Listening to and considering the 'other side'

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Moonbeam

Elite Member
Nov 24, 1999
74,764
6,770
126
I'd argue the opposite, that there are absolutes but our ability to perceive them is limited, in part by our humanity. Honor the man who seeks to know G-d's will; fear the man who says he knows it.

You believe that God has always been the absolute God of truth whereas I believe that God undergoes evolution. As humanity evolves in understanding so does God because the lover and the beloved are one. Thus it is that the god you imagine existing is not the one I see, so the god I worry about is the one you believe in because you believe he is complete, and whatever you believe about him, therefore, is a lesser being than one in which somebody more highly evolved does.

For this reason it is always up to humanity to reveal the truth of the balance between opposites because todays god has no idea. It is up to us to decide what he thinks. Only in this way can the absolute nature of your belief be avoided, the very thing that you claim to fear in me, because whatever opinion I decide today that God has won't be His opinion tomorrow. You are conservative in your thinking and want to fix God to be what you believe today forever and you may just be the Grand Inquisitor. ;)

Truth is always a paradox. The ultimate arrogance is the ultimate humility. All absolutes resolve in higher understanding. I am right but at the same time I don't understand. Go figure.
 

Moonbeam

Elite Member
Nov 24, 1999
74,764
6,770
126
I always liked this song by the Velvet Underground with Nico singing

I'll be your mirror
Reflect what you are in case you don't know
I'll be the wind, the rain, and the sunset
The light on your door to show that you're home
When you think the night has seen your mind
That inside you're twisted and unkind
Let me stand to show that you are blind
Please put down your hands
Cause, I see you
I find it hard to believe you don't know
The beauty that you are
But if you don't let me be your eyes
A hand in your darkness, so you won't be afraid
When you think the night has seen your mind
That inside you're twisted and unkind
Let me stand to show that you are blind
Please put down your hands
Cause, I see you
I'll be your mirror

What an interesting song.

It is obvious to anyone who has looked at himself with honesty that we are motivated to deny unpleasant truths about ourselves. This is why we have therapy to bleed off this kind of resistance by learning self acceptance. One does not have to see that the deepest root of this is self-hate and ego misidentification. We experience on a daily basis the heartache self protection creates between any two human beings. It is what we all long to get past and endlessly lament.
 

Moonbeam

Elite Member
Nov 24, 1999
74,764
6,770
126
It's not nice to laugh at the mentally handicapped. :|

But you say this in order to laugh at me by calling me mentally handicapped. You excuse yourself because you believe you're justified in doing so. I must be stopped by the truly righteous, the moral hero. No?
 

Matt1970

Lifer
Mar 19, 2007
12,320
3
0
But you say this in order to laugh at me by calling me mentally handicapped. You excuse yourself because you believe you're justified in doing so. I must be stopped by the truly righteous, the moral hero. No?

You don't like being called mentally handicapped?
 

MagickMan

Diamond Member
Aug 11, 2008
7,460
3
76
But you say this in order to laugh at me by calling me mentally handicapped. You excuse yourself because you believe you're justified in doing so. I must be stopped by the truly righteous, the moral hero. No?

Like this?

He suffers from obsessional fixations and the delusional sense that the stuff he makes up is real. He has no idea what he feels. Punch drunk too.

Your halo's crooked (and tarnished).
 

werepossum

Elite Member
Jul 10, 2006
29,873
463
126
You believe that God has always been the absolute God of truth whereas I believe that God undergoes evolution. As humanity evolves in understanding so does God because the lover and the beloved are one. Thus it is that the god you imagine existing is not the one I see, so the god I worry about is the one you believe in because you believe he is complete, and whatever you believe about him, therefore, is a lesser being than one in which somebody more highly evolved does.

For this reason it is always up to humanity to reveal the truth of the balance between opposites because todays god has no idea. It is up to us to decide what he thinks. Only in this way can the absolute nature of your belief be avoided, the very thing that you claim to fear in me, because whatever opinion I decide today that God has won't be His opinion tomorrow. You are conservative in your thinking and want to fix God to be what you believe today forever and you may just be the Grand Inquisitor. ;)

Truth is always a paradox. The ultimate arrogance is the ultimate humility. All absolutes resolve in higher understanding. I am right but at the same time I don't understand. Go figure.
I do NOT want to fix G-d to be what I believe today. I seek to perceive G-d's will and plan, that is all. And I do not believe that G-d's will is static. For instance, I can accept that G-d's plan for us can and should change as we mature. One such item would be homosexuality; I have no problem believing that homosexuality could be a mortal sin at one point and yet with today's massive population, modern medicine, and modern hygiene be no more a sin than is eating pork (also a potential killer in a primitive society.) I would liken this to a parent who punishes a child for straying into traffic and yet years later helps that child get a driver's license. Needs change; capabilities change.

If we are free to decide what G-d thinks, there can be no G-d in any meaningful sense. The universe must be entirely natural in origin and G-d nothing more than a useful construct.
 

MagickMan

Diamond Member
Aug 11, 2008
7,460
3
76
You don't like being called mentally handicapped?

No, no, he likes to call other people brain damaged. His crazed, hate-filled ramblings are "profound insights" and "Divinely-inspired nuggets of wisdom", got it? :hmm:
 

Moonbeam

Elite Member
Nov 24, 1999
74,764
6,770
126
I do NOT want to fix G-d to be what I believe today. I seek to perceive G-d's will and plan, that is all. And I do not believe that G-d's will is static. For instance, I can accept that G-d's plan for us can and should change as we mature. One such item would be homosexuality; I have no problem believing that homosexuality could be a mortal sin at one point and yet with today's massive population, modern medicine, and modern hygiene be no more a sin than is eating pork (also a potential killer in a primitive society.) I would liken this to a parent who punishes a child for straying into traffic and yet years later helps that child get a driver's license. Needs change; capabilities change.

If we are free to decide what G-d thinks, there can be no G-d in any meaningful sense. The universe must be entirely natural in origin and G-d nothing more than a useful construct.

Not if we were created in His image and He and we are one and the same. If the eye with which I see God is the same I with which he sees me, who can claim to own they eye? In consciousness of the now there is no division and no possibility that what is isn't the will of God. If my will is God's will than I am either God or God is me. I like to think that since the same applies to you, we can just leave me out of it. The light of the sun reflected from one jewel is like the light reflected from another. Let us then speak of the sun rather than moonbeams.
 

Moonbeam

Elite Member
Nov 24, 1999
74,764
6,770
126
No, no, he likes to call other people brain damaged. His crazed, hate-filled ramblings are "profound insights" and "Divinely-inspired nuggets of wisdom", got it? :hmm:

When Mulla Nasruden practiced as a Doctor he accepted a disciple and together they visited a sick man who complained of stomach pain. The Mulla examined him and finally looked under his bed where he found a pile of apple cores. He told the man to stop eating green apples.

Soon they arrived at another house with a similarly sick man and the disciple looked under that bed and told the man to stop eating saddles and tack.

You are trying to judge somebody whose mode of operation is beyond your ken. I know that because of your ego pride you don't want to hear that, but it's your ego that has a problem, not mine. I just understand things you don't and nothing can be done about it. I can't go back and unlearn what I know, but you can learn what you don't know. When and if you do, you won't regret it. That much I can promise you. Not that it matters, you understand. You are under no obligation to learn anything.
 

Moonbeam

Elite Member
Nov 24, 1999
74,764
6,770
126
You don't like being called mentally handicapped?

I have to be called mentally handicapped. If I were I wouldn't be called that by those who are. Sadly, those who are filled with self hate want everybody to feel the same as they do. When you know yourself for the horror of what you are, the denial of that horror becomes superfluous. When that happens it ceases to be an unconscious compulsive motivator and one can practice better charity to others. One also has a better idea of what charity really means.

You conservatives are all for tough love and taking responsibility, until it's your turn.
 

BurnItDwn

Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
26,353
1,862
126
I disagree with a lot of people about a lot of issues. Many of these people have earned my respect.

I am quite stubborn, but, I will take into consideration some points by "the other side" when they are well thought out, and when it's not a childish finger pointing blame game of Wabbit Season and Duck Season.