The Meaning of Life

What is it to be a human? What does it mean to exist? What's the significance of having feelings? These questions have been blown too far out of proportion! For too damn  long! Men and women have wasted away not knowing the answers, being misinformed regarding the truth being told and just being too simple and lazy to seek the sophisticated revelation of exactly what truth is. The answers are simple really. People have just been too ignorant and blinded by those in control to figure that out. Humans are basically distant cousins of Chimpanzees evolved to the point of sophistication where we can think we're not. It's a different story in nature though. From a biological perspective, life is much different to all the little animals. They don't voice it, but they know. They just know. Because of the way life is, nature knows that all things are a part of it. That's also what it means to exist. Just being a part of the universe. The fact that all matter and energy are infinitely recycled. It may not seem like it, but everything you see has at one point been something very different than what it is currently. even you. As a human being, you are composed of the earth. You are made up of other animals, the blood sweat and tears of other people. Everything we know. The Iron in our blood, The Calcium in our teeth, the Carbon in our apple pies. All composed of starstuff. It is so amazing and it's time we realize these truths and work to a greater understanding of what we truly are. We are the universe.

There lives in me an image.

Of all that I can be.

Until I gave become it.

My heart is never free.

The silver rain.

The shining sun.

The fields where scarlet poppies run.

And all the ripples of the wheat.

Are in the bread that I do eat.

So when I sit for every meal.

And know the truth I always feel.

That I am eating rain and sun.

And fields were scarlet poppies run.

The Young and Faithful

Growing up in a smaller town than most, it has been easy to observe and understand the lives and religious upbringings of my peers and fellow students. Personally I am torn as to whether I should be somewhat jealous of those who were lucky enough to not have to endure the confusion of a young religious life, or be thankful that I had the opportunity to know what it's like growing up believing there is a god watching me masturbate. I guess it's quite a trade off. Well I grew up in a minority. My mother, a born local, was raised into as far as I know, liberal Catholicism and my father being born in New York was a little more of a serious Jew. At least under the influence of my Hungarian Holocaust surviving Grandfather. So as a product of their marriage, I was raised Liberally Jewish out here in the Midwest, where Judaism.... is not too popular. At least outside the cities. So growing  up through primary school, I was one out of about four Jewish kids in my school. So, I was quite different from the rest. The interesting thing about my generation is the fact that we are so lucky to grow up in the information age. The start of the gradual yet rapid death of religion. So, religion isn't taken as seriously as it may have been fifty years ago. Depending on the home of course. Now for me, when I look back on it, religion was jut kinda a fun little thing that my family and I practiced in a very free, less serious way. Now That I'm grown I'm seeing a lot of false religious conviction among other people my age. It couldn't be more obvious that the sincerity of their devotion isn't genuine at all. It could just be a sham, simply to appear perceptually "grown up" or mature in the eyes of adults observing them as they graduate high school or something. Like they have a good head on their shoulders. Well let me tell you. Religion does not make you a "good person." An antiquated documentation of the creative tales of Mediterranean sheep herders is not the primary source for good morals and ethics on this planet, in our species and in our societies. Humans are smart enough to know that makes each other happy and sad and there's a difference between a "Christian" and a Christ follower. People are just too ignorant and uneducated about their own religion to know that. And you know the worst thing about these religious communities scattered about the globe? the sense that the more "faith" you have the better you are. When the hell did being blind and stupid become an admirable characteristic? "faith" is making a virtue out of not thinking. A person may see someone's faith and devotion to god or how much they pray or what the Fuck ever as a measure of good character. It's just the same old counterproductive practices that have gotten the world nowhere and set us back. Not me. I judge a person's character based on their will and drive to get up, go out there and make a Fucking difference. Praying is just lazy. It's the best way to look like you're doing something when you're doing nothing at all. I've always said two hands working are much more productive than two hands clasped in prayer and it's true. It's time we rid the world of this behavior of mindless sheep. We may be a minority, but we are fare more powerful. Because there's no strength in numbers when you are just dead wrong.

Heaven. What's it like?

As I have recently been talking a lot about how humans behave when other people die around them, I thought it would be interesting to write about what it could conceptually be like "on the other side." If it even existed. So I ask, I question one of the most vast wonders worldwide. What is heaven like? Based on what I've read in the bible, it's basically all bullshit if you know anything about marketing and selling a product to a bunch of mindless fools, but aside from that, the bible tells us that the bible basically tells us that heaven must be a bright and shiny place with no darkness whatsoever, where everyone has god's name in tattoo on their foreheads, basically incomprehensible to the human mind. Whatever, It is also said that in heaven there is literally a constant praise and worship for god. Really. 24/7. All day every day. Fuck that. I would never want to spend eternity participating in an unending pep rally for an evil god. Some people like to fantasize and tell themselves that "Heaven is a place where all your dreams come true," "where you get anything you want" or some bullshit like that. Well that just doesn't make any sense, so don't let them fool you. A heaven like that could never exist especially when the very concept thereof is derived from an ancient book of fairy tales that also serves as a set of guidelines for how to live your life safely so you don't go to hell instead of heaven. What if everything you've ever wanted was to have an infinite supply of people to murder, other men's wives to bang or a bunch of slave children to molest. No. Come on, be realistic, I mean the bible says! All those things are immoral. They're in the ten commandments. Folks also like to claim that their deceased relatives are watching over them or protecting them from harm by some ghostly presence. Again, get Fuck'n real. Don't you thing people might just have better things to do for an eternity than watch over the people the "leave behind?" Or.... What if you kill your parents? I guarantee you the Menendez Brother's parents aren't "watching over" them. So really think about it. Is the simple idea of "heaven" really a good thing to keep around? Or can it be dangerous? I see people live their lives to the fullest in hopes that they will be able to recollect upon it in some sort of afterlife. That's not what it's about. People should live their lives to make an impact making things better for the next generation. I fear that people do ridiculously irrational things just to get to heaven. Heaven is a silly idea and I'm not interested. Living forever would be unbearable. Nothing to be discovered, nothing new. I'll let Hitch close it up for me;

"Do I think I'm going to paradise? Of course not; I wouldn't go if I was asked. I don't want to live in some celestial North Korea....where all I get to do is praise the Dear Leader from dawn till dusk. I don't want this; it would be hell for me."-Christopher Hitchens

Indoctrination

Following my last post,I have a question. Why does religion still exist? You would think that in a time in which every man, woman and child has a phone that makes pancakes, something as ridiculous as believing there is a god would be obsolete and all but extinct. Well no. Religion still unfortunately remains in this world slowing us down as a species. Holding us back from discovery. What is religion? What the fuck is it? Why is it still here? Religion is nothing more than the age old discovery of manipulation and control an it's been going on for a long time. You see, thousands of years ago, religious and political figureheads knew people were generally stupid and would believe anything they were told. So at some point they fed them the ten commandments, the bible and the fear of a god. That's the thing. Fear. Nothing more simple than the tangibility of what religion is. The buying and selling of the invisible product of fear and people love it. People love fear. Fear and confusion, you see it everywhere all over the media historically like the Salem Witch Trials for example. Madmen fed on fear and lies nothing more. Any way to answer the question posed. Why is religion in all it's glorified quackery still around? The answer is most definitely non-progressive parenting. Nobody tries any different methodology in the things they teach their kids about the world. Child indoctrination is kind of a selfish thing to do, when are we as people going to realize that the right thing to do is teach your kids to read, question everything they read and hear and allow them plenty of opportunity and support to develop their own philosophy. In basic, Religions of all kind can only survive themselves through the works of religious parents inculcating the old superstitious garbage into the defenseless, impressionable minds of their children.

The Afterlife

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=deB_u-to-IE Today was the sad, unfortunate day Ray Manzarek the lead organ and keys player of one of my many favorite bands The Doors died today at the age of 74 after his battle with cancer of the bile duct. It is such a strange thing when people die especially in terms of human understanding. It's just such a shock to anyone who knows the person. How does a human just.... cease to live? So I ask first of all, what kind of "loving," "merciful" god would allow something like cancer to exist among it's "beloved" creation? How is suffering okay when it is easily preventable? Some, actually many may ask "where do yo go after you die?" What does that even mean any more? I've seen too many people die of cancer in my life time and it has become quite clear to me that when people die, they don't "go" anywhere. People often like to believe that people have a "soul." Some sort of magical energy or entity that lives inside us all and is tangible to the gods, afterlife and sometimes other people. That's not it though. The concept of a "soul" is derived from mythical fairy tales and human weakness. Nothing more than a means to dealing with something as confusing as death. Especially in ancient times, when the "soul" idea was obviously confounded. What the "soul" really is as we perceive it is most definitely composed of energy and matter. Shit, everything is composed of energy and matter. It's just the human social identity that people see as the soul. I guess it's just too overwhelmingly complex for other humans to understand on quite a basic level. That "soul" (social identity) is a product of the organic human brain thriving within the human body. When a human dies and their brain is no longer operational those physical things decompose and the "soul" dies along with them. They simply go somewhere else in different forms of matter and energy. That's just science. The Laws of Conservation of Energy and matter. You can't deny that, you know, yesterday's dinosaur vomit is today's tomatoes you grow in your garden. Just remember kids, we are the universe.

Opportunistic Bastards

Its my final year of high school. Thirteen years of my life spent learning, understanding, crafting an identity. It is truly amazing how a person is altered over such a long time. As humans we are sophisticated enough to create and apply a social identity. Those identities are so crucial to the individualism of a person and they give a person knowledge influence and inherently power. I recently received an invitation  to my high school Baccalaureate. A high school ceremony I am very unfamiliar with and in fact, have never heard of in my life. The invitation reads "This is a traditional event that honors you, as a graduating senior by taking a few moments to reflect on spiritual matters. This is an interdenominational event." Right. "Interdenominational." Even though the entire gig is being run by the local Youth For Christ organization. Well not all of us graduating seniors are "youth for christ. Not all of us are even remotely "spiritual." I hate to be so cynical, but based on the questions I've asked regarding the event and what similar events I have observed, it would appear as just another feeble attempt by a church to impose their religious ideals upon our almost made up, yet still impressionable minds. It's almost insulting to us as the coming future of the planet to march  into our school, a place exceedingly more sacred than any church, temple, or mosque strutting passed the wall between church and state and try to cloud our vision. Almost as a last ditch effort to perpetuate their childish nonsense. I suppose some people simply overlook the fact that even as young adults, we are still finding ourselves maybe they know that, maybe they know that the only way to survive their religion is to feed it to the defenseless children.

Misrepresentation.

So there's this girl I know, very cute, attractive girl. She's a fairly proficient photographer, so she obviously enjoys taking a lot of pictures. She takes a lot of pictures of herself. This girl also dresses very provocatively. She has a couple of tattoos. The catch is, this girl claims to be very religious. It just doesn't make sense to me. Not trying to be misogynistic  but you get the picture. Any way, What I'm thinking about is how much people care about following their "holy" book and what it propagates. Take gay marriage for example, the only Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13. Little do people realize, or they are simply overlooking the fact that the bible also speaks against the consumption of pork (Leviticus 11:7-8), the shaving of beards (Leviticus 19:27), Divorce (Luke 16:18), cotton)\polyester blends (19:19) and of course, premarital sex (1 Corinthians 7:2). The list goes on and on. People obviously don't know jack shit, follow blindly behaving like sheep and serving themselves.

Enhancement

In modern times as a society, we have the opportunity to practice what is called Eugenics. 

Eugenics is genetic manipulation in attempt to produce, introduce and maintain a more efficient more fit human genome. A fine example of Synthetic Evolution. The concept of Eugenics was originally introduced by Sir Francis Galton, it later spread to America where Charles B. Davenport adopted it and began pre-work. Unfortunately Eugenics was carried out through genocide by the Nazi Party during the Second World War, also there was a time in which sterilization was forced in 29 states in America. With the divulgence of this information many people are angered or flustered by the proposition. This primarily includes theists. Also the great philosopher Michael J. Sandel.

With the three options for different styles of Eugenics considered, the question arises, “is it right?” One major philosopher Michael J. Sandel would say no. He says Eugenics should not be practiced by human society, but why? First Sandel justifies his claim with his argument that as humans, we should sustain humility. We should view our talents as gifts in which we are indebted rather than achievements in which we are responsible. Sandel also claims that responsibility is a major factor. He says “we are not wholly responsible for who we are, so can we be responsible for the outcome? what’s the responsibility of parents?”

I must disagree with Sandel and the theists simply because his claims are slightly flawed and are also not very progressive, this runs contrary to the philosophy that i have built and practice. Sandel says we should remain humble. Absolutely not. Humble to whom or what? John Stuart Mill makes a very valid point that sometimes in nature, we “win the lottery” also it is very obvious that as sophistocated homosapiens any accolades accuired over a lifespan are derived from the toilsome efforts of the individual. Psychologists, Anthropologists and Sociologists alike would argue and agree that humans are a product of their upbringing and are shaped and molded by the details thereof. Humans should not exhibit modesty on any level of scientific exploration. Any trials and tribulations will only provide as lessons learned for future generations. Being humble or obsequious is to me, counter productive, and a mindset that will cause backward thinking and hold us back as a species making progress. Sandel also says “we are indebted.” Again I ask indebted to whom or what? One may draw the common conclusion that some sort of omniscient, omnipotent “god” or deity crafted us as individuals at some time before we came to exist. Knowing and creating far in advance the predestination of our futures and actions. Sandel does not clearly state whether or not skills, talents or achievements should be attributed to the works of a god, however he does take an agnostic standpoint considering it to be possibility. As an experienced musician I would be slightly offended by a statement such as this. I am offended. When I am finished performing Fernando Sor’s Opus. 48 No. 6 Rondeau in front of 500 people I am rather put off By someone telling me how lucky I am to be so “gifted,” “blessed,” or some nonsense along those lines. It is an appreciable gesture, however I know how many hundreds of hours of practice I have dedicated to playing guitar, the amount of sacrifice and determination it took to refine such a technical skill and present it with such earnest and sincerity. No god gave me the skills I have sought for myself, I have no god to thank for my admirable abilities. In fact, genetics and the course of gene recessiveness and dominance is responsible for only the aptitude for musical skill or talent. My Grandfather was a wonderful Hungarian Violinist and Jazz Drummer in a 16 piece band. Both my parents, no talent, aptitude or interest in the playing of music whatsoever. If however through Eugenic practice, perhaps we would all be excellent musicians. Maybe with Eugenics, Cancer would not be an issue. Maybe with Eugenics, obesity would digress into genetic extinction. Maybe with Eugenics, more human beings would be much more productive assets to the progress and discovery of this world and existence. If We don’t play god, who will?

Noah's Ark

One of the more popular, well known fairy tales out of the bible is the story of Noah's Ark and the commonly plagiarized great flood myth. It is quite a ridiculous story it would appear to be written to entertain children, but in reality 6.9 BILLION people on this planet believe it to be truth and historical documentation. I'll summarize it in basic. God had created the entire universe and earth, aside from god's omniscience and ability to see the future, god becomes discontent and dissatisfied with the human beings he created, so he decides to murder every man, woman, boy, girl, disabled person, fetus and elderly on planet earth. All with the omission of a desert dwelling, 600 year old, alcoholic man and his family of seven. His name was Noah. God instructed Noah to to build a large water craft three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high. God also demanded that two of every species of animal male and female were to accompany Noah and his family along with all the provisions and basics necessary to nourish for over one hundred and fifty days. So Noah did what his god allegedly told him. You get the picture. Just think about it. Really consider this story and ask yourself if it could realistically happen. A bronze age man, building a giant boat (134 meters long,22.5 meters wide and 131 meters tall) carrying a low estimate of six million animals (two of every kind in existence, from every drastically different habitat and ecosystem of the world, perhaps more because of extinction to this day) eight human beings, all the food for the people and animals and all their excrement combined. Given the size of the ark, and the occupants, every person and animal had roughly 6.5 square millimeters to walk about on the ark. THIS NEVER HAPPENED IT IS COMPLETE BULLSHIT!!!!

Why Bother?

So, in continuation from the subject matter of the might of Yaweh. First, let's understand something. Omnipotence and Omniscience. It is one thing to be the most powerful being to ever exist, but to be omniscient means to know absolutely EVERYTHING. Past, present and future. This ties into the claim that "god has a plan." God has allegedly predestined every thing that has happened, is happening and is going to happen. He knows about it ahead of time, yet sometimes, he still just gets so angry about the things that happen. A perfect example out of many is the Biblical flood myth. God created the world and all the people who inhabit it, but they were just so "sinful" and crooked that it got to a point in which as described in the bible, god decided to kill every man, woman and child on planet earth by drowning them omitting a 600 year old man and his family of three in addition to 6,000,000 animals on a 134 meter long, 22.25 meter wide, 13.1 meter tall boat. Any way, how does it make any sense for a god to become so enraged by things he knows in full detail are going to happen? Well it doesn't. Furthermore, in recent years, you frequently see so many religious people protesting, lobbying and complaining about things they see as corrupt. If these people are protesting in the best interest of the preservation of the law of their god, What is the point? If they damn well understand that their god "has a plan," why would they make any attempt whatsoever to alter the progression and outcome of events? If it is understood that all things happen only if it is in accordance to the will of a their god, why reject it? Why pray? It is a simple untold truth, theists fight tooth and nail to protect their own interests and remain in some feeble state of control and power. In these times it is much more difficult for them and in a much grander perspective, to do so would be very selfish. A complete waste of time. This would not be much of an issue if there was no religion....

Know it all

I'v been thinking about it for quite some time now and as I realized when I was just a youngster, The concept and idea of an omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent god is ridiculous. It makes absolutely no sense whatsoever to the common analytical mind. It is laughable at best. a fairy tale believed by the sheepish minds of the masses. Just take a moment to think about it. I always hear people say "god gave us free will" or "god has a plan" a perfect plan "everything that has occurred, is occurring, or is going to occur is god's will and is a part of his divine plan." Well that's cool. So I guess that includes all the horrible atrocities that have happened and are happening on this small planet. These gods sound like total assholes to me. People also claim that their gods are always "perfect." any way, all that aside, it doesn't even matter because all of those claims are invalid. They don't make sense! In fact, it is all contradictory. Your god simply can not have a complete "plan" for all things when his "creation" has also been endowed free will. Think about it. A "plan" is inherently predestination meaning the past, present and future are set out ahead of time by someone or something, in this case, a god or deity who has created everything from nothing. Free will means having free independent choice or voulentary decision. In terms of philosophy and religion, the doctrine that the conduct of human beings expresses personal choice and is not simply determined by physical or divine forces. It is just that simple. A god can not have a perfect plan. Perfection does not exist and neither does a god of any kind.

Religilous

Bill Maher says it well:

"The irony of religion is that because of its power to divert man to destructive courses, the world actually could come to an end. A lot of people throughout the world believe in “end times”, where there will be a great reckoning or a rapture. But if one believes that the world is going to come to an end and perhaps imminently; does it not drain one’s motivation to improve life on earth while we are here? The plain fact is religion must die in order for mankind to live. The hour is getting very late to be able to indulge in having key decisions made by religious people, by irrationalists. Faith means making a virtue out of not thinking. It’s nothing to brag about, and those who preach faith and enable and elevate it, are intellectual slave-holders. Keeping mankind in a bondage to fantasy and nonsense that has spawned and justified so much lunicy and destruction already. Religion is dangerous because it allows human beings who don’t have all the answers to think that they do. Most people would think its wonderful when someone says “I’m willing lord, I’ll do whatever you want me to do.” Except that since there are no gods actually talking to us, that void is filled in by people with their own corruptions, limitations, and agendas. Anyone who says they know what happens after someone dies, is a liar. It is impossible to know. The only appropriate attitude for mankind to have about “the big questions” is not the arrogant certitude that is the hallmark of religion, but doubt. Doubt is humble and that’s what man needs to be considering. That human history is just a linary of getting things wrong. This is why rational people or anti-religionists must end their timidity, come out of the closet and assert themselves. Those who consider themselves only “moderately religious” really need to look in the mirror and realize that the solace and comfort religion may bring actually comes at a terrible price. If theists belonged to a political party or a social club that was tied to as much bigotry, misogyny, homophobia, violence and sheer ignorance as religion is, they would resign and protest. To do otherwise is to be an enabler a “Mafia wife” for the true devils of extremism that draw their legitimacy from the billions of their fellow travelers. If the world does come to an end here, or wherever, or if it limps into the future decimated by the effects of a religion-inspired nuclear terrorism, let’s remember what the real problem was. That we learned how to precipitate mass death before we got passed the neurological disorder of wishing for it."  

Should Misinformation Have an Opportunity in School?

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324338604578326150289837608.html

THIS is exactly the kind of thing that shouldn't and probably won't happen in the near future. Religion had a good run in misinformation *cough* I mean education, now it's time to forget the nonsense ancient fairy tales and move FORWARD to new discoveries,EQUALITY, PROGRESS and PRODUCTIVITY. Teaching truth. I dream of a day where kids will look back on religion and say "can you believe people used to believe that shit?"

Lost in Translation

Just how do you know? All the scriptures are up for interpretation. Did you know the KJV of the New Testament was completed (or officially re-written) by eight members of The Church of England in the year 1611 at that time, there were no original texts to translate. The oldest manuscripts were written down hundreds of years after the last apostle of Christ died. There are over eight thousand of these manuscripts, with none of them alike. The king James translators new used any of these anyway, instead, they used and manipulated previous translations to create a version their king and parliament would approve. Most versions of the bible in modern times are almost completely derived from the works of those members. Furthermore, for thousands of years religion especially Christianity and European Catholicism ruled the old world with an iron fist. The Spanish Inquisition is a prime example of this. You think a couple decades of tyranny is a long time? Try 300 years. Religion is always so quick to snuff out the first voice of reason at any opportunity it gets. Do that for a long time, control truth and information through genocide, that's how you get on top. That's how you force yourself into power.

Religious Greed. America's Acceptable Loss

They don't even have to pretend any more. Churches are businesses. They bring billions of dollars every year, no tax. Personally, I feel as if an all-powerful guy, who knows everything and has an indisputably perfect plan for the past, present and future doesn't really need money! People often say "Oh money is the root of all evil." Christians and their Bible will go as far as saying that all worldly possessions are worthless in comparison to their god and heaven (Matthew 6:19-21) So wouldn't this super smart god see far beyond the material object of money? The fact of the matter is, Churches require money to operate, they use funding allocated to pay for basic necessities and events. This is obviously a small percentage of the non-taxed net income, so churches use the remainder of the existing balance to do evil things like lobby against Gay Rights and financially aid other hate groups. The Terrorist organization known as the LDS Church has delivered a great example of this with the Utah Proposition 8. People should be free to do with their own hard earned money what they want without being pressured and scared into giving it to the churches to please a god. In short, there are no gods, only men and their businesses.