The Birthright

Agnosticism is boring

2011-05-11T21:25:00.000-07:00

After looking at the stupidity of a fellow youtuber (inflating my ego here), I’ve decided to decode the hidden insanity within Agnosticism, a form of philosophical thought which creates the personal perception that one is more intelligent than others with actual belief/faith, or non-belief, in hidden truth and Deity. The basic concept is that the truth value of certain claims—especially claims about the existence or non-existence of any deity, but also other religious and metaphysical claims—is unknown or unknowable (thanks Wikipedia). Although I will not be currently attacking the totality of Agnosticism, I will dismantle a common belief that goes with it. This is the belief that humans cannot be 100% certain of anything. As I will show, whoever uses these exact words is clearly not using their head. Certainty can be defined as either perfect knowledge that has total security from error, or the mental state of being without doubt (thanks again Wikipedia). The issue hidden within the statement above is that certainty means you are completely convinced/sure. The only real certainty one can have is complete certainty. The funny thing about certainty is the difference between it and being sure of something. Being sure of something does not mean you are certain unless you are 100% sure. Also, this percentage cannot decrease the more you think about it your claim or else you never really were certain in the first place. Certainty is also different from convinced. You can be convinced enough from evidence to make a verdict, but that does not mean you are completely certain that your decision is a right one. Being convinced means you have gained just enough information to create a new opinion. Completely convinced, however, can mean you are certain. To explain, being certain means you are 100% sure; you are convinced completely. Being 80%, 95%, or 99% sure of something means you are not certain. Thus, you cannot be any less than 100% certain, because certainty inherently means you believe in something 100%. This is similar to saying that something is super unique; unique already means there is nothing like it. If you are not certain, then you can only say you are not certain. You cannot say you are certain up to a specific percentage point. This clearly means you do not understand how to use such a word in the English language.

Now, to move on, there is a line between Agnosticism and Atheism, and many people cross it without realizing it. Being agnostic means that you know you cannot be completely sure of a belief you cannot prove is true. Thus, you may not wish to belief in anything you cannot prove, especially if it is in a spiritual nature. However, once you believe that something is untrue simply because you cannot prove the existence of it, you have entered the land of the atheist. This means that you cannot be agnostic and be convinced God does not exist. And I have to tell you, the God you do not believe in probably doesn’t exist because you are most likely creating a conclusion from false premises. The problem is that you cannot conclude which premises are false. If you know this to be true, and from this you do not derive a conclusion, then you are back in the world of the agnostics. Just don’t be 99% certain in your inability to be certain, because that does not make any sense. That would be uncertainty in your own uncertainty.

Expanding Thought

2011-04-04T13:07:00.000-07:00

I will state at the beginning that I believe one grows spiritually by searching for God through one’s own means instead of letting other people do it for you. All methods have some form of flaw, but the intent is where it counts. Analyzing data that one had no business in creating or compiling themselves is always a less satisfying use of one’s time. And if one has no ability to edit their beliefs, or formulate them from scratch, then they have no business believing, or having complete faith, in anything whatsoever. If any fact or fiction has the potential of creating a foundation for one’s knowledge, there can be no basis for existential thought or philosophical insight. Such ideas and concepts are not bound by empirical observation, nor are they created through careful examinations of the products of others, only compared. Data concerning such spiritual notions does relate to past evidence or occurrences, but in no way can such evidence help a man discover his own understanding of such beliefs. They may deliver direction, but the man must begin walking first.

The difference between belief and faith is that simple belief can waver as new facts are presented whilst true faith requires belief that the belief itself has merit. This alludes as to why blind faith is so dangerous: facts will not influence the people. Blind faith is the creation of those who deny using their own reflective consciousness for what they believe or pursue. It is for people who cannot change what they think or how they think it. True faith requires reason as to why such a belief has merit, even if there is no physical evidence supporting it. When one accepts an idea that does not allow corrections or revising, one can only believe the idea in its entirety or not at all. This explains why those who believe in Bible inerrancy, for example, are troubled when dealing with biblical contradiction. God is vengeful! God is merciful! Surely Deity ad infinitum is not so fickle?

Although Sartre may have thought that reflective consciousness limits humanity, it also allows us to explore possible value or worth within our own beliefs and reality. And without discovering such hidden values, how can we really understand our potential? Potential, firstly, is completely useless to us if it is misunderstood. Potentiality is about the possible, not the probable. And without understanding what is possible or probable, both limitations and the limitless lack meaning and value once there is nothing to observe such values. They are constructs of consciousness. If we are observing something, we create such values ourselves. Value, after all, is an idea. Ideas are intellectual creations and require consciousness for both creation and the bearing of metaphorical fruit. Thus, consciousness creates limitations, but it is through these limitations that we are able to understand the limitlessness of potentiality and gain meaning from it.

Assuming that consciousness creates limits is very problematic. There is no meaning in anything unless consciousness is there to derive meaning out of it. But if there is no meaning in something, why would it exist? Assuming that consciousness was not present, there is no meaning to limitlessness itself as this is a thing itself. It is an idea about value, or at least quantity. We must be conscious of limitlessness for it to mean something to us, but this in turn limits the object in question even though the current object itself is the idea of infinite potential or infinite outcomes.

The infinite is the clear opposite of absolute nonexistence. Yet they both yield the same value when void of observation: none. It turns out that nonexistence also has value when the realization that something is not present in reality occurs. The absence of any particular object, for example, unicorns, does gain existence (as an idea) once the idea is formulated, but it keeps its value through the realization of nonexistence. Thus, existence and nonexistence are the same in the realm of consciousness as these values are created by consciousness and are used to describe reality in an observational manner. How are we to know that reality or the universe would exist while no observation of it was present? What creates such observation? From this understanding of these ideas and principles, I conclude that observation (consciousness) must exist before reality or the physical universe. Consciousness spawns the limitless, from which consciousness creates limits.

This is easily seen through physics, which can be described as physical laws which limit what goes on in the universe. Physics operates through law, which can only operate through conscious control of such law. There is no meaning for law if all possibilities were actually manifested in reality; it would be chaos. But chaos is also an understanding of a state of being, an understanding that is meaningless without those who understand. The fact that the only existent reality (at least that we are a part of) is one in which operates through physical law is proof that the only probable universe is one that has law, unless the reality in which we are a part of is not a probable one. This also means that only a purposeful universe operates through law, assuming this reality has purpose. After all, all things have purpose, for they are representations of singular ideas within infinity. What does not have purpose does not exist, nor ever will exist in ideas, thoughts, or manifestations of any kind.

To reiterate, consciousness comes first. Pre-creation, as well as the ideas concerning future creation, is also limitless. This requires an infinite consciousness, or at least a limitless one (pun intended). The beginning of everything has a single point within infinity. This point has no beginning and no end as it is infinite and time is not a concept at this current state. All possibility is infinite as thoughts and ideas about such a subject are infinite. But, once again, where do such ideas or thoughts come from? It is consciousness, and an eternal one at that. As reality is created from such a point of infinite possibilities, not all such possibilities are realized. Either probability takes effect, or it is simply a matter of purpose. What begins with a clean and concise point of infinity, or infinite eternal consciousness, ends with a probable and purposeful creation. The totality of all possibility and thought must come from a totality of all possible observations, spawning from a single point, an all-encompassing consciousness.

The Theory of Information

2011-02-07T23:02:00.000-08:00

I am noticing a trend in psychology, sociology, and humanity itself. It is our tendency to rely. Rely on what? Information. When I say information, I do not simply mean new information (and I do not mean the latest tweet or the newest status update). Perfect information does not exist in the finite realm (or at least our personal one), this is clear. We are not computers and cannot update our minds, thoughts or emotions using a constant stream of new information. Information stagnates, it goes bad, yet many of us desperately hold on to this same information because we do not know what else is out there. And when I say us, I mean millions, if not billions of people. The problem is that there is no real difference between information and misinformation. Information does not necessarily have to be correct, and it usually isn’t entirely correct when you consider each individual’s own viewpoint. There is simply eternal truth and personal truth (eternal truth can be shortened to Truth, but I avoid simply capitalizing it in this post as it can get confusing). Every bit of information that lies outside of these two categories is not important. This information could be correct for the most part, but if it is not relevant to the lives of any individual human being (or otherworldly being of some sort) and is not a universal or cosmic reality, then it is useless. In this case, both information and misinformation (or disinformation) has the same value, zero.

The issue I am highlighting is our continued acceptance of old information. I can point to both science and religion in this case, but right now I will be talking about science. The problem with science is the scientific theories. If a man formulates a theory that is supported by empirical evidence, then the theory stands as long as a better theory does not come along and new evidence disproving such a theory does not become too well-known. This is the problem which still haunts current science. I will be covering two such theories in this piece: the big bang theory and our current idea of tectonic plate movements. I may discuss evolution as well; in fact, I will discuss it right now.

Evolution exists, most people know this. It is almost scientifically proven. The problem is that evolution is believed to be both slow and random. I know that animals evolve over time, but there is no evidence to support that such evolutions happen very slowly. You find very few fossils of an animal in mid-transition between two related animals. We can find relations and families within the animal kingdom, but gradual evolution is hard to spot (even though it took millions and millions of years of animal life to create both the dominance of mammals as well as us). Creationists, the fools that they are, find this to disprove evolution entirely, but that is ridiculous. The theory is just incomplete, and needs some updating (which will not happen any time soon). I believe in the intelligent creation of life as we know it. I believe, I know, that we were all designed beforehand. Evolution was not as random as people think. We truly wouldn’t have a purpose if we just appeared randomly. The truth of evolution lies in between the creationist view and the modern evolutionist view. These two extremes are NOT mutually exclusive.

Now to switch gears, we turn to space. The big bang theory is complete crap. It is so full of crap that I do not even feel like capitalizing it. There is a fundamental problem with this theory, and that is the lack of evidence. Even if you find a scientist who is very knowledgeable in this subject, he or she would have no idea what they would be talking about. It is a very simple theory, and that is one of its flaws. Something came from nothing. They never allude to the cause of this sudden creation of the universe because they don’t know what caused it. Of course, they don’t know anything. The whole problem with the theory is that it is derived from human observation and discovery. Do you know how we guess the age of the universe? By finding either the age of the chemical elements, the age of the oldest star clusters or the age of the oldest white dwarf stars. Do you see the problem yet? It all depends on what we are capable of discovering. What if we are incapable of finding older areas of the universe because they are too far away? Isn’t it possible that the universe was not all created at once, but in parts? This isn’t that hard to understand, after all, we live in an evolutionary universe. It evolves over time. It does not seem too unlikely that there are young areas and old areas. This also would mean that the universe is bigger than we think it is, and I also find this highly likely.

You can also think of it this way. What if every galaxy was created intelligently, at an individual level? Yes, the mass needed would come from somewhere, but mass can turn into energy and vice versa. God can be a natural source for such energy; although, it need not come directly from God to be created intelligently (this would take hours to explain). You could also consider that the age of everything around us is fairly new because of the possibility that some of the really old suns, planets, etc. get destroyed. This could create new dust clouds, which could then condense billions of years later to form new suns or galaxies. Another problem is finding radiation or light from stars or galaxies that are even farther away. Surely there are things too far away. Hell, we can barely find information on planets outside our solar system. They aren’t energy producing (besides gravity). You can’t spot them. Also, we cannot truly understand something which we do not witness ourselves. You cannot compose a theory about universe creation and simply assume it is right. This is what the scientific community does on a daily basis. People look at the big bang as fact; even I did as a teenager. The problem is the theory doesn’t actually make sense. It lacks substance and it is entirely dependent on our own abilities (or lack of in this case). Please note that I do not have a creationist viewpoint. I believe that the universe is even older than what people currently believe, not younger. I believe that it is possible for space to be much older than 13 billion years. I believe in hundreds of billions of years.

The issue (of stale information) time and time again is located in our textbooks, when age-old information is presented to children in a matter-of-fact way that presents such information as eternal truths. These are simply personal truths of the scientific community; the same way that creationism is a personal truth of many people in the religious community. Let me make clear that it is impossible to differentiate personal truths from eternal truths in a finite existence such as this. Part of it is derived from our material existence, the other from our lack of intelligence. Even if the whole human race had an IQ of over 300, this would still be impossible for us (although we would be closer). Eternal truth(s) can only be gained when an understanding of real eternity appears before the individual. This does not happen while living in the flesh. Luckily, we as individuals need not grasp such infinite forms of truth during our life. After all, we are incapable of doing so. This does not make us incapable of making earth a perfect place. A utopian society can and will emerge, but evil will always be present as long as we have free will. Evil can decrease to a very small degree, but it is always present in the material as long as we possess choice.

Now we must get back on track, I have distracted myself for far too long. This next topic requires you to watch something first. Trust me here, this is important information that everyone should know as it revolutionizes our entire idea of geology. Simply focus on the video and then the clips in these two websites:

http://lightwizzard.com/watch/earth-is-growing.html#player-notes

http://www.nealadams.com/nmu.html

(*Recently found out that the player in the first website automatically goes from clip to clip, theory originally came around in the 50s) What these videos show is that planets grow, basically (at least the solid ones). This actually explains a LOT in terms of our earth’s history as well as formations on other planets, like mars and the moon (as seen in the clips). It does make perfect sense; landmasses have a crust while the basalt layer is under the ocean. The original outer crust of the earth is seen on the continents, this layer has been braking up over millions of years. The reasons given for the impossibility of seduction also make sense. Every bit of force (when two objects collide) is met with an opposite and equal reaction, or something along those lines. If a tectonic plate were to hit another plate, both sides would be forced up or down. Both plates are the same thickness, being at least 6 miles! It is impossible for one side to go under the other unless the plates were wedge-shaped, but they aren't. The other problem is that the layer of magma underneath is even denser, you can not force an object with smaller density into an object with higher density. Also remember that the mantle underneath is mostly sold rock, but put under immense pressure and heat so that it acts like a liquid. This new concept shows how our oceans grew (although the videos cannot show all of the shallow seas and the rise and fall in ocean levels, it is just fitting the continents together after shrinking the size of the earth. The increase in ocean size can then be seen as one of the causes of dinosaur extinction, as dinosaurs were migratory animals (many of them anyway). If your path is blocked off, you will eventually die. This is not just about food, but about breeding. Now there are other causes. Sometimes, for instance, there would be too many effective carnivores in an area and many would starve from a lack of prey (or left over prey). There is still the possibility of a few comets here and there, although that would not be a direct cause of all the deaths. There was also the problem of the dinosaurs’ very small brain.

One of the biggest reasons that the scientific community will not accept this any time soon is the fact that over a hundred years worth of scientific theory would collapse (remember that the idea of plate tectonics originally came from Leonardo da Vinci, although I don’t know if he also believed in subduction). There is also the problem of having to obtain data concerning why/how the earth expands. I have a few ideas, but I am not an expert in this field. This is a big issue as it clearly changes how we view planets in general. The interesting part, I’ve found, is that mars still shows signs of growth, even though it has long since lost its magnetic field. It is almost a dead planet, both inside and out, yet it grows for some reason. I am just utterly fascinated by this new scientific idea.

Obviously, the latter discovery was what propelled me to write this post, although a few days ago I did want to write a casual debunking of the big bang theory. I wished to mostly avoid religion this time as it does not play a hugely significant role in this analysis of both science and human thinking in this current context. This does incorporate my beliefs about the universe, which of course includes spiritual beliefs, but that is for another time. I may have a deeper analysis of problematic sociological issues, but this post is done.

Chapter on Proof (old post, incorporates some old beliefs)

2011-02-07T22:54:00.000-08:00

Proving the existence of God is one of the more impossible, yet pursued, actions of humankind. Religion, although a personal experience for the individual, is usually the spiritual medium used to attain such an impossible result. Philosophy is also used, but to a lesser extent. A human proving the existence of God could similarly be compared to a bacterium proving the existence of Pluto and then convincing NASA that it should be re-categorized as a planet. It is obvious to anyone how lacking our senses are. Other animals have better individual senses compared to us, and we only have five of them. On average, we do not possess a sixth sense. I’m not even convinced psychics really exist. It’s problematic enough proving whether individual ghosts exist. We are unable to perceive the spiritual realm. It’s hard enough fully understanding the physical one.

The real point of this post is a general response to a popular, yet simple-minded, question posed by atheists. Can you prove that God exists? No, but can you prove that you even exist? Can you prove to me that I exist, or that the people around you exist? One answer to this question would be that you exist because of your ability to think and understand your sense of self. But thoughts are created by the mind, the same way your senses come from your brain. Your brain can be altered or you could be in a coma or you could be part of a matrix. What proof do you have that this universe exists if you cannot prove that you have a 100% understanding of your surroundings when your limited number of senses was never perfect to begin with? Even if you can prove that the earth exists because you perceive it, why is it here? Why are you on it? If something exists because you experience it with everyone else, who was the first to experience it? Who was the first to experience, to comprehend, to imagine the universe? We exist in a world imagined by another, a world that is less than .000000001% of a universe that is in God’s mind. Although this is a basic way of thinking about it, I feel this form of explanation improves understanding of this topic (how the universe and us exist). There could even be other universes outside the realms of human comprehension. The point I am elaborating here is that dismissing God as imagination is dismissing reality itself. It is at least denying yourself a true understanding of your sense of self. Ignoring your origin is the same as ignoring the very foundation of reality. It is the ultimate lie that a human can pronounce to him/herself.

The reasoning which atheists generally use is quite faulty. They believe that when you cannot prove the existence of something, it does not exist. The Agnostic approach is a bit better, stating that you cannot really prove much, so you should not be 100% sure of anything. They sit right in the middle of belief and disbelief. I'm not going to write a whole piece defending agnosticism here. There is nothing great about not being able to put full faith in God, and if such a philosophy prevents you from doing this, should leave it. But hey, your beliefs are yours. It is true that atheism has been growing in this country. I belief part of this is attributable to a growing number of parents not going to church (or any other house of worship) since they didn't like going as a kid or teen. Losing touch with one's spirituality is certainly possible in our generation; life keeps getting in the way, whether it be work or play. Anyway, this generation of parents do not bring their kids to church, and these kids do not grow up with spiritual understanding, reasoning, and education. Faith is foreign to them as it does not pertain to their life. Such people can only gain a minimal understanding of God based on their own observation. If they took a comparative religion course in high school or a philosophy class in college, they have the potential to improve their understanding of such concepts of God and religion. Even better, some people may get invited to go to church by their friends, which usually produces better results. The problem is that teens and young adults do not always wish to educate themselves about foreign subjects, or join different communities. These problems I've listed are pretty general, and I have yet to cover many other reasons, like a person's general characteristics. Some people can only live material lives, and that's just life. Humans always vary in opinion, traits, and beliefs.
I wish to highlight one more problem which seems to plague individuals. The issue lies with mainly with the bible, although similar problems also lie with the Koran and the Torah. Atheists usually misunderstand the bible, and even Christians can have issues with this. The bible needs to be looked at as a set of stories with moral implications (usually). Although several events in the bible did happen, not all of them did. Interpreting such stories as lies is one mistake some people make. Another one is looking at the book as a way of controlling the lives of people. Personally, I don't see anything wrong with the ten commandments, but maybe people think they cannot reach their full potential when bounded by rules and norms. Denying morality, though, seems to be the best way to limit a human's future potential when considering spiritual growth. One last thing I will cover is human psychology. Everyone wants to be part of a team, and when you are incapable of deciding your own form of spiritual guidance, or simply cannot find truth, you may feel secure with people of a similar standing. You may fit in with a group of people who think they have the upper hand in life because that is all they are thinking about. Maybe you cannot rethink your own thoughts or cannot self-actualize to the best of your ability. You may think it silly for someone to pray to something they cannot see, but such thoughts are the same as idol worshipers (similar anyway). You may think you are smart for having a different take on life than most other people in the world, but there are reasons why you are in the minority. Believing everyone is stupid for something you are incapable of understanding is simply ignorance. By parading your apparent intelligence, you are simply advertising your lack of it.

Old vs. New cont.

2010-10-23T17:33:00.000-07:00

This is just part of a very long personal message I left on youtube, but it is good enough for an actual post, so I will include it here. It has to do with biblical interpretations. I'll have a real post out soon detailing atheist belief/arguments instead of this internal Christian debate.

Only understanding the literal portion of the bible is a real shame since you are missing out on a lot. You have to be open to multiple interpretations or you will not learn as much from it. The text of the bible has so many levels of understanding, it's crazy. I believe a man that knows he does not know everything, not even what he reads, but has faith that the Lord will provide answers to him in time has even more faith than a man who simply believes in everything said about/from the Lord. The man who is unsure about his beliefs requires more faith in life, as he understands the uncertainties in it. He is more prone to searching God for answers as he knows he will not learn nearly enough until the day he meets with Him. The other man is ignorant in that he believes God resides in the bible. He believes he already knows God now that he has read scripture, already understands the rules of his religion, and that no more effort is needed. Now there are obviously more examples than just these two people as there are no absolutes in terms of human behavior; I'm just making a general point using this example. Searching for God in life is marvelous, but this requires more than just reading and following a book. Your whole life must be devoted to the task, which will not be rewarded until death. The bible has some excellent lessons on morality and faith, which can be applied to real life, but many of these lessons are only found after reading under the lines. The New Testament has more actual happenings in it, and can be understood more in a literal sense, except for what Jesus said. He used a lot of figurative language as it is impossible to accurately describe God in any human language (or words in general). Interpretations take place of the words not included. You can interpret his moral stories and actions in multiple ways. His stories (such as the good Samaritan) help explain his teachings. Complex explanations would not have worked well in that time period anyway, and his messages needed to be told orally with ease so that his teachings could be spread without too much difficulty.

Old vs. New

2010-09-11T20:39:00.000-07:00

          I have never understood fundamentalist belief. A literal translation of the whole Bible is not only ignorant when looking at the real world, but it ignores much of the Bible’s purpose. Its purpose is to help guide the individual through moral struggles, and to learn a bit about God in the process (at least this is my interpretation). I am currently debating a fundamentalist through personal comments on YouTube, although I have not gotten a recent response in over a week and I have been doing most of the debating (he sucks as it). I don't know if he is unable to come up with a response as my arguments are very solid, or has stopped caring (not my problem). He may not be able to open his mind and understand the points I try and get across to him. But this may just be beacuse he is new to the religion (I'm not him, I can only guess). Oh well. I wanted to touch on the subject on Bible imperfections. There are ton of them when you interpret the book incorrectly. There is much wisdom contained within it, but this is lost when you are unable to read under the lines. I do not believe a literal translation can really develop your soul/spirit past a certain point. You can devote your life to the Bible, but a literal understanding will not give you new knowledge. Once you read it, that’s it. I understand that there are also different literal translations available, but you get the point. I had developed a thought earlier today about the difference between the Old and New Testament in terms of the Lord’s characteristics. My recent thought involves some general examples in the Bible which contain similar conclusions when paired with my reason. All of these examples which I don’t really feel like listing involve the deaths of thousands, if not millions, of humans and the belief that these were done by the hand of God.
          If God had really destroyed/killed a number of humans in the Old Testament, then it is safe to assume that God is not much of a loving God. This conflicts with the teachings of Jesus and the general theme of the New Testament that God is love (but love is not God). God would not destroy humans that he loved. He would have lost love for or hated humans because of their sins, although God is not capable of hate as that is basically an emotion of evil thought (an imperfect one). Why would God create a creature race which he would not love in its entirety? The answer a fundamentalist may give is free will or the freedom to sin (although I still have yet to ask one). They might say that God does not love sinners, or those who sin on purpose, or those who are evil. But this conflicts with the fact that God is all-knowing. Why would anyone create something they know they will hate later, or destroy later for that matter? Why create something you will need to destroy when you can just not create it in the first place? God is perfect, and all of His creation has purpose. A perfect being would not create something imperfect without reason. He knows of our moral troubles, and will not personally kill us off after we make bad decisions. This is why the Bible cannot be read literally; it doesn't work.
          Besides ignoring some historical and scientific facts, the reasoning and philosophy behind the New and Old Testament are different. The teachings are different, and many of them do not overlap. For example, God never required sacrifices of animals and never will. Why would His creations kill other creations which He created? The early teachings included animal sacrifice. This correlates with early human beliefs in gods which are quick to anger; gods to be feared. The belief was that a god needed blood of either humans or animals, and that sacrifices were a sign of both faith and appeasement. However, the God of the Old Testament takes a 180 degree turn in the New Testament. This does not surprise me as the teachings' source moves from a tribe of people (ancient Hebrews) as well their prophets to one man (and the stories of him told by others). But I do not understand why a fundamentalist does not see the problem in this. It is like they are worshiping a god with split personalities. An all-knowing and all-loving God would not create something He eventually dislikes. If He loses any of these characteristics (all-knowing and all-merciful/loving), He is not perfect. But a God with such attributes would not commit such actions portrayed in the Old Testament as these actions would mean that such attributes never described such a Deity in the first place. Our concepts of God differ as time passes, and this can be seen not just in the Bible, but in the emergence of religious belief in general.

The Soul Series, Expanded

2010-09-06T21:22:00.000-07:00

It's been months since my last post as my summer has been quite busy. I have run into a bit of a wall in terms of continuing my soul series. By beliefs and reasoning are still incomplete, so I think it would be unwise to try my hand at a long and descriptive post at this time. I thought about writing about the importance of age in the human race and the experience of time for a finite species, but enthusiasm for this topic has been waning. I figured though that I must at least edit some of the points which I expanded upon earlier. My main correction is the origin of the soul. I have conflicting information on this subject, and have yet to make a final judgment. However, I will say that sequence of events exists in the eternal, and when I say that souls have always existed, this is not necessarily true. Even the Son of the Trinity has not always existed as the Lord came first, but in a more complete Source. I won't go into trinitization at this point since this is a short post, but it was (at its most basic form) to create a God which did not suffer from having an ultimate, infinite personality. God is infinite, but thanks to trinitization, His personality is no longer so. It is also thanks to this that the Father is able to have an experiential existence as well as an eternal one. The Father, Son, and Holy Ghost/Spirit are three beings which exist for eternity, are consciously aware of the universe, and experience the eternal similar to that of a finite being would if he/she were to become eternal and had an expanding consciousness (although it is more complicated than this). The three are one, yet separate. This means God does not have every possible infinite experience all at once, but in a sequential state. Through this form, His parts are able to relate better to creation, a time-limited existence (only including physical). I am only glossing over this topic; I am no expert in anything, really. I just wished to highlight the importance of sequence which was not present in my earlier argument in support of reincarnation. But I would also like to bring forth a new argument supporting incarnation in general. This is how Jesus came about, through incarnation. Even if reincarnation is rare or almost nonexistent, one cannot doubt incarnation (at least in some cases). I am just wondering if this is how the entire human race's souls appear on Earth, or if they really do develop on earth through God-searching activities.

The Idea of the Soul, Part 3

2010-06-23T21:41:00.000-07:00

My recent posts have been all about the soul and the concepts surrounding it, but I’m going to focus a bit more on the body this time (maybe). This post will be much shorter as I have less information about this topic, but I felt it was important all the same. I have come to the realization last night that long-term memories probably don’t come (originate) from the brain, but the soul instead. Our soul is made up of our consciousness. After all, you remain conscious after you die. This form of consciousness is able to recall everything in its past life as that is one of the few clear things many people experience during NDE’s. But what is even more interesting is that people remember their NDE’s in the first place. Remember that the body is clinically dead at this point. The brain would not be operating enough at this point to remember anything, especially since nothing happened directly to the body (except death).

These experiences don’t even happen to the body, so why would the brain remember them? I have known for a while now that our consciousness is saved within the soul, but I have not thought enough about the relationship between our consciousness and the body and the mind. If we are dead, how do we have memories of it? One answer would be that the memories created were stored within our consciousness and not the brain at all. Now I’m not saying that there are no long-term memories stored in the brain. As information needs repeated access, then it moves from short-term to long-term. But this is simply information storage, similar to that of a computer. There is no emotion involved as it is all facts, numbers, and words.

Essentially, I believe the brain works as a device which receives information from the soul (or consciousness) as well as the physical environment. I believe that since memories are all stored in our consciousness, this must be where the brain retrieves them (at least if it cannot find the information within itself). When you consider the fact that memories are easier to recall when certain emotions are attached to them, emotion seems to connect the brain more closely to our soul. As we draw out the emotions, so do the memories. But this is only part of the whole picture (and this part is still just a theory of mine, I don’t have much in terms of evidence). Also consider the fact that when hypnotized, it is far easier recalling an event than doing so regularly. I believe hypnotism too, through intense relaxation, makes it easier for the body and the soul (consciousness) to communicate with one another. Now I’m not sure why this is as I am not a hypnotist, but it makes sense in my view. Hypnotism, in this case, is simply a way for the brain to receive greater amounts of information from our consciousness. Hypnotism relaxes the body, so I’m guessing that when one’s body is relaxed then communication with the soul increases. The same sort of thing happens when people experience OBE’s when meditating. This topic is obviously moving towards sleep and dreaming, but considering I can’t even control my own lucid dreams, I’m far from being an expert in that area.

The Idea of the Soul, Part 2

2010-05-14T13:24:00.000-07:00

   I disagree with the popular (among certain groups) idea of judgment after death. It is believed by many Christians that the soul goes to Heaven or Hell after the death of the human body. I have several questions in response to this. My first question is why a soul would require judgment in the first place, and why are there only 2 destinations? I want to stress that no one has really talked about where this judgment takes place or how long it occurs. I also don't see the reasoning behind it. It all sounds a bit silly to me as it makes life a bit pointless in its own little way. If our actions are punished, then free will becomes a bit meaningless as one could not actually learn from his or her actions (assuming one has not learned enough in his or her own lifetime to change oneself). These actions would represent one life on earth. It is given that we learn much in our time here, but growing one's own spirituality takes great time and effort. I doubt very much that the Lord would keep us from attaining the maximum growth possible by sending us straight to Hell if we don't repent for a some sins. I know it's more complicated than that, but the basics are there. If we are God's children, then the Lord wishes to be with every one of us for all of eternity. Would the Lord lose His love for us because of misbehavior? If so, His love was not that strong to begin with (the signs of an imperfect being). Sure the Lord hates sin (or I should say is saddened by it), but only hate for an individual would make the idea of Hell a reality. If Hell were to be real, the Lord would be sad for anyone ending up there, but it would not be a permanent destination in any case. I believe in flexibility and the power of freedom. Souls should be free to venture anywhere they wish in existence as long as their level of spiritual strength allowed it.
   I will now get back to the topic of eternal judgement, which would drive fear in many individuals. I have said before that fear defeats the purpose of free will as it would still force our actions. I wish to say that love through free will is a great thing indeed, but you cannot love what you fear, as fear can only lead to hate. This is why I appose the words "God fearing", it just doesn't make sense how a person can be God fearing and love God as well. You also cannot enter Heaven without love, so I'm afraid these people will need to come to grips with this truth at some point after death (although they will most likely be in the presence of the Lord before realizing such a thing). Harsh judgement (in various degrees) followed by putting people into one of two categories for all of eternity will make any rational thinker fearful if that pertains to his or her own beliefs. I will state once more that I believe in flexibility. I also believe that the human idea of justice has crept into the bible multiple times, distorting the words of the Lord. But that wasn't such a big issue at the time as it was made for the people of that era. It was their text with their rules. I'm not saying the Bible was void of real truth, but human understanding of righteousness only goes so far. The bible was written by humans after all. In my opinion, the Old Testament conforms more with the human's need for justice as the New Testament deals more with the world's need for love. These are just general themes  Many religious rules of the past were created to assist the lifestyles of people or a culture from a specific time period. This happened in the bible as well. What is troubling is when people in our current generation take such past laws and apply them to current circumstances. I'm not talking about the 10 Commandments, but smaller and more debatable things which many people seem to pick up (such as the apparent sinful lifestyle of being gay, I will never understand that one, I guess people would have to view procreation from some holy perspective). What I'm trying to say is that it is easy for parts of humanity to mistake its own words for that of God's. It is also easy for some to use God's word for their own agenda. I will say this right now: God will not support any form of hate, even if you think it is righteous one way or another. Hate is the opposite of God, Satan is hate incarnate.
   I will now be moving into a more controversial topic, in the sense that I can't really back it up in any way. I'm going to go into more detail about what Hell could be like. My view is that the human form of Hell is dark and lonely, which would be this area before such judgment would occur. Most of what I believe the spiritual world to be is darkness (in the same sense that outer space is dark). There has been countless testimony that when people die, they see a tunnel. There is darkness all around and light at the center. In my view, this only occurs as the soul is in transit to Heaven, the darkness being part of the spiritual plane or void. Now there could also be another form of hell (like the description we are used to) that is for Satan and his followers. I don’t think you could go to this area, however, unless you knew about it beforehand and did welcome it. This part is where my beliefs get a little iffy since I don’t pay as much attention to Hell (I prefer learning about where I’m actually going when I die). All I can say is if this form of Hell actually exists, then it most likely attracts souls to it (the souls that were not attracted to Heaven or the light of Christ/God). I've read enough about the possibilities of Hell that I feel I need to include it within my own form of religious philosophy, but not in a way that affects the whole message. Looking at things this way though creates 3 sorts of destinations or places (this is being very general as I'm sure the spiritual realm is chock full of stuff). You have the part of the spiritual world where all souls start out eventually (which can be a Hell of sorts for individuals), and then similar versions of Heaven and Hell. However, it is my idea that our souls are free to go wherever we please (assuming it is possible based on the power of our spirit, I said this earlier). If God is to support the notion of free will, then this must remain possible. We have our own will throughout all of eternity, not just on earth, and it is our right to use that freedom. I am also going to say that if we reject God, then it is possible that we reject our own freedom of choice as it was a gift from the Lord to begin with. If this is true, then it would fit with the idea that we send our own selves to Hell or Heaven (I don't know if I would support this viewpoint though).
   I will now pose another question. When did human beings gain souls in the first place? It is scientific fact that evolution occurs, it is not against the Christian doctrine either (Charles Darwin was a Christian after all). There is also the belief that only humans possess immortal souls, but at what point in evolution do they gain these souls? Also, if the soul is created on Earth, when does it happen? I’m going to say this clearly, the physical world cannot produce souls. There is no way it could as the soul is not a physical being. I will also address that humans are animals, and do not differ too drastically from other mammals (so shouldn’t animals have souls as well?). One can address this problem by saying that all living creatures have souls, and that these souls live on in some dimension or plane of existence, but now we run into another problem. How many cells are necessary for a soul to exist in the physical world? Do bacteria also have souls? Maybe not, but I can say that a soul may depend on whether a living organism has reached self-awareness (or at least that is a possible thought). It is hard to draw the line in such a case as the human body is composed of cells, so it is also possible that a certain number of these things are needed. This whole theme gets me to the story of Adam and Eve, the story humans long ago created as a story of their birth. They didn't have much science (or carbon dating) at that point, so they had to fill the gap with stories to improve their understanding. It is sad to see people who still believe in this story as truth, as it betrays all scientific fact. I believe that the churches which preach such nonsense use this story, not just because they take the Bible's contents literally, but because it creates a relatively easy understanding of the world we live in and creates their own spiritual order. It puts man at the top of the food chain and makes them spiritually superior by default. It then simplifies the idea of the soul and supports judgement at the end of life. Not only does it do this, but it supports the idea that humans are given souls at birth, or that the soul is a part of them. Now to be fair, I don't think this story ever mentioned the soul, but people in this day and age create their own meaning out of the story based on future passages of the Bible. I believe people who take the Bible literally up to this point believe that the soul is born along with the human. In fact, it is common belief that the soul is developed with the fetus, but to me that is complete nonsense. I have faith that souls already existed beforehand, and my previous point explains why.

Now my goal here is not to find specific answers, just to ask good questions. Following a religion blindly is no way to develop one's own spiritual side. There has to be some actual thinking and decision making. Actions speak louder than words, but our actions are driven by the mind (conscious vs. subconscious). The mind is driven by how we perceive things (or maybe it's the other way around), which is shaped by our environment/experiences. Religious thinking done by the masses has not gone through enough development in my opinion. Many Christians, which I have witnessed, only focus on the idea of sin. Only thinking of what constitutes as sin and how people will be saved from it leads more to confrontation than development (i.e. dehumanizing homosexuals). Focusing on human sin puts too much emphasis on the physical world and human action. It does not give enough attention to the spiritual world which I am most interested in. This life happens in the blink of an eye when compared to eternity. What I want is a better focus and understanding of this eternity rather than our short lives on earth and why perfection is apparently so important. A simple concept of "sinners go to Hell while those who repent are sent to Heaven" seems too narrow-minded and boring. We were put on this earth to learn, and only learning about the present situation - our current lives - will not lead to much spiritual development if that is just what our minds and soul are focused on. We need to turn some of our focus to God while our souls are present on Earth. Loving God in Heaven is too easy, finding that love and intensifying it here produces better results. It was said that to reach God (or go to Heaven), humans must remove all earthly attachments, but that includes ideology. If the human race were to focus not on the wrongs of humanity, but the good things (such as love and compassion), then I believe we could move closer to a utopian society. This involves removing ideologies which only hurt the spirits of its practitioners. This society would not be free of its problems and hardships, but it would certainly be better than the world of today.

The Idea of the Soul

2010-04-12T17:31:00.000-07:00

Today I’m going to pose some questions about the human soul. I was addressing an earlier question about the possibility of reincarnation, and although I believe in reincarnation myself (although it is not for everyone and possibly very rare), I did not have a great supporting argument for my belief. I can now support my view with the following question. If the human soul lasts for eternity in a realm where time has no meaning, is it not possible that our souls existed before Earth was ever created? If the realm of Heaven always remains constant while our universe (the physical world) remains on a horizontal timeline, then I believe the human soul originated from Heaven and entered the physical world, not the other way around. In the case, for those who do not go to Heaven (at least not right away), those souls have only prolonged their return trip home. I dove deeper in an earlier post about the growth of the spirit through our actions on Earth and how it plays a part in our afterlife, so I will not provide any more depth at this time. However, I do believe that all souls of creation will make it back to Heaven eventually and we shall be reunited once more.

So where does reincarnation come in? If it is true that the human soul was already created, then the soul was simply inserted into the body of a fetus on Earth. My question is that if it is this simple, then there would not be a big problem with it happening to one soul more than once. This hypothesis (as I’ll put it) moves away from the general thought that our soul is judged after death and we simply go to Heaven or Hell for eternity. In my perspective, this notion is simply ridiculous. The spiritual world, a place where individuals should be able to explore the universe as well several dimensions, does not fit with this simplistic idea where death is a win/lose situation. It is an amazing process for everyone and one’s decisions in that dimension (or spiritual plane I call it) as well as on Earth affect future experiences. I believe that we can shape these future experiences to a certain extent with our own preconceptions and decisions as well as the many other entities we will come to meet (be it dead family members, random spirits, angels, or demons). This coincides with my other belief that we are put on this earth as a learning experience for our soul, so it is possible that some souls will need multiple experiences.

In this post I am defending the idea of reincarnation, as it fits in fine with my hypothesis of the afterlife and my own sense of logic (I may have downplayed logic in my last post, but that was in a sociological perspective). I may be a Christian, but I am open-minded enough to guess that the human preconception of the afterlife may indeed be false (although I mainly just focused on the traditional Christian perspective and completely ignored the idea of purgatory). Well since I failed to mention purgatory, I will mention it now. In our spirit’s quest for learning, we may face the need to erase past sin (like not showing enough love) through a punishment (I use that word loosely) of some sort, but I believe that this would not last forever (which coincides with the idea of purgatory) and that we would preside over these punishments ourselves (you could call these punishments damnation, but it is not the same damnation which souls would apparently face in Hell). I have stated earlier that I believe we judge ourselves when we enter Heaven and that God does not take part in this. If the Lord loves unconditionally, there would be no room for judgment. He is love.

recent findings

2010-04-09T21:09:00.001-07:00

I’m noticing that I am becoming distant to this world. Very little seems logical, but logic doesn’t matter much in the first place. I think you will find that logic is not too important. It certainly doesn’t affect consumer behavior. I will go over a few things that have been bothering me the past week. Firstly it is the republican party, or at least the politicians (which I guess you could say is the party). I don’t have much of a problem with Mike Steele (I’ll call him), squandering money at a strip club is nothing new, and in the end it is very hilarious (although not for him). After all, it is republican funds he was wasting. And now everyone wants to fire him? For $2,000? Please. The biggest reason that man was hired was for his color (and I’m not trying to be racist here). Yes he is smart, has a good education, and some other stuff. But the republican party is also known as the white party. Now I enjoy being white (I think, it can suck in the summer), but involving one particular race for a political party is not, well, equal. Yeah there are some mixes of minorities in there, but there isn’t much. Steele was hired to show people that the republican party supposedly has integration goin on, and after this scandal they are thinking of dropping him like loose luggage (that is my analogy, and I will use it how I please!) But I am doubting he will actually get fired, I mean, he’s all they got (I am trolling, and I look forward to your letters). But this little fiasco is not what I’m all worried about. I’m worried about how far right the right is moving. It looks to me like they want to be neo-Confederates. Virginia now has a Confederate history month, and it is the party where you are most likely to find the Confederate flag. Now I’m not going to talk about the present racism in the GOP, I have to do that for class and don’t feel like doing it twice, however, I will share with you my greatest concern, which does not have hugely to do with politics, although it does have some roots (that was definitely a run-on sentence, lol).

I am wondering where all the love on this Earth is being misled. I certainly can’t find it in the news, because simply, that doesn’t make news. I have yet to see real love in politics; well liberals have some of it, but not too much for their opposition. I will give an example, which is inequality. I cannot fathom how a good person can believe inequality is a good thing. You can argue that ignorance plays a part, but it’s hard for me to think that ignorance can control a good person. Healthcare for everyone is an attempt to create equality, and I support it. I also support a progressive tax system which taxes the rich heavily since they will still make a lot of money anyway. Hell, they don’t really need it. The government needs it, and you could suggest lowering spending, but lower tax revenues put us in this deficit mess in the first place (Oh no, the obvious evil liberal influence is present once more, taxing success, oh nooooooos). I believe that people should earn more money if their job is more difficult or requires more education, but your really don’t need more than a few million dollars. My entire lust for cash is for the ability to buy a regular size house WITH a hot tub. Frankly, the hot tub is more important than the house. Although a nice house would be nice, I’m not taking it with me when it’s my time to go. I prefer leisure over money, as long as I make enough to make that leisure worthwhile (I can’t entertain myself with a paperclip all day, although I have done it before). I seem to be getting off track, so I will start a new paragraph.

I believe that if people knew what lay in the next world, then they would understand how wrong they are acting in this one (and they will eventually, but not many will while on Earth). What I’m demanding is social reorganization. Simply put, people first need to better understand the world and people around them. This can first be done through the realization of the power of love and that no person, place, or thing deserves hate. God loves everyone unconditionally, and that means He is incapable of judgment, only love. I’ll tell you something, in Heaven (where everyone eventually goes) the only person who judges you is yourself, and chances are you won’t even do this often. Many people are driven away by God through philosophies, personal logic, or simple misunderstandings about the bible or holy message (I’m sure the other holy scriptures count too). This message was what Jesus was telling the human race, love God and love your neighbors. It saddens me when religious thinkers can forget his words so easily and spread hate, thinking God actually hates a people when He never had that capacity to begin with (this is arguable considering God in the old testament sounded a bit mean). What’s funny though is when you see an atheist argue with a person who takes the bible literally (a creationist). Creationism is not necessarily wrong, evolution is creationism, but in a slower and more realistic form. It seems I am losing myself again, so I will start another paragraph…again.

I’m going to now tell a story about a friend of mine (whose name will not be mentioned). This person, for all I know, is an atheist. A person who not necessarily disbelieves in God, but doesn’t know what to believe in and was uncomfortable talking about his beliefs (he didn’t know what to believe in). Not surprisingly, this person turned to logic to fill in this void in his heart. He thought, and possibly still thinks, that his personal ideologies, thoughts, and assertions could be supported by his own logic. I will tell you though, logic is an individualistic quality, and it is bent to the will of its user. People who supposedly do not have logic, like the insane, may think they are fine. I’m not even going to pretend I think logically, I mean look at this weird blog post. I should be writing a paper right now. Instead I thought I would do this, to share my ideas with any onlookers and spread some sort of good-hearted message. I realized while writing this that all the politics talk my contain part of my ego, and when I talk about political points in general, my ego is in there somewhere. So I’m asking you to just think for yourself. That seems like a tangent message when compared to the content above, but nothing can stand in the way of your right to individuality. Be unique and be proud, as long as you can spread a little love in the process.

Public Service Announcement

2010-02-11T18:07:00.000-08:00

I would like to apologize to all viewers out there because of this blog's recent decline in funny. I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you and am currently solving the issues at hand. The blog should soon increase in cynicism, satire, sarcasm, hilarity, cleverness, etc. It may also experience a slight increase in both grace and meaning, but that can only happen once I get my head out of my ass.

No Sense is Not Nonsense

2010-02-11T17:55:00.000-08:00

BLANK goes the page. BLANK are my feelings. POINTBLANK is where I shoot you in the face. Now enough of that, let us get enough of something else. Today, I will not be talking about anything, I will talk about something. “Wow” he says. Yes, I say wow, and for a reason. How easily I am affected by what goes on, and how much I strive for distraction. This is a distraction. Distracting me from a paper, the blank paper which stares at me greedily. Wanting to be filled with text and words of poetry and philosophy. Words of passion and theology. These words are not what I say they are, but what I am. And there I go, into the pool of self-conscious words of deprivation and constant terror of folly and flimsical failings. There I go again, being ever-so creative yet meaningless. Try taking what I say world! Try taking it all away, I dare you! You cannot silence me, nor can you tear me away from what matters in this place called life and this plain called existence. You cannot un-tame what isn’t domesticated by releasing that which was never caged. Can you burn what was never frozen? Hell yeah, but not without the realization that what you are doing is simply melting your alter-ego, playing the cello with Satan himself. You are all incandescent light bulbs in my sanctuary of greenhouses and biodegradable material. So eat it, this whole page of nothing. Read it and weep, because when it comes to nonsense, I’ve got it better than you ever will. Bitch.

winter boredom

2010-02-06T12:49:00.000-08:00

This won’t be as long as the other posts because I simply don’t have the time to write such long amounts of crap. So first I would like to talk about some cause and effect relationships. One thing I have noticed is how snow decreases crime in a community. Most of this can be attributed to the trouble of transportation as well as the outside temperature. In fact, I have a theory that (during winter) the lower the temperature outside, the less likely it will be for people to rob your house. Think of it this way, someone is trying to pick a lock/break the door open, but if it takes too long in the cold weather, they will freeze. In the summer time, it is cooler in the nighttime and people naturally want to go out at night instead of the daytime. It is possible that the reverse is true for summer; the hotter it is, the harder it is to break into a house. You’d work up a sweat just getting inside, and then you need to steal things quickly and quietly while you are sweating.

Something I have also noticed, it’s a whole lot harder seeing friends in the winter compared to the summer. Sometimes you get snowed in, sometimes you don’t feel like leaving the cold house. In the summer, you can drive with your window down, feel the breeze, and it is usually an enjoyable process. There are also more things to do in the summer, like going to the pool. In the winter, all activities will be indoors, unless you plan to play in the snow, but that won’t last too long as an adult (unless you have a really good sledding hill). Kids can play outside for hours.

Another thing I have noticed, I have never finished a single snow cave. It is always hard to dig deeper with a snow shovel (or hands) because the snow gets more compact. I’m betting it would be a lot easier with some gardening tools, like a spade. I think I will do that, but that does require going into the very untidy garage, and there may be bugs (oh noes). This whole post was a form of procrastination.

Near Death Explanation

2010-01-30T18:02:00.000-08:00

(You can probably skim/skip the first paragraph, it was just something I found interesting to read and may not even be real for all I know.)

Today I’m going to talk a little more about the afterlife. I just read some more near-death experiences, including a really long one. This one involved a person asking the angel Gabriel to see the end of the world. He (the narrator) then goes into some great detail describing the end of the world and the battle with Satan/Anti-Christ. It was very interesting and I think even atheists may like it because it reads as an epic story. The narrator then talks about his days spent in the hospital and going home. I admit I skimmed some of that part, but this is one of the greatest NDE’s I’ve ever read. It even goes into some detail about future technology (but it seems so distant that I doubt anyone reading this will witness the Apocalypse). I also found it interesting, and likely, that Satan’s argument for making humans do more evil was that when the arrival of Jesus happens, technology will cease to exist (or something). However, killing Christians and all those do-gooders out there will make the coming of Christ pointless, since Jesus apparently doesn’t deal with evil people (idk, it was a lot of text and my memory isn’t too good). Anyway, here is the article: http://www.nderf.org/miguel_rp_nde.htm (also wanted to mention that the article involves the person's own morals, so parts of it won't make sense to us, like when he talks about drinking)

Ok, the main point of this post was to explain some of the general concepts behind NDE’s and explain some of the different interpretations. It’s been a little hobby of mine to read into the supernatural (ghosts, aliens, conspiracy theories and such). One of the things I have been interested in is the afterlife, and the best way to gain information on that topic is to read about other’s experiences of it. I’m just going to go over some general concepts/trends that I have read about. If you want more info, you can always read Wikipedia.

Okay, for starters, a lot of people first have an out of body experience (seeing themselves and everything happening in the room around them. People who experience this phenomenon can describe stuff that happens when they are clinically dead/unconscious. The next stage, which I believe happens when you gain enough realization that you know you are dead. In this stage, your consciousness expands and you move to a greater plain of existence (which is a pretty dark place, but you can still see yourself (I think)). Before hitting this stage, a few people have witnessed first flying up into the air, seeing the scenery from where they were below them. Anyway, a lot of people will witness a bunch of lights, like stars, which people usually say are other souls. There is also the approaching tunnel of light which most people go through (however, some people chose not to go further, and return to their bodies). This tunnel is either the entrance to Heaven or a place you go to ascend to Heaven. Anyway, next is the next part. A large proportion of people will see a person who talks to them. At this point, parts of Heaven can be viewed, such as scenery. I’ve read that it is similar to earth in that, it has mountains, plants, and clouds in the sky, and everything is brighter/has more color. It is also a commonality that all the people (or at least people of main importance) wear robes/gowns which covers most of the body (sometimes the body is described to be a kind of energy/light). I would also like to note that I have so far read (I think 3 times out of about 50ish stories) that there is some sort of giant library of knowledge in Heaven. It may even be in the form of a tower (just repeating what I read). Anyway, when the person who recently dies enters Heaven, all of them describe joy and love to such an extreme that I doubt I could describe it. I would also like to say that so far all the communication that happens in the next life happens telepathically. Soon after the arrival though, people always have the choice to return to Earth. Someone will usually tell them they have a choice. Another thing that happens is people hear they have some important decision on Earth they must make (most likely affecting their own spirit, or the lives of others around them), or just unfinished business. A third thing that can happen is people are just forced to return to Earth being told it is not their time. And obviously, all these people do return or they wouldn’t have been able to talk about their experience. I would also like to point out that multiple people have described the feeling of returning to their bodies as that of going through a funnel (since the spirit sort of needs to shrink, or go back to its original form). I would also like to point out that in some cases there have been hints that spirits can live multiple lives on Earth. A number of people have said they felt not only belonging in Heaven, but nostalgia as well. I’m not going to go all out to support such a theory, but it may be possible for our spirit to visit Earth more than once (but this evidence is a bit thin, only a few people I have heard from talk from this point of view).

NDE’s will usually change people’s outlook on life, making them more spiritual and not fearing death. It is also common for people to fear talking about their experience, thinking they are the only ones that this has happened to, and they fear others will find them crazy. Because of this, a good number of the stories posted on the internet are from many years ago, sometimes happening when the individuals are children. It is here that I would like to point out that the said NDE’s may have been changed up over time (as in not remembered correctly), or they may even just be a hallucination by some. So some skepticism at times is healthy. People may say something which directly conflicts with what other people say or known beliefs in general. So what I’m saying, in essence, is that for those of you interested in this topic, it is good to read a large quantity of NDE’s, in which case you can spot some trends and get a better understanding of the next life beyond this one. Note that I didn’t talk about Hell in the post, and that is mainly because I talk about it more in the post before this one. But I’ll point out that when people see Hell in a NDE, they usually call out to Jesus, get saved, return to Earth, and then have a sudden increase in spirituality.

I’m pretty much done with my post, but would again like to point out that this is simply me trying to understand what happens in the next life, and depends solely on the statement of others. In such a case as this, it is very likely that not all the info above is accurate, considering that I do not have first-person experience and that this post is based a limited sampling of primary sources.

When I Ponder

2010-01-21T22:28:00.000-08:00

The more I think, the more I think I must be different. It may just be my imagination or my way of thinking, but I will sometimes get a few bursts of thought and come to realizations about the world, like the world’s truth were just waiting to be discovered by me. Now how to describe it. Most of what I am talking about is visual perceptions so to speak. Quick little visions in my mind, like imagining, but faster and more spontaneous. These picture slideshows have meaning behind them, but cannot be properly expressed in words. The same can be said when I notice truths through quick thought, self-evidence is abound and the rest of the world would surely benefit from what I know. But what I know cannot be said properly. I usually have trouble putting my thought into words, but that is because I have too many of them. They cannot be explained in words anyway. It is not human speech, but the speech of the brain, my brain. Human thought cannot easily be processed into the proper words. And for other individuals to understand such a translation of thought is impossible. Our words have baggage, but that baggage is different for each of us. It is a Hermeneutical problem. But good luck even getting it on paper. My realizations may dictate how I live my life, but I rarely remember what they exactly were. I cannot pull things out of my head at a given time, I am a slot machine. IDNG DING DAS. I wanted to do that. I am going to try to share a truth with anybody who cares to read. NOTE, this cannot be argued in the best way because it is essentially lost in translation. But my thoughts do give me certainty that I am correct. This is not going to be a philosophical argument, although part of this could be looked at through a philosophical standpoint. I won’t argue because I know I am correct in my thinking. It is my writing and speaking which is flawed.

Truth: Although our physical senses make us the center of the universe, our (my) universe, no person is alone, nor is life fake or some projection. Life may contain a great number of mysteries, but that can only add to the wonder and excitement. All questions can be answered by the Lord after the first life anyway (and by that time, the answers will come to you, you probably won’t need to ask). So let me tell you, you (whoever is reading this) are not the only human being in the world. This world is real, and it is comprised of billions of individuals who have no idea you exist. You are inexistent in their world, but neither you nor they can deny one another. You cannot deny an existence because it already exists. You cannot deny other people around you because they are all part of a complicated world where interconnections in both the molecular and social world are made. This world has an ever-changing future, with ever-changing interpretations of the past. Many humans created this history and future. If you were alone, you would need to deny that this history ever existed, and that the world’s future only happens to you. But future and past events are bigger than any one person. Time moves at a relative pace and I can guarantee you that you will eventually die, go to an afterlife of your choosing (I say this because it is a choice, but there aren’t many options to take), and others may think similar things that you do without ever knowing of your existence. I would like to pose a question to all the Nihilists out there. If you do not believe others really exist, then how can you exist? Other people are experienced through physical perception, but you experience yourself through these exact same senses. If it is all fake, like a Matrix sort of situation, then you would need to remember that the Matrix was made for millions of humans, not just you. In this thought, the world could be thought of as a Matrix, but the rules in place are certainly more rigid (not easy defying physics). Though our physical senses may be flawed, as in we cannot sense everything perfectly (our eyesight is good, but sense of smell sucks), and it is certainly left to only the concrete world around us. However, this world really is only the first, and we can usually only sense what is in the first world, since that is where we belong. The struggles in life are usually there to put one’s soul to the test and are used to help each of us grow. That being said, the soul can grow more good or evil or remain neutral. Our experiences help us discover who we are, and we then make decisions in response to experience (physical and spiritual). One may switch religions, kill another human, or decide to become a monk. Our souls have multiple paths, to simplify things, three paths to take. Evil, neutral, and good are the obvious answers, since I mentioned them a few sentences ago. However, one can be altruistic and yet be an atheist. Note that is possible to go to Hell while being a good person. Hell is simply a dimension where God is not present. If you do not wish to be with Him for eternity, then God loves you so much, He will grant your wish. Please remember that Hell is still torture, a world without God is not a happy one. Earth may not be a happy place either, but God is still present (although interactions for the most part are limited, and in that sense I mean two-way interactions). I just want to point out that these interactions are not prayer, although they could qualify if God really did answer back (this was more prevalent in biblical times than today). I mean God changing the world’s physical features, and once again, the best examples are from biblical times. What I am trying to say is that Earth, or this universe, is a bit between Heaven and Hell (although that is put in a bit of a simplistic fashion). It seems to be in between two extremes. I think now I want to focus a little bit on religion. For the first part, Christianity (both Protestants and Catholics), Judaism, and Islam are not all that different. Christianity has its roots in Judaism, but the two sort of moved in different directions. Islam worships the same exact God as the other two, and had the same historical characters but focused more on Mohammed (what I’m saying in this sentence is that the three religions do not tell completely different histories, and this is one reason why all three should be taken with a little more credibility by atheists and/or bigots and racists in my opinion (I mention prejudice because it is not a smart idea hating someone who is more like you than you think). From the last note, I would like to say that bigots, or at least more religious ones, perceive other religions to be different and either inferior or evil in some way, yet they differ from their own religion because they teach hate which is the opposite of what religion teaches us (I will not be discussing the old testament, a lot of it is more meaningful story than history). What I mean from the above comment is that the bible should not be read from a rigid logical point of view or none of it will make sense. A good portion of it is moral stories with an infinite number of metaphors (Jesus was good at using these, I have to admit). I would also like to remind you that a lot of miracles and disasters in the bible can be explained scientifically, but humans at that time did not have such an understanding of the physical world and exaggerate. For example, science has proven that in the past there was a giant flood near the Mediterranean. This flood is from the story of Noah. However, gathering the animals was always an impossible task (even now is would be). This story is most likely about a merchant with goods and animals (some domesticated, not like dogs and cats, but cattle and pigs) in a boat on a river, and it just so happens that there is a flood. I’ve always hated this story as well as Adam and Eve because I’ve seen a lot of people view these interpretations as reality. I would also like to comment now on prayer, or at least mine. I would like to believe I have a good relationship with the Lord. I talk to him daily (although not a lot of it is in actual prayer). It is more like thinking directed to him, since we can’t really communicate without my mind reaching a higher plane. But I am pretty sure he knows what I am thinking. I sometimes get some responses, but I am pretty sure that is just me talking to myself. So yes, I will answer back to questions and comments posed to other people and deities. I’m not weird; there are just many people out there who do not share a common lifestyle as yours truly. The way I figure it, I might as well have one-way conversations with God and hope that I can get some responses after I die. If it was all futile, and either God didn’t hear me or there is no after life, then at least I kept myself entertained. And hey, I’m never lonely. I think I would like to write about one last thing, since this is the longest blog post in history.

Truth: Consciousness does not end after death. I know this because in my heart, soul, mind, and body, I cannot comprehend what it would be like for a consciousness to die. When you are knocked out, you feel a time lapse and wake up again. When you are asleep or in a coma, you dream. When people have near-death experiences, they see a number of spiritual things. It is my firm and unwavering belief that our consciousness (or self-awareness) grows with the brain, and it is retained within our soul (looking at this sentence a second time, I note that it is my unwavering belief that our consciousness does not die, and having it rooted in the soul makes sense since the soul does not die). Consciousness grows with our body, mind, and soul. The body and mind grow through time and experience, and the spirit grows through experience and our decisions/choices based off of these experiences. All three of these things can be grown at will (like exercising the body for physical strength, the mind for mental strength, and the spirit for spiritual (you guessed it) strength. But in this case, the strong soul would be more unwavering from good or evil. I know I am deviating away from my second statement of truth, so I will put it another way. It is impossible to imagine an end for your consciousness because you would be imagining nothing, but not only are you thinking while in nothing, that nothing came from your consciousness to begin with! Humans are not robots, and there is no definite on/off switch. I would also like to state that I believe that since the consciousness grows with our 3 selves (the physical body in the least part, although without it, we create the same question all over again), those who have less intelligence or make fewer choices are less self-aware. This lack of awareness may grow much larger though in the afterlife. An example would be a baby’s soul going to Heaven and then eventually becoming as self-aware as it could be on Earth had it not died in the first place. But this involves growth in a place where time is nonexistent, which is a little harder to conceive. That was only an idea anyway, so let’s not get ahead of ourselves and start saying how retarded I may sound. Death is easy because life is hard, and the afterlife can be hard or easy depending on how you lived and died before (such as deciding to commit suicide, which would weaken your soul (It's super effective!) little pokemon reference there). Through my reading of various sources, Hell could be a place where your sins are relived, a place where you burn for eternity, or a place where everything is boring and there is no vibrancy. Whatever the reality may be, the idea of Hell is never a good one, so I can safely say that it would be wise for you to avoid it. However, I believe that a third option of staying with this world is possible too (as a wondering spirit/ghost, but that usually happens with those who are tied to Earth for some reason or another. This may indeed be the fate of weak souls, but this is only a guess.

I really could write forever, but I will end it here. For those few of you reading, if you want me to talk about a specific topic I may have mentioned above or something new, go ahead and write it in the comments section.

Have a Holly Jolly Christ's Birthday

2009-12-27T17:12:00.000-08:00

This is probably my first blog in a month, I've been so busy doing nothing that I haven't had the time, nor the energy and imagination to write another post. This Christmas I was with family in Illinois, an event that takes place at least once a year (since I go in the summer). It was a good Christmas, but one that isn't too memorable. I stayed at my grandpa's house with my nuclear family and an aunt and uncle (and gramps of course). Gift giving actually happened on the 26th because the rest of the family arrived late Christmas day. Most of my giving was between my mom, dad, and sister at our house so we wouldn't need to transport the gifts during the long 14 hour drive. I gave my cousin (one of them anyway) some metal and I believe he enjoyed the music. We listened to his new CD in his car on our way to Best Buy along with his little brother (we all had Best Buy gift cards). I found a game I've wanted for half a year now, Sins of a Solar Empire, and it was only $20, so I got it. I doubt I will have much time to play it however since school starts on the 11th and I have other games to play, including an MMORPG I've been playing a lot lately. I also need to spend a few hours looking for the best deals on textbooks and say goodbye to more of my savings. I have also obtained a new graphics card for my computer (which hopefully solves the issue I've been having with it), and although not the best thing out there, it is much newer compared to the 3-4 year old thing I had earlier and therefore much better.

As this Christmas holiday comes to a close, I'm realizing that, although great, it could have been much better. it mainly consisted of gathering at one of two houses for dinner, and the most entertaining place was the place I stayed the shortest amount of time (my uncle's house and his family compared to grandpa's). One has an xbox 360, another has slow internet with only my laptop and ipod touch to entertain me. One has rootbeer, the other doesn't. I think I make my point clear. Today we were supposed to eat a nice dinner at the locel yacht club, but because of snow that got cancelled. Compare this Christmas with last year, where everyone was in Connecticut, the adults (and my sister) staying in my aunt's huge ass house while I stayed at a cousin's house close by (he was recently married and has his own home now). I was with two other cousins and another boy who I see about every other Christmas, all people who are dear friends of mine. We would wake up, shower, and play rockband in the morning, and then we played some little big planet at night. Now compare this to the year before that when everyone went on a cruise and I gained 5 pounds in one week. This year doesn't compare as much, but when looking at the big picture, it was very convenient for my grandfather and my dad's brother and his family, and we are having a swell old time. But time is going by fast since most of the past two days was spent watching football.

Conspiracies Abound

2009-12-06T19:36:00.001-08:00

Today I had some real trouble getting youtube to work. For some reason the comment I posted wouldn’t work. I could post other comments, but the structure of this one sentence apparently made something go wrong. What makes matters worse is that I was responding to an argument I’m currently having about vaccines. This is on a video about how harmful vaccines apparently are and how the New World Order is somehow behind it, like they are eventually depopulate the earth or something. I’m all for reducing the population by a few billion people over a number of years, like through people having way less kids, but this NWO nonsense is bewildering. I do not believe in the NWO because frankly, there is no evidence, something just conspiracy theorists like to spit around. The guy I’m arguing with doesn’t really know what he is talking about since he is basically relying on his own conspiracy research to back him (he doesn’t give me any sources, tells me to search it myself, I did and found that he is wrong in several areas). Well, the comment I posted did not actually post, the button just went grey. However, being as resourceful as I am, I took a small screenshot of all I typed. So after a good 10 minutes of trying to figure out what is going on, I just decide to move the argument over to the comments section of his page.

This topic really bugs the hell out of me, no there is no New World Order and I’m pretty sure the illuminati are not taking over the government. Conspiracy theories can be fun to listen to and imagine (like the hollow earth theory), but in the end they are pretty retarded. There are few I will actually consider. I do know that the US government covers up anything UFO related. I also think there is a slight possibility that the US government has had contact with aliens and possibly stays in contact (but this is very, very slim). I don’t have proof UFO’s exist, but I have seen real documented evidence of flying saucers, including 3 pictures taken by a man in the 50’s. Still has his camera and everything. The interesting thing with these photos is not just the clear picture of the saucer, but the smoke that emanated from the disc. A month later I read more stories about this “mist” that comes from these UFO’s, and there was that one close up UFO video in NY city which had a smoke stream left by the flying saucer (this video is an easy one to find). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOavIBd0EFw I’m pretty sure this one isn’t a fake since it appeared on a Japanese television announcement and when the very same video was added to the sci-fi channel’s website, it got banned (I don’t know the whole story on it though). I’ll try and find the old pictures later.

What I did today. Awhile ago.

2009-11-20T20:58:00.000-08:00

I started writing this post a week or two ago. I finished it today.

1. Added more lyrics to my rap, still not finished.
2. Found a sound recorder on my computer, realized I couldn't sing.
3. Did a tiny bit of homework.
4. Felt like doing some random ufo/alien research again. Found a new sight. Got to see a clear photo of an alien autopsy (a color one, not the stupid black and white image). It was gross, but I didn't really flinch. It wasn't remotely human. I saw an interesting new crop circle. I didn't see any relatively great ufo images, they are all very similar. I also viewed some videos about a possible theory which coincides with past research I've done. It seems possible that the aliens (or one of the many species that visit earth) are combining their DNA with ours somehow. Personally, I think this is impossible since we are talking about combining two animals from completely different evolution paths, the building blocks would be completely different, and it does not sound scientifically plausible. However, I have read many stories of abductions, and there is almost always a story of a women's eggs being removed or a man's semen being taken. One story involved a kid who had a testicle swell up for a few days after his abduction. Another guy had a triangle mark under the foreskin of his penis. I saw videos of a professor who used hypnosis on the abducted to hear descriptions of what took place and what everything looked like. What I have read over the years supports many of things he has said, however, I am still doubtful. If this is actually happening, then aliens are will try to integrate themselves into our society. So far I believe there would be two reasons for doing what they are doing: either they plan to eliminate our race through the introduction of a number of genetically superior humanoids into our society, or they simply want a new place to call home and like Earth and are changing the way their race looks so they are excepted more easily by humans. I think they are playing God either way, and it should be stopped, if it is even happening in the first place. I was debating whether to post the autopsy picture or not, so I will just say that if you google "alien autopsy", it should be the first picture.
5. I started typing this post out, realizing that I need to get more work done, but not doing anything about it. I think I will go to bed early early today.

This post was originally just an update to what I did during the day, but just became me talking about aliens. oh well. One thing I do want to figure out though is why there are suggestions of UFO's in pieces of old artwork. I think it may be a topic for a later post, as I could list a number of possible conspiracy theories like if religion was influenced by or created from previous alien contact in the past. Well, that isn't a real conspiracy theory because it isn't really covered up, but it still seems just as bull shitty.

I feel poetic.

2009-11-08T18:50:00.000-08:00

Not much happened today, I worked a little on two assignments that will eventually cause me hell, went to the barber shop to figure out they were closed, and became a rap star. Well, I did write some lines while listening to Eminem because he inspires me and I felt like diverting my attention from work. This is what I have so far:

I’m rockin’ ma home to the beats that I own,

Compose’n no sweat ‘gainst the pressure I hold.

Heart beats on the fast track, idiom’s got my back,

Fluent as fuck in the language of what’s wack.

I like it, maybe I will make a song. I've always wanted to make techno/rap beats. I might be busy during the winter break...

7 Tips and Tricks Used to Become Popular and a Better You

2009-11-03T21:57:00.000-08:00

1. Forget you are smarter than everyone around you. This can be difficult because it requires not thinking. Everyone is a little self-conscious and may realize how much more their brain can do compared to the insignificant fools around them. If you take the time to stop realizing that everyone around you has their head up their ass, then you can be worry free when it comes to making friends, networking, and even finding that special person in your life. Note that the latter would require you viewing the person as better than you even though they aren’t. This is usually enforced by a dictatorship of thoughts and feelings enforced by either party. To get out of this situation, become aware that you are just dealing with a pile of walking flesh, much like yourself.

2. Lie to yourself. Every motivational speaker you have the ability to see a YouTube video on will tell you to tell yourself that you feel great, will have a good day, etc. This is just an elaborate ruse that gets you to lie to yourself in the mirror. You’re not really going to have a good day, are you? No, it will be boring at best, or mediocre. Do you feel great? No, if you felt great, you wouldn’t need to tell yourself that. It also helps to everyday tell yourself you are gullible, eventually you will believe it, and then there is a long list of possibilities on the figurative table. Also, if you become depressed, don’t tell yourself you would rather die, because that would be a boring and cliché ending, especially if you cut your wrists and took a deep soak in the bathtub letting the water drain out them toxins. Well, why not drop a plugged in toaster in the bathtub as well? Why not do it drunk while tripping out on LSD? Why not try shoving a desk out the window, and still try to use it while you are falling with it? All of these are amusing ideas that deserve some recognition from the film community, or the liberal arts. When I say liberal I mean communists.

3. Lie to others. We all do it. Recently I’ve grown attached to telling random people I like to go fishing when they ask me my hobby. After that, I tell them they give a real lousy job interview. That was all a lie, I hate fishing, and I’ve only had one job interview. That interview didn’t count; I got hired, but quit during employee training. When lying to others, pretend you are an extrovert. Say you are an extrovert. Say it now. You didn’t do it you son of a bitch. I bet you chickened out because you had the gall to read this in a public place. When talking to people, no one likes one-sided conversations, so ask questions that you anticipate the other person will ask you, before they do it. For example:

HER: “Hey Arthur, do you want to go out wi…”

ME: “Hey (insert your girlfriend’s name here), I know what you’re thinking, and I’ma let you finish, but I already watched that show on the Discovery Channel. I had no idea a man could drink spider venom after the boiling process. It’s apparently good for your skin.”

HER: “No, I didn’t see…”

ME: “Do you know the difference between caramel apples and candy apples? REDS EVERYWHERE!!!”

This is how all my conversations end because I made Russia my bitch three years ago and recently that dog’s been yappin. The farmers learned how to grow food, I wasn’t expecting that.

4. If you listen to music, make it loud enough that others can hear. This is a no brainer. Although it may hurt your eardrums for a few minutes, the numbing process will take care of that. What you want to do is let everyone know on that bus that you are cool enough to let others hear your awesome music. Then people don’t need to ask what you are listening to. They can already hear the amazing song you have the balls to listen to out loud.

5. Make sure you replace the last word of your sentences with toilet. I saw this on a show once and it sounded toilet. The people didn’t know what to toilet. Someone kept saying toilet, and they could not understand what he was toilet. You got the hang of toilet. Now I will give you examples of wonderful sentences you can toilet. Every Sunday, I go to toilet. I go there regularly to confess for my toilet. While going to the bathroom yesterday, I had a big toilet.

Ok, this won’t make you popular, but I will be laughing my ass off if you manage to pull this one toilet. (this was an inside joke I had with myself)

6. Drink coffee when you are sad. The coffee won’t make you feel better, but you will stay up longer enough to realize just how pathetic you really are. That's how great it is.

7. Profess your love. Everyone knows love makes the world go round. Even if your teacher is hitting on you in class, except it whole-heartedly and give her a nice spank on the ass. Shun the awkwardness that will ensue and embrace your inner pimpage, whatever the hell that means.

The Great Computing Wars

2009-09-22T21:00:00.000-07:00

For this portion, just add comments stating why you have a certain opinion about your computer brand. The comments should show up under this post after clicking "comments" so everyone can view the responses while typing. I also removed that stupid letter/word verification thing. Hoping to get some debates going.

Newsayers

2009-09-22T20:52:00.001-07:00

Propaganda is alive and well, it shapes the mainstream into conforming masses. The mainstream can be thought of as a stream, moving in specified paths. As long as the stream does not part into a number of different streams, the current remains strong. When the stream branches out, the water is shallow and slow. One can compare the stream with many breaks as peaceful, and the concentrated stream into heated ferociousness or one-sided, predestined path. For this metaphor to work, the media controls the flow, not by damming the front of the stream, but the sides. Movement becomes limited, as does the opinions of the masses of a specific nation. When the media forces its own opinion, its own agenda on others, we all suffer. If the stream is heading towards a large river or small lake, there doesn’t seem to be a problem; but what about a cliff or dumpsite? All that can be said is when the stream is broken up into different directions it is far more likely that a few are heading in a better direction, although strength of opinion will not be as widespread or powerful.

Great Deal of Cards on Computers

2009-09-22T16:26:00.000-07:00

Today I’m going to share some special news with you. College students can now pre-order Windows 7 Home Premium for $30. I’m not joking. All you do is provide your school email address (it only works for a list of schools though, AU is perfectly fine) to prove your in school and BAM! Instant savings. You will be pre-ordering it, so you will not get the download, nor will you get a charge to your credit card until Oct. 22 (I believe). If I’m wrong, the directions are on the website, no worries. I expect everyone who can get this deal and own a pc take some action. Windows 7 not only solves all the Vista issues, but expands upon Vista’s strengths. It has gotten great reviews everywhere. Here is the link to the store:

http://windows7.digitalriver.com/

And if that one doesn’t work, http://windows7.digitalriver.com/store/mswpus/en_US/DisplayHomePage

This may not be worth reading.

2009-09-20T18:56:00.000-07:00

Today I am going to talk about something very special: drugs. No I’m kidding, after no longer needing them; the only thing I take at a regular basis is caffeine. “But Arthur, caffeine is a drug.” NO, it’s a chemical and chemicals are our friends, like this purple sludge I’m growing in the back yard. I made a sign, it reads “Beware: purple.” Ever eaten a green crayon and then think to yourself that it tastes like purple? Me too! And that’s why I drink coffee every day. If you are still reading (good for you!), then I will try and move into something that is a little more intelligible. I need more music. The only way I obtain music on my iPod is through buying material CDs. I like having something concrete as well as the information that comes with it. You get more with your money, and it acts as insurance in case your computer breaks down cough*mac*cough. Now I’m not a wealthy man, not atm, so buying music is rare. Unfortunately, this means less than a 4th of my iPod Touch has music, and it only stores about 7GB. I spend most of my money on games and tech. Maybe some books. What I’m getting at is that my music library is small and I am always bored with what I have. I love variety, but don’t have enough of it. It’s not that I lack favorite artists, I lack CDs. So I’m going to ask anyone who is reading (all 27,000 of you) to pitch in and hook me up with some free music. Basically, I want you to send me all the songs for a particular CD through email. Ok, you don’t need to do that, but a nice donation to my paypal account would be nice (<_<).

politics not usual

2009-09-15T16:27:00.000-07:00

Since the end of the summer, I haven’t been too interested in politics. It was mostly just Fox News going “Let’s bash the president over nothing and lie about him as well.” Then MSNBC comes in and tries to clear things up by stating the facts: nothing is actually happening. And that was true; there have been very few real political headlines that have caught by interest because not much has gone on. It is a little different now since Obama’s speech, but I doubt too many oldschool repubs saw it since Fox didn’t even air the thing (at least not live). They had some sort of talent show thing. Even if it involved the gathering of the House, they neglected it. Now it’s true I’m slowly becoming more interested in politics, I’d be lying if I said otherwise because I just spent 15 minutes reading comments on a political news item on CNN.com. For once I would like to see someone say “I hate the US, and hate Obama even more” (that would be something funny), or maybe see “I love communism”. If you ever see the latter comment anywhere, it was probably me who posted it. I don’t actually want communism in this country, but I do love the party and any coffee mugs and/or watches they might be selling. What has really confused me though is the lack of intellect on both sides during this healthcare debate (there was no transition to this topic, I know). To me, the smart person would simply state “Let’s see what happens” to both sides. Personally, I think the president has a great plan going, and after hearing the whole speech, I honestly agree with everything I remember him saying (the key word there is remember). However, I do know that this thing has to go through congress and it will change a little bit. So I’m just going to wait and see. Withhold judgment. I’m telling you people on both sides to stop arguing because there is still no definite plan, nor is there a finished bill. The fact also remains that only about 3 people will read my blog, so I can say whatever I peanut butter socialist dogma train station.

boy do I love ranting about nothing...

2009-09-08T21:40:00.000-07:00

Today I have decided to take up meditation. I find it relaxing and it will help me during stressful evenings and such. I added a meditation track to my ipod that is 10 minutes long. Unfortunately, I had to find it by looking under songs (I can’t find it under albums or artists because it is considered unknown). I did not know this would mean it would play the next song right after my meditating session. So I immediately go from a pond with lily pads and daisies and friendly fish to hear DARE by Gorillaz. I don’t mind hearing the song because it’s good as hell, but there was no transition, period. What’s worse is that the meditation track is a little quiet, so I need to turn the volume up to hear it. So yeah, music got blasted in my ears. Luckily, I have constructed a playlist that just consists of that one track.

I would also like to point out that I have finally removed 888 threats from my computer, thanks to webroot , which quarantines the same exact cookies every spywear sweep. They eventually added up to 888, which I think is neat, or I wouldn’t have shared it with myself on this poor blog.

I would also like to point out that tomorrow I have to find a group in my international business class that will take me under their wing. Last class we were meant to form our own groups, but that is hard for someone who knows no one and gets ignored very easily. I seriously stood up, looked around in confusion, and became invisible. This is why I prefer when professors assign groups. No thinking or networking involved. There isn’t even people screaming “Who wants to be my partner?!?” and those embarrassing mass emails by students. In fact, it is easiest to make friends for me in this case. Instead of people thinking “I feel sorry for this guy, let’s let him join our group,” they start thinking “Oh great, now I get stuck with these losers.” And then I prove them wrong! Hey, it’s better than sympathy. The worst case scenario though is forming a group consisting of people who are close to you. This is simply done because no one wants to put forth enough effort to find people they may possibly like. The whole point is to get the work done as soon as possible. In this case, when the work is done, people forget names. And when the semester is over, people forget faces. I don’t though, my visual memory sort of stole all my brainpower used for names and explaining my vague answers in class. Of course there is also the case where someone gives you casual hello and you can’t seem to remember them, even though just a summer has passed.

This moves me onto my next topic: social encounters, mainly the ones involving walking. First, there is the small smile and faint, ever so faint, hi. This has happened to me occasionally with some group members for classes I didn’t give two shits about. Not much to say about this except it soon moves into total silence. Next is the obvious general chatter that friends/friendly acquaintances do in between classes or walking past outside. You will usually hear phrases such as “Hey, how’s it going?” or “Hey, how are classes?” These statements are not sentimental, nor are they technically conversation. It is basically a technique that casual friends use to remind other people that they still exist. I do this quite often, it is an automatic reaction. In fact, it pisses me off that I can’t be with my campus friends except for these few seconds of saying hi. I always imagine gathering all my pals and eating lunch together, scooting 10 tables in the tavern together. Life as a commuter can be harsh indeed, cutting the number of friends you have in half and the time you spend with any of them by 90%. “Hey, I need to get home so I can do homework and play TF2. And now I will talk about the last encounter I sometimes get: rivalry. It basically starts as two people locking eyes on a path/hallway, going opposite ways. The problem is, those eyes never move away from the other’s pupils. Locking eyes uncomfortably, but with some sort of hateful intent, it can only stop when eyes can no longer move all the way to the left or right. After that, it’s as if it never happened, you never see the person again, or forget their face. For me, this happens sometimes with people who are my height or wear glasses and socially uncomfortable clothing. Fun times.

to be free or not to be free

2009-09-04T21:36:00.000-07:00

When the option of disobeying a law is not an option, when death is the alternative, we can never have true freedom. To silence a man for unconstitutional thoughts or actions is denying him his freedom of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. A prison sentence leaves a man his life, which provides a path towards the latter two. Forcing the Constitution down throats may also be a freedom, but not a right, and it does not necessarily provide freedom to those who you impose such rights on. Forced freedom is not freedom but tyranny.

This was an unedited response to hate speech, such as "Obey the Constitution or die." I find such statements lacking logic, morality, and intellect. Now I just need to make this blog more smarter.

Borring...

2008-12-17T15:23:00.000-08:00

Now that school is out and I have ordered presents, there is no stress at all. I don't feel like doing anything. I usually play hours of warcraft a day and watch some anime, eat a meal, and watch some late nite television. There is as much spice in my life right now as New England Clam Chowder. Have you ever put Tabasco in that? I have, it was ok. I love Tabasco sauce because I have started loving spicy food lately. mmm

poolitical offiliation

2008-12-17T15:22:00.001-08:00

On the off chance that someone actually reads this thing (HAHAHA), I’m going to update it with a super huge update (lol, repeats). First order of business, politics. Everyone who knows me personally can vouch for me when I say I am Liberal and a little psychotic, possibly from all the psychological torment and bullying I received when I was just a young lad. But being a slight sociopath at times does give me an edge over reality. Anyway, I have supported Obama since the start of his campaign, and have donated money for 2 shirts. I have always been fearful of McCain, mainly because he is too fucking old to be a good leader. No one has mentioned this except for my Grandfather who served in WWII, when McCain was a soldier in Vietnam, he may have gotten tortured (oh boo hoo), but he never served has a high ranking officer. McCain barely led anyone during the war, so I don’t think being a veteran has anything to do with being a good leader from his standpoint. Also, old people make LOTS of mistakes. I have seen this for myself. There is also the fact that he picked a VP who would give him a better chance of winning instead of someone who would actually do a decent job, or at least not shoot someone in the face. Palin is neither. In fact, if McCain died and Palin became the president, I thought about moving somewhere else out of the US…or Hawaii. I could go into a rant about how terrible conservatives are right now, since so many of them are leaning way too right that it’s scary, but I won’t.

I like how I wrote this 2 months ago and haven’t posted it until now.

Economic...umm...Education?

2008-10-17T19:23:00.000-07:00

I just want to add my 2 cents to this whole economic crisis. It wouldn’t be a huge problem if people didn’t care and left their money in the banks. This would solve half the problem, the other being adding regulations. Due to the volatile nature of the stock market, it is really easy to make good dough. Buy one day, sell the next, rinse and repeat. I just have no money to spend. It's all invested in textbooks, an asset that depreciates in value, which is not a real invetment. I might as well spend all my money in dynamite and sell it to the homeless or O.J. Simpson.

A conservative form of economics would kill us right now, and my accounting teacher agrees. And on that note, McCain cares too much about Joe the plumber, who isn’t even licensed as a plumber. Joe isn’t even his real name. Joe is making enough money to buy the business he is working for, and he’s worried about taxes? What a dumbass! I say let the company worry about it and get an early retirement, don’t be a greedy bitch. Plumbers make tons of money.

This post is short because the work I’m doing right now is taking a lot of effort...I think.

DS games I want (not an important post)

2008-10-04T12:02:00.000-07:00

Okay, after a week or two of stressing over a book report which still needs to be done, here is the list of games I want, but will not get till later.

1. Kirby Superstar Ultra
Kirby is awesome and this game is the latest and greatest. I want it and will buy it used some day.

2. N+
Also known as N game, it is great ninja platforming madness. I would be addicted to this game for awhile making some great stages.

3. Grid
I heard it’s a good racing game. Good graphics and an amazing track creator. This would be a great game for a long car trip.

One major thing keeping my DS game collection from increasing is the fact that I still have not beaten FFT A2, a game which I have already spent 130 hours playing. There is also the problem that I still haven’t finished No More Heroes yet. Oh well.

(Insert Title Here)

2008-09-22T21:23:00.000-07:00

Today, after weeks of hardships and no creativity, I have found a new item talk about: the use of language to cause pain on others. Now what is pain? I’m not entirely sure myself. Somehow, from our increased mental capacity and intelligence, we are able to inflict pain on others using vocals, yay vocals. How does this work? I’m still not completely sure. I can feel anger, but not sadness from such actions, and even then, it takes days for me to get angry. And even when it has built up, it decapitates within hours if I have some medium on which to pent the rage all (Wii bowling?). No, not bowling, probably Brawl. I don’t think many people have actually seen me angry except my nuclear family. You see, when I am mad, I become immoral. That’s when you run away because I’m about to eat someone’s face (that means kick ass).

Once again, I seemed to go off topic. Insults do indeed hurt most sane people. My favorite insults are the ones that only anger those who are intelligent. I can then find out if someone is actually stupid by insulting them, and its fun (note that I don’t usually do this). Believe what you want, but the biggest insult in all time is denying someone’s actual existence or effect on humanity. Simply stating that someone doesn’t matter implies so many disheartening things. All you have to say is “You don’t matter.” This can mean their birth was a mistake, no one loves them including God (which is impossible), nothing they do matters in society, they are not a precious life form, and lastly, their daily transactions and purchases do not effect national consumption, desired saving, net exports, or anything remotely related to a country’s current account (I love that one). But of course, not many people think about such things as much as I do (what was my point again?)

I think my next blog will be the top ten DS games out on the market or something.

(“”\(o_O)/””) rawr

In Dept-pression

2008-09-10T21:27:00.000-07:00

Today I shall talk about depression…fun. Now I know a lot of this subject simply because I suffer from it…mildly. It’s not like sadness, where you just feel like crying for a while (haven’t done that in years). No, depression is like a vice in your head that tightens every time you see someone having a better time than you. When everyone is jolly, you just can’t seem to get your share of the Christmas cookies (the hell am I talking about?). Actually, one cure for depression is sympathy, that non-material good you receive from others which keeps on giving. It is nice to have others take notice that you are troubled, at least until you get annoyed at them and yourself. My cure for depression is noticing how easily I can kill a person with the proper equipment (actually it’s Zoloft). Indeed, one cure for sadness is insanity. This may sound farfetched, but think about it. How can you think about how much life sucks when you can’t think straight anyway? Becoming psycho also indicates that you laugh maniacally whenever you get the chance (which I do indeed do). And what does laughter do? It makes your heart healthier (and who doesn’t want that?!?). Now I know what some of you are saying, "I don’t need to laugh because I intake fish oil." Well la-di-da, so do I. What was I talking about? Oh, depression. It sucks, so take some meds.

My Peachy Day

2008-09-03T19:36:00.000-07:00

I had an interesting experience at the library today. As you don’t know, I still don’t have my Financial Accounting textbook, and I needed to read the first chapter before my class tomorrow. I called my house to see if my book had arrived, but I only received my Oceanography book. So then I see if the book is in the library. Sometimes you can get away with reading the textbook at the library and never buying it. I don’t do that though, not yet anyway. Now I look for an available computer on the first floor and cannot find one, so I use my laptop. However, I can’t use the internet because I don’t have updated virus protection (my school is very finicky). So then I go into the basement to find a computer and I get lucky. I then look up my book and write down the call number (I was amazed they actually had it). I then marched up to the second floor to look for the right shelf. Found it. Now the right section. Found it. Now as I search for the book while continuously checking the book number, a bit of dread creeps into my skin. The book wasn’t there! Oh boy, now what to do?

Well my school has this thing where you can chat to a librarian anonymously over the internet, great for how social I am. I discussed my problem and waited about 5 minutes for a response, yet none came. The thing (whatever the hell it’s called) stopped working for a second and that might have kept the librarian from responding. So I repeated my plight and an answer popped up. I was supposed to go to some desk to check the books that haven’t been shelved yet, but I forgot the name of that place. So I went to the staircase and studied all the things which were on each floor. Couldn’t really find what I was looking for, so I went to the first floor and went to the checkout desk. Apparently this was the desk I needed to go to and the person helped me out, but still could not find the book. “All this for one chapter” I thought. Then I remembered that a previous version of the book was being repaired and I spotted it immediately. I also managed to convince the helper lady to let me borrow it so I could read the first chapter in the library. All this while I wanted to head back home.

So let me some up what this all means. I spent an hour to find a book which wasn’t the book I really wanted and spent another forty minutes reading it. The content was basically the same, but when I get the real book in the mail, I will need to start from square one. Oh how I love ranting.

My view on things

2008-09-02T19:54:00.000-07:00

I lack imagination today, so I’m just going to talk about my perspective on a few issues, mainly resulting in how I act in general. I’ll first make all you atheists uncomfortable and talk about God. God is the great deity, the great eternal consciousness. I don’t mean collective conscious, that’s something different entirely different (and possibly nonexistent), I mean the consciousness which holds our universe as well as all of reality together. Without God, nothing would exist. This may seem dense philosophically, but there is no real reason there has to be anything. But the fact is that there is something, something which operates with constant universal rules. This is one of the many proofs that God exists, even though it may be a tough idea to grasp. These matters are indeed complex and I’m not majoring in theology, so I won’t try to explain further.

However, I do know that God is around and God loves us (but not in love with us). One of the biggest gifts he has given us is free will. I hold this fact very personally and have woven my life around it. This has also made me very pro-choice and a democrat. I am also pro-life, but not just human life, all life. Nature, the ecosystem, this biosphere we live in is something I deeply want to protect and may end up changing jobs because of it. In fact, I am so disgusted with the amount of human consumption that goes on with our high population that I sometimes believe cleansing is in order (but most likely by limiting the amount of children and sterilizing some people). I’m not an extremists (I actually despise them on both political sides), but I do know what it would take to make the earth healthy. I also know that I can think what I want because I won’t become a politician. Good and evil are just two sides of the same card, and that card is usually politics. It’s like the lyrics from the Disturbed song titled Avarice:

Politics and evil

All one in the same

Satan hides behind a different name

That is how the song starts and, like all of their songs, it’s awesome. But those lyrics just look at the negative side of things. There is indeed a positive side to politics; I just can’t remember what it is right now. I’m starting to think governments should be run by machines. Yay. I would discuss more, but Leno is on.

My 2 cents

2008-08-30T19:59:00.000-07:00

Today's topic (I have topics?) is sacrifice. What is sacrifice? A simple definition would be giving something up which you hold dear. One important thing that can be sacrificed is life. Now it’s hard, and many times unethical, to sacrifice one’s self for any reason, but some willingly do it anyway. One of the few times it might be ok is when saving someone else’s life. However, there is a pressing problem at hand. If you, let’s say, protect a loved one from a criminal with a gun, you can’t really find out what happens afterward due to the fact that you are dead. That sacrifice may have been meaningless, especially if the presumed bad guy has more than one bullet. But you don’t have much of a choice. Your family member is going to die and you have to block that shot, unless of course the bullet goes through both of you, then you’re fucked.

But I digress, sacrifices can also happen in a very subtle way. Just losing a bit of freedom while bearing a child counts as a sacrifice. Spending money on Christmas presents can count as a sacrifice (you selfish bastard). Even making people laugh by embarrassing yourself can be a sacrifice. We sacrifice something every time we make a decision (called opportunity cost). These sacrifices can actually be measured by using the metric system (haha). Well, you can use your own unit of measurement; I will call mine sacrites (pronounced differently for each language). So for me, giving up my life is worth 100 sacrites while appearing on a porn video is 101 (no Dalmatians, please). Making someone laugh while sacrificing my pride is worth 20 sacrites, but I subtract 1 for each person present who will laugh and add 3 for every grown adult, whether they laugh or not. Even more complicated, eatin a doughnut is worth -5 sacrites, but increases by 3 each day for a week. The initial amount depends what flavor the doughnut is. I could seriously make a chart if I wanted to!

Anyway, sacrifices are a part of life itself and also build character, if not making you appear more mature. I would dive deeper if SNL wasn’t on right now. >.>

Stressful Social Situations

2008-08-25T20:32:00.000-07:00

One thing that has taken precedence in my current state of mind is how much we all willfully change ourselves to appear different than that of what we really are. This may cause accumulative emotional stress to the bearer or create some harmful side effects. Take me for example; I have made it my social priority to make everyone I care about even slightly to laugh. Unfortunately, this attempt may backfire (and has), or worse, create a misunderstanding or misinterpretation of my character. Laughter is addictive, and the ability to make others laugh is a far more potent substance (if it was indeed a physical manifestation). Now I have become addicted to being humorous, even if it means sacrificing my image and my pride, one of the few parts of us that is left on this earth as we die. There is good news though, none of this BS happens in when I’m tired or cranky, so mornings aren’t usually very eventful.

Anyway, back to the issue at hand. In certain groups we may be inclined to act differently to create a desired social outcome. This may be a short-run solution to creating those social stimuli which we all crave for. Acceptance is a common aspect we all look for in our friends, family, and everyday acquaintances that don’t really matter to our person. In order to gain this common sought-for feeling, we may create certain roles for ourselves in common society and various social groups. But we must break out of this system if we are to truly determine who we are inside. This journey inward can only be done by one person, you, and distractions will only be a hindrance. I suggest hiking up a mountain…alone. Bring a compass.

First Day of School

2008-08-24T20:17:00.000-07:00

Well, here it is. The first day of the new semester starts tomorrow and I'm as ready as Rocky about to lose a match. I just ordered my last book today, shaving as much cash off of the price tag as I could, about $20 worth. I can usually manage $50 or more, but this book just came out and is a fucking hardcover. I have never paid more than $100 dollars for a book due to my money saving skills, but I was stumped on this one. I will be getting it during the second week of school too, making note taking skills a must-have.

On the bright side, there isn't much work to be done the first week. And I get to have bubble tea again, which is basically my crack. I should defiantly create a bubble tea social next year. If crack socials existed like their lesser weed counterparts, then this would defiantly be sort of like it. I know that isn't convincing, but I can imagine it. I may just join the anime club bringing a bubble tea every time, hopefully starting a trend amongst the others. The only problem with clubs is that they are inconvenient for me. It would be a good waste of time if I lived on campus, but I commute. And who wants to watch Japanese cartoons at 8:00 pm when I can do that in the comfort of my home. Its pointlessness seems like an obscurity in my mind. (That sentence may not make actual sense)

-end of post

Hershey Park

2008-08-22T08:20:00.000-07:00

Well, tomorrow I shall be embarking on a trip right before school starts, and the best way to start school is with aching feet! Don't get me wrong, Hershey Park ranks 3rd in my favorite theme parks, but Kings Dominion and Cedar Point have better rides. Actually, Kings Dominion might be third when I really think about it. However, I find it condescending to think that giant candy bars are running amuck moles *cough* hugging children. What's worse is having to leave the line you stayed in for 30 minutes because that Hershey's chocolate bran muffin wasn't the smartest snack choice. And don't even get me started on their water park! It's basically a few water slides that all have long lines, and if you wish to go on one, you're going to pay more than $5.00 for a locker. It's a complete joke. I avoid the water park at all costs because, not only do I not want to get wet, I don’t want to see a mass of chubby people wet. Don’t get me wrong, I like fat people, they’re jolly, but seeing obesity in a swimsuit makes you go blind for a few seconds.

I may just sound like I’m complaining, but this is the stuff I think about an hour before I go to the dentist. Heaven forbid it be after my trip. I can imagine the same routine of my dentist asking me how much I floss. My answer is usually based on how much my gums are bleeding. If I have to spit every 5 minutes, twice a year. If the dentist compliments my teeth, once a week. If blood so happens to creep up while commenting on the shape of my bite, I get some pretty long math compilations going on in my head until I give up and shrug my shoulders. Luckily, my dentist is a neighbor of mine and cuts me some slack, but do we get a discount? No! What a bastard.