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2112$
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« on: January 26, 2008, 07:22:29 AM » |
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I do not believe in many things, but I do believe in this. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Without great depths, there can be no great highs. Without the ability to lose everything, there can be no ability to gain anything. As complicated as the world is, I believe that if there is a God, He or She or It intended misery and suffering to make the good things in life actually matter. This is an effort to answer the question "Why would God let this happen?" when something terrible happens.
Another observance I've recently made is in our relationships. There may be a standard 'healthy' relationship with definitions of what constitutes that, but for the most part if you push, the other person will pull. If you chase, they will run, and vice versa. If you assert your will, they will cave or fight you until your relationship no longer serves both parties' interests. So in every human relationship, there is this ebb and flow, it is constant and changing, but it is for the most part balanced in the way that it works, healthy or otherwise. I very much believe in the concept of yin yang and have for a few years now.
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IamMe
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« Reply #1 on: January 27, 2008, 12:44:22 PM » |
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I don't think the good and bad in the universe are balanced
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\\\\"Anarchism is the ideal to which all societies should approximate\\\\" - Bertrand Russell
If you strike me down I shall become more dead than you can ever imagine.
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2112$
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« Reply #2 on: January 27, 2008, 06:36:36 PM » |
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That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying the spectrum is full, because it can't be only half (good). Without bad there is no concept of good. Most people already know this, I'm not saying anything new.
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Factinista
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« Reply #3 on: January 28, 2008, 07:12:56 AM » |
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While there does appear to be a spectrum of "good" and "evil" it does not mean there is any sort of harmony, not that there is such a thing as God. Just as the spectrum of light doesn't imply anything other than there is a spectrum of light.
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IamMe
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« Reply #4 on: January 28, 2008, 12:35:44 PM » |
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That's not what I'm saying. I'm saying the spectrum is full, because it can't be only half (good). Without bad there is no concept of good. Most people already know this, I'm not saying anything new.
That's not the only way it could be. There could just be good, better, best - no need for bad. |
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\\\\"Anarchism is the ideal to which all societies should approximate\\\\" - Bertrand Russell
If you strike me down I shall become more dead than you can ever imagine.
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Patton
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« Reply #5 on: January 28, 2008, 08:18:23 PM » |
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That's not the only way it could be. There could just be good, better, best - no need for bad.
What's good about the death of a child? |
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Battle is the most magnificent competition in which a human being can indulge. It brings out all that is best; it removes all that is base. All men are afraid in battle. The coward is the one who lets his fear overcome his sense of duty. Duty is the essence of manhood
-George S. Patton
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Factinista
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« Reply #6 on: January 28, 2008, 09:33:46 PM » |
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He was not saying that everything in THIS world is good, he was saying that if "God" was ALL-powerfull then she could very easily create a univserse where that problem never occurs.
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Jericoacoara
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« Reply #7 on: January 28, 2008, 10:26:21 PM » |
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I don't think the good and bad in the universe are balanced
Which is basically what Yin Yang philosophy is saying, because there is never a perfect balance between Yin and Yang. There is always a weaker and a strong element in it. 2112 explained the concept of Yin Yang extremely well. The whole concept revolves around there being two aspects to everything, the two parts always fighting and interchanging with each other.One is pushing and the other is pulling. Lets take this forum as an example of an absolute. There are two parts that make up this forum, good posting and trolling. At no point in time are they ever the same. There is always an interchanging of the two. At the moment there are more good posts than troll posts, but there are other times when the trolls will become stronger(mostly when SJ is posting here  ). So using 2112's philosophy, we cannot appreciate and enjoy the good posters and good posts without experiencing the trolling. Anyway, that is a light hearted look at the philosophy, but the yin yang is an interesting concept for such things as love/hate, fire/water, night/day, justice/injustice, compassion/indifference etc etc. You can apply the concept to almost everything. |
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The greatest tragedy is for a person to die with the music still within them.
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Patton
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« Reply #8 on: January 29, 2008, 02:56:13 AM » |
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He was not saying that everything in THIS world is good, he was saying that if "God" was ALL-powerfull then she could very easily create a univserse where that problem never occurs.
I guess you could live your life like a "Stepford Wife" then...... |
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Battle is the most magnificent competition in which a human being can indulge. It brings out all that is best; it removes all that is base. All men are afraid in battle. The coward is the one who lets his fear overcome his sense of duty. Duty is the essence of manhood
-George S. Patton
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Ahkenaten
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« Reply #9 on: January 29, 2008, 02:35:48 PM » |
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"What's good about the death of a child?"
The scale is too microscopic.
The yin yang also represents homogonous universe. Consider that while there is 'birth' and 'death' in all systems (people or stars), 'creation' and 'destruction', yet still all the matter in the universe remains the same amount throughout all time, it just passes into different states. Nothing is really ever 'created' or 'destroyed'. It simply transfers...ashes to ashes. dust to dust.
So there is nothing 'good' or 'bad' about the death of a child because that is too tunnel viewed on one object. What would one think if a child was born in one room and another died in the next room?
Naturally this makes a difference to the parents of said baby, but therein is another yin yang of despair / ecstasy.
Ahk
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Factinista
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« Reply #10 on: January 29, 2008, 10:11:26 PM » |
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He was not saying that everything in THIS world is good, he was saying that if "God" was ALL-powerfull then she could very easily create a univserse where that problem never occurs.
I guess you could live your life like a "Stepford Wife" then...... Either you don't understand the idea of omniscience, or you choose to ignore the inconsistency within the definition of God. |
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Patton
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« Reply #11 on: January 30, 2008, 07:01:31 AM » |
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So......advocating that everything be "good" or "perfect" all the time would mean what?
No contrasts?
What would you compare this "life" to?
What would give it meaning?
Seems like it would be a straight line instead of peaks and valleys.....
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Battle is the most magnificent competition in which a human being can indulge. It brings out all that is best; it removes all that is base. All men are afraid in battle. The coward is the one who lets his fear overcome his sense of duty. Duty is the essence of manhood
-George S. Patton
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IamMe
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« Reply #12 on: January 30, 2008, 03:13:03 PM » |
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So......advocating that everything be "good" or "perfect" all the time would mean what?
No contrasts?
What would you compare this "life" to?
What would give it meaning?
Seems like it would be a straight line instead of peaks and valleys.....
Why couldn't there be a universe where life is just a series of experience each more pleasurable than the last? |
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\\\\"Anarchism is the ideal to which all societies should approximate\\\\" - Bertrand Russell
If you strike me down I shall become more dead than you can ever imagine.
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2112$
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« Reply #13 on: January 31, 2008, 05:42:47 AM » |
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Because too much pleasure leads to apathy or boredom with it.
Especially with the death of a child, which is possibly the worst feeling a human can live with, we have to wonder why a God would allow such cruelty. Despite looking at it objectively it does cause mental and emotional pain of the worst kind, but there must be such pain in the world or the good feelings wouldn't mean anything.
I've often thought that if I were a God in control of creating an entire universe for life to exist, that it would have to be similar to our universe in a number of ways. Some laws would exist but with room for chaos, and that every entity is only in control of itself directly. Indirectly and less in control of the other lives or items around itself. And definitely I wouldn't have time to make sure that only 'good' people were given 'good' things, and 'bad' people 'bad' things. Those are relative human concepts, not godly ones.
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IamMe
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« Reply #14 on: February 01, 2008, 01:02:20 PM » |
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Because too much pleasure leads to apathy or boredom with it.
Not if the pleasure is constantly increasing. |
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\\\\"Anarchism is the ideal to which all societies should approximate\\\\" - Bertrand Russell
If you strike me down I shall become more dead than you can ever imagine.
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