This can explain what I mean by "we come from the stars" than I ever could. Carl Sagan just has that special gift of communication I wish I had. :P
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Clarification
This can explain what I mean by "we come from the stars" than I ever could. Carl Sagan just has that special gift of communication I wish I had. :P
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Thoughts on myself.
Hey Mom. I'm going to be using my blog space to publish my replies. I'm likely to generate large walls of text, and that doesn't work too well as a text message. You are more than welcome to reply here, or on facebook using a private message, or by texting again. I pretty much use this to put down my private thoughts, and as such, none of my friends really know about it. This is a private space.
My very smart son once asked, "Does the path choose the walker, or the walker choose the path?"
I remember this quote well. It was written by Garth Nix in a book called Sabriel. It is a fantasy novel, about both destiny and death (as well as fighting off undead monsters. :P ). In the book, Death is not considered a bad thing as such, and loss is shown to be something that builds character. It also deals with the loss of family, and coming to terms with oneself and one's responsibilities. This was something I was also doing at the time, and as such, the line seemed like a good thing to say.
The thing is, I have that answer now. I found it when I started to study quantum mechanics, a subject I will not broach now, because I would need about 80 walls of text to explain it all. In a nutshell, it is not fate that determines which path I will take, but probability. The walker chooses the path, because the walker determines the probability of the better path. If one path has a pile of dung on it, the probability I will choose the other will be very high. But, if the pile of dung is being used to grow beautiful flowers, the probability of me going down the dung path increases. Fate has nothing to do with it. I reason out the best path, due to the circumstances of the paths, and I choose the one that is the most appealing, based on those factors.
I think you need to look (and see) what and where this path you are taking has taken you.
Believe you me, I have taken a good, long look at both paths. I've read the bible, multiple times, as well as the Koran, the Torah, and hell, I even read Dianetics, as well as many other holy books. (BTW, Dianetics is the biggest piece of dung ever. :P) I have read Sagan, Hawking, Hitchens, Dawkins, and many books on the other side as well. I weighed them both, but know this. I REFUSE to walk down a path because others tell me it is the best one. I wanted to choose my own path, and after weighing all the tonnes of different options, I choose the path of the skeptic. That is my path.
Down the path I do not walk is a path full of false righteousness, lousy reasoning, and moral disambiguaty. It is a path that :
protects child molesters from prosecution
http://www.courthousenews.com/2010/04/22/26652.htm
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/14/christopher-jarvis-catholic-church-abuse-child-porn_n_1092622.html
gets children killed over medical conditions easily solved through medicine
http://www.cancer.org/Treatment/TreatmentsandSideEffects/ComplementaryandAlternativeMedicine/MindBodyandSpirit/faith-healing
Leviticus 14:2-52
Numbers 21:8
disrespects women and women's rights ALL THE TIME:
1 Timothy 2:11-12
Judges 5:30
Judges 19:25
Numbers 31:15-19
Most of Leviticus 15
http://crooksandliars.com/diane-sweet/santorum-rape-babies-are-gifts-god
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_George_Tiller
http://www.suntimes.com/news/nation/10361756-418/susan-g-komen-charity-ends-funding-for-planned-parenthood.html
uses "prophets" to encourage hate and disinformation:
rightwingwatch.org
exposing teens to such hate and vitriol that they commit suicide:
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504763_162-20019163-10391704.html
throws battery acid on children, and kills children, for being witches:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/15/world/africa/15witches.html?pagewanted=all
Please do not get me wrong. I am not attacking you. I accept the fact that you are Christian, and that you will always be one. I am attacking Religion because if no one does, none of those problems I listed above will be fixed. I fight the ignorance and cruelty, fear of the other, and bigotry that exists within all religion. People are free to believe in whatever they choose, and that is a right I whole-heartedly agree with. But in the market of free ideas, bad ideas should be squashed, no matter how sacred.
That goes on my side too. Atheism has a very bad habit of being very misogynistic. Women have just as much power and liberation that men do, within the Atheist community. That is something that I am working to change. Also believe me, there are some really bad Atheist NUTJOBS out there, people with crazy ideas that don't make a damn bit of sense. Raelians being a prime example. The believe that super intelligent humans/aliens came down from the stars and scientifically created all the life on Earth. Those are some crazy people. But no matter how much I wish they weren't, they are atheists, and part of the atheist perspective. I fight those bad ideas too, just as much as the bad ideas from Islam, Buddhism, Jedism, Holocaust deniers, antivaxxers, and PETA.
I can add more here, but I think you see my point. Look around the web. There so many examples of the righteous and god fearing doing terrible and immoral things. I am not saying that all Christians do this, or even approve of it, but all Christians are accountable for it, because they are all done in the name of Christ; the same Christ you believe in. I cannot commit myself to such barbarism. In my opinion, salvation is not worth the tears of one broken child.
I see nothing but a very dark place, full of nothing but depression and loneliness.
Take a look at this picture.
I call this space porn. It is beautiful, isn't it? That is the Milky Way, as viewed from the Himalayas. I have dreams, sometimes, where I picture myself right beside that little frozen river, lying on my back and just looking at those stars. It is terribly alone, with no sound but the thin, cold wind whipping over the crags and the occasional tumble of loose stones. But you know what? I am content. It is hard to be depressed and sad with that wonderful view above me. That is how I feel about life.
We are all born from stars. Every molecule in our bodies were forged at the fiery heart of a star. The star grew old, expanded, and exploded, sending trillions upon trillions of molecules out into the vastness of space. Some of the molecules clumped together with other atoms, from other stars until eventually got so big, the mass collapsed itself and formed our sun. This explosion (or implosion, I guess would be a better word) sent more material out, which slowly formed into planets. On one of those planets, where by chance it wasn't too hot or too cold, life began. I do not know how it originated, but it began. This life absorbed the nutrients and minerals that were formed from that original star that exploded, and got bigger, and better. Over the course of billions of years, lots of close calls, and almost infinite improbability, we are here.
As Carl Sagan once said, "We are a way for the Cosmos to know itself." I am a part of that Cosmos, wheeling around on an utterly insignificant little blue planet. And I absolutely, 100% love life. Every chance I get, I walk up to a pine tree and just breathe, taking in all the scents of a forest. When I am driving around the country, I marvel at the natural formations I see, feel the spray of waterfalls across my cheek, and hear all the living things that hum around us. I am lucky enough that as a human, I can reflect and appreciate all the wonders that are all around me. More than that, I am happy I have the knowledge of how all these things came about. I came from the love of two wonderful people, using materials that came from their own bodies, which in turn were materials from the stars, to create my life. That canyon in the picture was carved from millions of years of water, wind, and ice flowing through it. The stars above that mountain were formed from trillions of years of exploding and coalescing star matter. Eventually, the sun will swallow up the Earth, and when it dies, will send everything that was the Earth back out again, amongst the stars, to start the whole thing over again.
I take a lot of comfort from that. I find it rather reassuring that when we die, the only thing we "lose" is our consciousness. Our bodies are never really destroyed. We only change form and shape. Flowers grow from the essence of our bodies. Bees turn the nectar of that flower into honey. That honey is eaten by someone on a hot date with their loved one. They make love, and the energy from that honey is used to nurture the new life of a child. Oblivion does not frighten me.
Am I lonely and depressed? Yes, but not because I chose this path. I am lonely because every time I go on a date with a lovely young girl, or meet a new friend, and tell them of who I am, they become scared. I become a threat to their eternal salvation, and as such, they treat me like I have the bubonic plague. However, I know it is not them that is doing it, but the dogma they grew up with. If they can get past that, then we usually become great friends or date. If not, I tend to leave their life because I make them uncomfortable. I am depressed, because this has become the norm for me for the past decade. Atheists are less trusted than rapists. (http://www.christianpost.com/news/study-explores-believers-distrust-of-atheists-63748/)
We get looked down, spit on, and even threatened with death for having different ideas. I have gotten 6 personal death threats for simply not believing in God, and standing up to religious and misogynistic bigots. (Well, technically 5. One of them said he was going to "curb stomp my nuts." If this were to happen, I think my life would be pretty much over, but I wouldn't actually die if I got proper medical treatment. :P ) I've been told I'm going to hell more times than I can count, been proselytized, shunned, and generally treated like crap. This is why I am depressed. But I have friends that time and time again, have pulled me out of my slumps, and that means the world to me.
And your so called friends?
Well, for this part, I really should apologize. This is a sore subject, so I won't say too much. But let me say this. I have two sets of friends. I have my gamer friends, and then everyone else. My gamer friends are assholes. I will make no bones about it. They are complete assholes. Adam introduced me to them when I was in Salina. They are my guild mates, and they a lot of gamer stereotypes.
So why do I hang out with them? It is not a mistake that when I play online games, I most often choose a healing role. That role is most like the person I am. I keep people alive, keep them from running into fire, and when necessary, sacrifice myself to make sure they can continue on. I am a good influence on them, and they have changed a lot within the few years I have known them. I bring the voice of reason and empathy into our little group.
But those are my gamer friends. I do not know if you saw anyone else reply, because you would have seen a different picture.
Lisa Warford Limberger
Stephanie Limberger
Just think about it.
I have. I've thought over many nights, days, dreams, and daydreams. I am always thinking. Sometimes about serious things. Sometimes about silly things. Thinking is the essence of who I am. I've spent many hours driving, and thinking of stories to amuse myself. A few of them I actually want to write out.
And I think that even through this wall of text, you still will not understand this path I've chosen. And that is ok. :D I'm using logic and reason to try and explain a matter of faith. It is something that doesn't mesh very well. :P But I hope you know that I have not become an evil person. I don't worship Satan, I don't eat babies, and I don't devour the souls of my enemies. (I leave that up to my unicorn named Binky. ;) ) I'm still Jerritt. I'm the same person I've always been since I was 13. Look on my facebook, and see how silly I am. :P I am still the same guy.
The only thing I ask is that you respect who I am. Every momma bird has to watch the baby bird fly away, and I will be no exception, when I have kids. (If the curb stomping dude doesn't get to me first.) If they choose to learn about God, and have faith, than that is who they are. I don't have to like it, but I will respect it.
I also have one request. Feel free to criticize my belief. I want you to question, and learn more about what this is. I wish you could learn a little more about who I am, so Atheist doesn't sound like Baby Eating Communist Boogieman. (For your peace of mind, I am in no way Communist. Capitalism, ftw!) Feel free to criticize any of the philosophies, or try and throw me into a "crisis of faith." Read up on what Atheism is all about. A good place to start is Carl Sagan's The Demon-Haunted World. If you want, I can get you a copy. It is a very unscary book that teaches about logic and reasoning.
Also, if you took any offense to what I have said, please don't. It is a more a mistake of me trying to articulate my ideas correctly, than anything out of malice. You are my mom, and I don't want ya too angry at me. (Unless I do something spectacularly silly, like trying to fly, or trying to defeat the laws of motion by attempting to dance.) :P
I Love You.
Jerritt
My very smart son once asked, "Does the path choose the walker, or the walker choose the path?"
I remember this quote well. It was written by Garth Nix in a book called Sabriel. It is a fantasy novel, about both destiny and death (as well as fighting off undead monsters. :P ). In the book, Death is not considered a bad thing as such, and loss is shown to be something that builds character. It also deals with the loss of family, and coming to terms with oneself and one's responsibilities. This was something I was also doing at the time, and as such, the line seemed like a good thing to say.
The thing is, I have that answer now. I found it when I started to study quantum mechanics, a subject I will not broach now, because I would need about 80 walls of text to explain it all. In a nutshell, it is not fate that determines which path I will take, but probability. The walker chooses the path, because the walker determines the probability of the better path. If one path has a pile of dung on it, the probability I will choose the other will be very high. But, if the pile of dung is being used to grow beautiful flowers, the probability of me going down the dung path increases. Fate has nothing to do with it. I reason out the best path, due to the circumstances of the paths, and I choose the one that is the most appealing, based on those factors.
I think you need to look (and see) what and where this path you are taking has taken you.
Believe you me, I have taken a good, long look at both paths. I've read the bible, multiple times, as well as the Koran, the Torah, and hell, I even read Dianetics, as well as many other holy books. (BTW, Dianetics is the biggest piece of dung ever. :P) I have read Sagan, Hawking, Hitchens, Dawkins, and many books on the other side as well. I weighed them both, but know this. I REFUSE to walk down a path because others tell me it is the best one. I wanted to choose my own path, and after weighing all the tonnes of different options, I choose the path of the skeptic. That is my path.
Down the path I do not walk is a path full of false righteousness, lousy reasoning, and moral disambiguaty. It is a path that :
protects child molesters from prosecution
http://www.courthousenews.com/2010/04/22/26652.htm
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/14/christopher-jarvis-catholic-church-abuse-child-porn_n_1092622.html
gets children killed over medical conditions easily solved through medicine
http://www.cancer.org/Treatment/TreatmentsandSideEffects/ComplementaryandAlternativeMedicine/MindBodyandSpirit/faith-healing
Leviticus 14:2-52
Numbers 21:8
disrespects women and women's rights ALL THE TIME:
1 Timothy 2:11-12
Judges 5:30
Judges 19:25
Numbers 31:15-19
Most of Leviticus 15
http://crooksandliars.com/diane-sweet/santorum-rape-babies-are-gifts-god
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_George_Tiller
http://www.suntimes.com/news/nation/10361756-418/susan-g-komen-charity-ends-funding-for-planned-parenthood.html
uses "prophets" to encourage hate and disinformation:
rightwingwatch.org
exposing teens to such hate and vitriol that they commit suicide:
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504763_162-20019163-10391704.html
throws battery acid on children, and kills children, for being witches:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/15/world/africa/15witches.html?pagewanted=all
Please do not get me wrong. I am not attacking you. I accept the fact that you are Christian, and that you will always be one. I am attacking Religion because if no one does, none of those problems I listed above will be fixed. I fight the ignorance and cruelty, fear of the other, and bigotry that exists within all religion. People are free to believe in whatever they choose, and that is a right I whole-heartedly agree with. But in the market of free ideas, bad ideas should be squashed, no matter how sacred.
That goes on my side too. Atheism has a very bad habit of being very misogynistic. Women have just as much power and liberation that men do, within the Atheist community. That is something that I am working to change. Also believe me, there are some really bad Atheist NUTJOBS out there, people with crazy ideas that don't make a damn bit of sense. Raelians being a prime example. The believe that super intelligent humans/aliens came down from the stars and scientifically created all the life on Earth. Those are some crazy people. But no matter how much I wish they weren't, they are atheists, and part of the atheist perspective. I fight those bad ideas too, just as much as the bad ideas from Islam, Buddhism, Jedism, Holocaust deniers, antivaxxers, and PETA.
I can add more here, but I think you see my point. Look around the web. There so many examples of the righteous and god fearing doing terrible and immoral things. I am not saying that all Christians do this, or even approve of it, but all Christians are accountable for it, because they are all done in the name of Christ; the same Christ you believe in. I cannot commit myself to such barbarism. In my opinion, salvation is not worth the tears of one broken child.
I see nothing but a very dark place, full of nothing but depression and loneliness.
Take a look at this picture.
I call this space porn. It is beautiful, isn't it? That is the Milky Way, as viewed from the Himalayas. I have dreams, sometimes, where I picture myself right beside that little frozen river, lying on my back and just looking at those stars. It is terribly alone, with no sound but the thin, cold wind whipping over the crags and the occasional tumble of loose stones. But you know what? I am content. It is hard to be depressed and sad with that wonderful view above me. That is how I feel about life.
We are all born from stars. Every molecule in our bodies were forged at the fiery heart of a star. The star grew old, expanded, and exploded, sending trillions upon trillions of molecules out into the vastness of space. Some of the molecules clumped together with other atoms, from other stars until eventually got so big, the mass collapsed itself and formed our sun. This explosion (or implosion, I guess would be a better word) sent more material out, which slowly formed into planets. On one of those planets, where by chance it wasn't too hot or too cold, life began. I do not know how it originated, but it began. This life absorbed the nutrients and minerals that were formed from that original star that exploded, and got bigger, and better. Over the course of billions of years, lots of close calls, and almost infinite improbability, we are here.
As Carl Sagan once said, "We are a way for the Cosmos to know itself." I am a part of that Cosmos, wheeling around on an utterly insignificant little blue planet. And I absolutely, 100% love life. Every chance I get, I walk up to a pine tree and just breathe, taking in all the scents of a forest. When I am driving around the country, I marvel at the natural formations I see, feel the spray of waterfalls across my cheek, and hear all the living things that hum around us. I am lucky enough that as a human, I can reflect and appreciate all the wonders that are all around me. More than that, I am happy I have the knowledge of how all these things came about. I came from the love of two wonderful people, using materials that came from their own bodies, which in turn were materials from the stars, to create my life. That canyon in the picture was carved from millions of years of water, wind, and ice flowing through it. The stars above that mountain were formed from trillions of years of exploding and coalescing star matter. Eventually, the sun will swallow up the Earth, and when it dies, will send everything that was the Earth back out again, amongst the stars, to start the whole thing over again.
I take a lot of comfort from that. I find it rather reassuring that when we die, the only thing we "lose" is our consciousness. Our bodies are never really destroyed. We only change form and shape. Flowers grow from the essence of our bodies. Bees turn the nectar of that flower into honey. That honey is eaten by someone on a hot date with their loved one. They make love, and the energy from that honey is used to nurture the new life of a child. Oblivion does not frighten me.
Am I lonely and depressed? Yes, but not because I chose this path. I am lonely because every time I go on a date with a lovely young girl, or meet a new friend, and tell them of who I am, they become scared. I become a threat to their eternal salvation, and as such, they treat me like I have the bubonic plague. However, I know it is not them that is doing it, but the dogma they grew up with. If they can get past that, then we usually become great friends or date. If not, I tend to leave their life because I make them uncomfortable. I am depressed, because this has become the norm for me for the past decade. Atheists are less trusted than rapists. (http://www.christianpost.com/news/study-explores-believers-distrust-of-atheists-63748/)
We get looked down, spit on, and even threatened with death for having different ideas. I have gotten 6 personal death threats for simply not believing in God, and standing up to religious and misogynistic bigots. (Well, technically 5. One of them said he was going to "curb stomp my nuts." If this were to happen, I think my life would be pretty much over, but I wouldn't actually die if I got proper medical treatment. :P ) I've been told I'm going to hell more times than I can count, been proselytized, shunned, and generally treated like crap. This is why I am depressed. But I have friends that time and time again, have pulled me out of my slumps, and that means the world to me.
And your so called friends?
Well, for this part, I really should apologize. This is a sore subject, so I won't say too much. But let me say this. I have two sets of friends. I have my gamer friends, and then everyone else. My gamer friends are assholes. I will make no bones about it. They are complete assholes. Adam introduced me to them when I was in Salina. They are my guild mates, and they a lot of gamer stereotypes.
So why do I hang out with them? It is not a mistake that when I play online games, I most often choose a healing role. That role is most like the person I am. I keep people alive, keep them from running into fire, and when necessary, sacrifice myself to make sure they can continue on. I am a good influence on them, and they have changed a lot within the few years I have known them. I bring the voice of reason and empathy into our little group.
But those are my gamer friends. I do not know if you saw anyone else reply, because you would have seen a different picture.
Lisa Warford Limberger
Stephanie Limberger
You respect me, and I'll respect you. What you believe is personal, and you have every right to it. Regardless, you've been my friend for years, and you'll be my friend for years to come. Unconditional. Good for you for being true to yourself. I got your back man.Steph really is my saving grace. We have pulled each other out of our little holes so much that I have lost track. She's supported me, and talked me through a lot of conflicting and bad emotions. I'd say that she is my best friend. I speak to her more than I do anyone else, and we really are kindred spirits. Our difference in faith has never gotten between us, and I will be honored when I meet her in person.
Just think about it.
I have. I've thought over many nights, days, dreams, and daydreams. I am always thinking. Sometimes about serious things. Sometimes about silly things. Thinking is the essence of who I am. I've spent many hours driving, and thinking of stories to amuse myself. A few of them I actually want to write out.
And I think that even through this wall of text, you still will not understand this path I've chosen. And that is ok. :D I'm using logic and reason to try and explain a matter of faith. It is something that doesn't mesh very well. :P But I hope you know that I have not become an evil person. I don't worship Satan, I don't eat babies, and I don't devour the souls of my enemies. (I leave that up to my unicorn named Binky. ;) ) I'm still Jerritt. I'm the same person I've always been since I was 13. Look on my facebook, and see how silly I am. :P I am still the same guy.
The only thing I ask is that you respect who I am. Every momma bird has to watch the baby bird fly away, and I will be no exception, when I have kids. (If the curb stomping dude doesn't get to me first.) If they choose to learn about God, and have faith, than that is who they are. I don't have to like it, but I will respect it.
I also have one request. Feel free to criticize my belief. I want you to question, and learn more about what this is. I wish you could learn a little more about who I am, so Atheist doesn't sound like Baby Eating Communist Boogieman. (For your peace of mind, I am in no way Communist. Capitalism, ftw!) Feel free to criticize any of the philosophies, or try and throw me into a "crisis of faith." Read up on what Atheism is all about. A good place to start is Carl Sagan's The Demon-Haunted World. If you want, I can get you a copy. It is a very unscary book that teaches about logic and reasoning.
Also, if you took any offense to what I have said, please don't. It is a more a mistake of me trying to articulate my ideas correctly, than anything out of malice. You are my mom, and I don't want ya too angry at me. (Unless I do something spectacularly silly, like trying to fly, or trying to defeat the laws of motion by attempting to dance.) :P
I Love You.
Jerritt
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