Monday, February 17, 2014

A Credo...



A credo I learned a long time ago:
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The Warrior of merit collects his victory in ways that do not cause others to feel defeat. He wins before the conflict erupts, succeeds before the challenge appears, and possesses his prize before anyone thinks to oppose him.

   ■ Use your weapons with prudence employing them only when the cosmos demands it.
   ■ Use your creativity as the first means of preventing danger.
      ▪ When you cannot prevent, avoid.
      ▪ When you cannot avoid, confuse.
      ▪ When you cannot confuse, dissuade.
      ▪ When you cannot dissuade, hurt.
      ▪ When you cannot hurt, injure.
      ▪ When you cannot injure, maim.
   ■ Only when the scheme of totality demands you be its messenger, kill.


~
Toshitsugu Takamatsu
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Friday, February 14, 2014

A long gone Glob of Cosmic Primordial Ooze


Theistic inspiration...?

All on the baseless presumption that there is some ambiguous supernatural entity as the underlying cause...

Setting aside whether such an entity ever did have any sort of presence, there is certainly nothing to indicate (beyond conjectured presumptions) that such an entity is available now.

The only constant that theism displays, is an aggressive willingness to assign what is not known, or not fully understood (aka ignorance), unto some ambiguous supernatural entity - And then to worship it.

The end product is a (theist) perspective that insists ignorance is a trait to hold in the highest of esteem.


For all the information we have, and having nothing else to go by, or estimate from... What is it to say that 'all of this' is the result of nothing more than a 'blob of goo' that 'created', and then ceased to exist... Gone now...

The likelihood of there ever having been some supernatural entity involved in creation... Or even the likelihood of whatever started 'all of this' still being around (be it a supernatural entity or glob of goo) are all equally of the same vast collection of unknowns.

Insisting that some supernatural entity is the cause / origin, adds a large number of entirely baseless assumptions onto the question about what the cause / origin  of 'all of this' is.

There are far fewer baseless assumptions in suggesting that the cause / origin  of 'all of this' is a long gone 'glob-of-goo'

Of a long gone Glob of Cosmic Primordial Ooze, us all!

Worship-worthy?

Friday, February 7, 2014

The religious "Priming" of Children...

The religious mind-set is an excellent example of 'priming' in practice.

'Priming' involves calling attention to a word or concept, and it can affect how people interpret those words or concepts.

'Priming' is actually a form of suggestion; it creates an expectation of sorts; It can come from someone else, or from your own thoughts, but it always makes it easier to see, hear, or otherwise discover something meaningful in an otherwise ambiguous offering.

Once are told what to expect, the ambiguous is often very clear, and it is nearly impossible to reverse the effect.

This is easily demonstrated with 'Pareidolia'. Even if recognition is not automatic, once the desired outcome has been suggested and processed - Undoing that suggestion and its result, is difficult at best.

As soon as the mind recognizes a familiar pattern, it seems obvious, clear, and difficult to shake off.

Unlearning, or seeing otherwise is made even more uncomfortable and frightening, when doing so is associated with retribution, torture, suffering, loneliness and isolation... Fire and Brimstone, eternal torment, the out-casting of non-believers...
 (Adapted from "Pareidolia: Do You See What You Think You See?" By James Randi)