door.

>you're categorically wrong and misinformed about.

What do you mean by that? The main point I have brought up here is that theists believe there is order in the universe, and atheists believe we were created by chaos/chance/luck. Order seems more logical than chaos/chance/luck, that is the core argument of my first post here. So what do you have to say as to my argument? Please provide evidence to back up what you say, as you seem to be forgetting that crucial element of argument.

>>4002044
You are the one who is not debating. Please reply to the arguments I've presented. you are the only one who looks like a fool currently so I suggest you try to amend that, for your own sake.

>>4002033
Furthermore, it was not a strawman. The capital letters presents the mindset of the atheist: very angry, fearful, and insecure. Deathly afraid of death, and doing everything possible to not think about death. I cannot wait to die and fall into my savior's arms.

>>4002033
Are you saying that atheists do not believe in the Big Bang Theory?

>>4002025
All history of the earth is irrelevant in relation to whether or not God created earth and the life on it. So, keeping history secular from the creation argument, I have presented the two core creation arguments side by side. Thus, if you want to use logic from the very beginning, from the very start--that is how you do it. Now remember--view my two positions from the point of pre-history, from the very beginning. There is no life yet, no man. Which sounds more logical? A or B?