Sceptical Inquiring

[thelerner]

A week or two ago Plato suggested off handedly that the moon might be a construct of aliens because the craters weren't deep enough. Which seemed pretty foolish to me, I mean, its possible, in an infinitely possible world, but it does seem basically ridiculous. Its hard to say if the blue cheese theory of moon construction should be before or just after it.

 

Like, ho ho ho, we caught you super smart, super powerful aliens because you didn't make the craters big enough. It should be noted that the damn craters probably should be deeper if you go by simple physics. But ofcourse at high speeds simple physics don't apply. I.e. a bullet shot out of civil war era gun (Myth Busters) travels 3 or 4 feet under water. A modern High power rifle round goes maybe an inch before it explodes and disintegrates. Similarly the really big asteroid that made the large crater in arizona (or new mexico?) was never found because it too exploded on impact w/ the ground.

 

On the other hand, things like Yoda saying his kid seems like the reincarnation of his Grandmother. There actually a book, Life Before Life by Jim Tucker M.D. That is a 'scientific investigation of children's memories of previous lives'. How it got started and funded by a university is an interesting subject in itself.

 

I picked it up at the library, paged through it and decided to take it out. Kind of fascinating. Its about case studies of kids, 2 to 4 who remember past lives. Often they forget about them a few years later. They often give uncanny information about who they 'were'. There is also birth marks and even death marks that many of the children share w/ those they were.

 

I like that its presented unemotionally and undogmatically. Apparently places like India and Thailand are rife w/ them, but even here in the U.S. if you question a few people, you find cases amongst the 'unbelievers' of reincarnation. Its an interesting line of research where an aspect of the psychic world can be investigated.

 

Question is, what guide lines and filters should we use when looking at the 'more things in heaven and earth then fit into our philosophy?'

 

Michael

[karen]

Interesting question. I would say that the mind tends to fixate on beliefs, and maybe the content of the belief isn't really the question, but the attachment to belief itself. I would just be aware of all these thoughts mindfully, and not be concerned with the "right" answer.

 

You could explore the actual process of developing discernment.. in other words, your actual experience of sorting through these ideas. Do you feel that some things resonate in a way that you feel uplifted, and other things simply stimulate the mind in a way that may be interesting but really may not feel truthful and clear to you.

 

Beliefs are like empty calories.. they can be fun, but don't really nourish. At best, I think of them as sort of placeholders for something more authentic, a deeper sense of Self that doesn't need beliefs for support.

 

Often I learn a whole lot more valuable stuff from watching my mind and paying attention to my actual present moment experience, than from getting absorbed in the thoughts themselves.

 

Karen

[Trunk]

Question is, what guide lines and filters should we use when looking at the 'more things in heaven and earth then fit into our philosophy?'

 

So many things that I thought were obviously ridiculously untrue have turned out to be true.. I used to be an atheist. I guess I still like healthy skepticism as a basic attitude. Unless I directly experience it, or see some very convincing evidence, then its at least unproven. "Unproven" means the "I don't know" category is pretty big. And I enjoy my right to employ my personal bias to consider something untrue, even if - really - I don't know. But the awareness that, in those cases, I'm being a bit fibby has grown.

 

Even flat-out equating "sounds silly" with "its not true". I recognize its a fallacious equation but I reserve the right to use it at my discretion.

 

The "Atheist"-"Agnostic"-"Theistic" continuum is a good example of this sort of thing. Lots of atheists, if you held them to good logic, (and if they were open minded and honest enough) might be made to admit that they're actually agnostic. I think that some healthy respect of the "I don't know" category is .. very healthy. Pop-media trains us all to have strong opinions on topics we know next-to-nothing about; a bunch of idiot know-it-alls.

 

Science is actually really good about respecting the space of "I don't know". Science doesn't declare stuff as a fact based on no evidence and plenty of preconception and personal bias. It strongly respects the space of "I don't know", and only offers answers that are backed up by evidence.

 

Blah-blah-blah. What was I talking about?

Raammmblin', Aaaaaam a RAAMblin' guuuuyyyyy. (as i put on my arrow-through-the-head and bunny ears)

Edited January 31, 2006 by Trunk

[Smile]

A week or two ago Plato suggested off handedly that the moon might be a construct of aliens because the craters weren't deep enough. Which seemed pretty foolish to me, I mean, its possible, in an infinitely possible world, but it does seem basically ridiculous. Its hard to say if the blue cheese theory of moon construction should be before or just after it.

 

Like, ho ho ho, we caught you super smart, super powerful aliens because you didn't make the craters big enough. It should be noted that the damn craters probably should be deeper if you go by simple physics. But ofcourse at high speeds simple physics don't apply. I.e. a bullet shot out of civil war era gun (Myth Busters) travels 3 or 4 feet under water. A modern High power rifle round goes maybe an inch before it explodes and disintegrates. Similarly the really big asteroid that made the large crater in arizona (or new mexico?) was never found because it too exploded on impact w/ the ground.

 

Why stop there... aliens working together with our government, USA and Russia posessing technology for time travel and age reversal, developing viruses like Bird Flu for population control, thought control by all the media, 9/11, Oklahoma City and other government ways to promote their agenda, etc.

 

It's not believable? With all the media controlled by the same people why wouldn't this be possible?

[Cameron]

OMG I was chatting with Yoda on the phone last night and we were talking about all these posts I read on MMA.TV about lizard/serpent race controlling the world secretly and all that.

 

So I told Yoda if your interested in that you should be happy Max has joined our discussions..he beleives in ALL that shit

[Smile]

OMG I was chatting with Yoda on the phone last night and we were talking about all these posts I read on MMA.TV about lizard/serpent race controlling the world secretly and all that.

 

So I told Yoda if your interested in that you should be happy Max has joined our discussions..he beleives in ALL that shit

I think it's more then a blind belief. But in case some government agent is reading this, I run out of my medications and have to wait for my next paycheck.

[Lozen]

OMG I was chatting with Yoda on the phone last night and we were talking about all these posts I read on MMA.TV about lizard/serpent race controlling the world secretly and all that.

 

OPPRESSION! OPPRESSION!

[thelerner]

I was having a discussion w/ a friend. A true believer in the lizard/serpent super race. We were trying to define what 'proofs' we could agree on that they actually existed. As we were defining of acceptable evidence, one of them materialized in the room!

 

"Ah ha", said my friend,"Proof that they exist" and pointed to the large green alien.

 

"Its evidence, but not absolute proof", I countered.

 

The alien pointed to my friend, "You believe I exist?". He nodded. Then it pointed to me, "You don't?"

 

"Not 100 percent."

 

It then said something about lunch, ate my friend and disappeared.

 

The moral being, sometimes its safer and saner not to believe.

 

 

On a more serious note. I agree w/ the things Karen said. Keep your beliefs calorieless. If you're carrying around rebuttals from an argument that went on 2 weeks ago, you are way too far from living in the here and now.

 

Trunk is also right about correctly labeling things without jumping on the band wagon du jour. But while its important to keep an open mind, its more fun to make fun of others silly ideas. Thus we must weigh childish fun against maturity.

 

I must admit, childish fun often wins w/ me. Most of the time I remember its childish.

 

Michael

[karen]

It then said something about lunch, ate my friend and disappeared.

 

Your friend's downfall was that he believed he had to answer the question