The Philosophy Thread (Take Two)

[Ruby Falls]

True.

[Ciararavenblaze]

with some things, the only thing you can do is go with your gut instinct. it's the best way to learn, sometimes.

[Ruby Falls]

Do you think it's important for one's spouse to share the same religious/lack of religious beliefs?

[Garneta]

I think it would help...but really if it's the right person, then it'll work out anyway even if you don't.

[Ciararavenblaze]

Do you think it's important for one's spouse to share the same religious/lack of religious beliefs?

I think it depends on how different their beliefs are.

I mean, a devout Satanist pairing up with an equally devout Christian? not gonna work.

or an atheist pairing up with, say, a Mormon? nope.

but an undefined Pagan pairing up with a Wiccan? likely to work.

or a Baptist pairing up with a Catholic? different enough that it MIGHT cause problems, but similar enough that said problems are likely to be minimal.

I personally think that SOME difference in beliefs in this regard is a good thing. you can learn from each other in the long run.

[Ruby Falls]

Superman or Batman?

(Think about it. It's really a pretty philosophical question.)

[Ciararavenblaze]

Batman. it'd be awesome to fly and stuff, but... I'd rather be a mere mortal, really, when it comes down to it.

aside from Jonnie (who can clue you all in if he'd like to or if it's necessary), do any of you know what gnosis is?

[Ruby Falls]

I know a little bit about it. Not much, though.

[Garneta]

Not at the moment, no.

As for the superman or batman question...I'm not sure if I like one over the other, but I do admire both of them just for the choices they've made. I admire Batman because he's just a regular guy...he had no superpowers of his own, but he's chosen to be out there fighting crime anyway (same goes for Iron Man). As for Superman...granted he only has these powers because the environment of this planet is different from that of his own, but...he's chosen to use his powers to help others, even though it would be so much easier to use them to gain power or to create chaos. And that's pretty admirable too. A lot of people would've taken the easy way there.

[Ciararavenblaze]

I know about gnosis, but not enough to explain it to you, and I don't have any URLs handy to do so. Jonnie's the one who told me about it.

[Jonmisc]

I'm not that great explaining things (especially when I have a headache like I do now) so I'll give a couple of URLs.

This one will explain the more common meaning of it (and here's the main article for it; I just happen to think Gnosticism is interesting).

There's another meaning, described here, that I've only ever seen in the context of something called chaos magic.

[Ciararavenblaze]

thank you for the information, Jonnie.

I've heard of both kinds, but am vastly ignorant, overall, about both.

[Ruby Falls]

Do you think that technology is more bad than good, or vice versa?

[Ciararavenblaze]

I actually think it's equally good and bad. it isn't the machines or the advances that are necessarily good or bad, but the people who use them that make them good or bad.

with that said, I believe that we are born inherently neutral--not evil or good. we only become that way due to outside influences, and ARE, to a point, affected by characteristics that we are born with. (you don't become mentally ill from outside influences unless you already have what it takes to get that way, in other words.)

what do you guys think? are we born neutral, good, or evil?

[Garneta]

Well, neutral for the most part. But I think that we all have instincts ingrained in us that have been there since the dawn of mankind. Take the cavemen for example...they made a practice of taking what they wanted. Some people today still do that (only now we call it 'stealing' and it's usually looked upon as wrong by most cultural folkways). Some people don't. I guess it depends on how susceptible you are to those instincts, and whether or not you can overcome them.

[Ciararavenblaze]

hmm... food for thought, Kat.

would any of you agree that we, as human beings, are NOT as evolved as we tend to want to think?

[Garneta]

Heh...in an instant I'd agree with that one.

[Ciararavenblaze]

so would I.

I do think that some of us are getting there, and I can't help but hope that those of us who AREN'T getting there get weeded out of the gene pool in some way or another. not necessarily through death before they can breed, either.

[Ruby Falls]

I don't think humans are advanced as we're lead to think. If we were a truly advanced species, our economy and relationships with other countries wouldn't be so terrible.

I think that people are born fairly neutral. Maybe leaning a little more towards the good for the most part.

Though we're affected by outside influences some of the kindest people have come from horrible backgrounds. Same for bad people coming from good backgrounds.

[Ciararavenblaze]

and not everybody who gets abused grows up to be an abuser, either.