Gisteron

4th question, Gisteron.

How do you determine what is right vs wrong, or good vs evil; what is your basis for this?

Why do you and Gisteron often questions others beliefs, but put not theories of your own out for inspection...

Do you have your own theories?

Or just science?

Gisteron pretty much nailed it on the head, however...

Perhaps whats really more interesting is why we are asking questions others do not.

As for "Theories of you own"

I have not seen anything so singular or original in thought put forth here.

Its not as if Star Wars, Alan Watts, Joseph Campbell, etc, are original.

We do not draw from the same sources, but that doesnt make anything put forth "ones own."

You ask why we dont put things up for inspection.

I would ask why you dont inspect what we put forth.

Most conversations here are people stating things, and other people stating things.

Sometimes in agreement, and sometimes not.

However, there are very few questions asked.

Which, in a place where definition and words are used and changed so liberally, I am truly suprised.

But cornering them with their thoughts? By asking the 'whys', and 'how comes' like a child trying to understand, instead of understanding that you probably wont get it?

I just compare it to an inquesitive child, your strict call for sound reason, and verifiable evidence prove youare anything but a child...

Cetainly, it is the nature of a child to question.

I have more resources of my own to draw from than a child when given answers certainly, but the nature of the curiosity is childlike.

Hopefully, I dont lose it, and mores the pit if others were to as well.

I cant understand if I dont get it if I dont ask can I?

However I cant understand it at all if I dont ask either.

When one stops asking questions, for any reason, I a would see that as more of a problem than otherwise.

I seek to understand what I do not understand, and in a place of learning, spiritual or otherwise I think that would be a norm.

As for missing out...LOL.

Missing out on what would be the logical next step.

But past feeling it, you cant quantify it, so it stands as nothing more than a small insult to how I go about my path.

Gisteron wrote: ...like the one version of Zeus that visibly and physically resides on mount Olympus...

This reminds me of the only intelligent thing I ever read on tumblr:

Now, for full disclosure, I have recieved question in PM occasionally.

Still, that doesnt really add to the overall content of the site, but its not as if it has never happened.

scott777ab wrote: 4th question, Gisteron.

How do you determine what is right vs wrong, or good vs evil; what is your basis for this?

Everytime a theist asks this question, I cringe. Every. Time. Because the implication here is that godless people have no basis for morality because they aren't being rewarded or punished by some cosmic hippie. And, quite honestly, if your only motivation for being a decent f***ing human being is because some bloke with a beard will send you to a dark pit full of fire and worms, doesn't that kind of make you the messed up one?

Is something good because God loves it? Or does God love it because it is good?

scott777ab wrote: Follow up question for clarity.

So you are not saying then that there is no possibility for a god or gods to exist, you just simply do not believe a god or gods exist?

Correct. There are some gods I have good reason to believe don't exist, like the versions of Zeus and Aphrodite that visibly and physically reside on mount Olympus (we know they don't) or the one who in the literal first created the earth with plantlife and later the sun (we know that's not what happened). But at the same time, there are ultimately unfalsifiable or even falsifiable but not yet falsified god concepts I cannot exclude entirely.

How do you determine what is right vs wrong, or good vs evil; what is your basis for this?

The same basis everybody else has: Partly intuition, partly cultural conditioning but mostly consideration of the consequences of my actions in regards to myself and things and people I care about and the relation of those consequences to a few general principles that can be assumed axiomatically due to their universal acceptance among just about all types of people and even among other social animals.
This sounds awfully complicated and relative but it really isn't. If you wish, we can explore this in more detail one on one sometime.

steamboat28 wrote:

scott777ab wrote: 4th question, Gisteron.

How do you determine what is right vs wrong, or good vs evil; what is your basis for this?

Everytime a theist asks this question, I cringe. Every. Time. Because the implication here is that godless people have no basis for morality because they aren't being rewarded or punished by some cosmic hippie. And, quite honestly, if your only motivation for being a decent f***ing human being is because some bloke with a beard will send you to a dark pit full of fire and worms, doesn't that kind of make you the messed up one?

Is something good because God loves it? Or does God love it because it is good?

The brother of a friend, a fairly religious muslim, was telling me the other day there are earthly people and heavenly people, that is people who want to do well on earth (drive a ferrarri, etc), or people who are good (please allah) in order to do well in the afterlife (because allah's got a plan and if you act according to it you get rewarded)... All I could think about is how these two categories of people are equally selfish, and how behaving based on what may or may not be is in fact inherently bad.

[/quote] Most conversations in this forum are popularity contests where the goal is to sound more appropriate, politically correct, mystical, spiritual, wise and whatnot. Rare are those who dare explore crazy ideas just or the sake of it.[/quote]

Most? I don't think so. Most are decent enough people they want to learn and understand, though we are an eclectic group. Some people post for: shock, controversy, contrarian, argument, troll, to hear their own voice, to look smart or think their cleaver, some are all about themselves. I'd like to think this is a place for explorers of all types.

Doing well on Earth...
=
driving a ferrarri??
:laugh:
Superficial materialistic success is not doing well on Earth...
Quite the opposite...
The Earth is already in space so....
Heavenly people are also earthly people.