Never be the first to speak, the first to come to a conclusion or the first to anger. Therein lies much wisdom.
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Evil exists to glorify the good. Evil is negative good. It is a relative term. Evil can be transmuted into good. What is evil to one at one time, becomes good at another time to somebody else.
--Mencius I was much more intrigued by Mengzi than Kongzi. It is important to think about topics like good and evil through learning of other cultures and different points in history. How can you know a thing if you only know your own limited viewpoint? A mirror cannot reflect the truth, only an image from one perspective. From the perspective of Mengzi the dualism of moral status is intrinsic and mutable. In my opinion this would suggest an inflexible perspective in life would put one out of harmony with the "heavens". Compassion, empathy and an open mind should be a human value, not one exclusive to one group or another. Ignorance and hatred are also part of the human experience. We decide how we want to live.
Debate is a lost art. I love using the Socratic method to talk about a topic. Being a gadfly is indeed an easy way to be unpopular. People are looking to win rather than learn. That prevents any point in the discussion. I honestly prefer to listen more than talk, although my wife will argue that point.
For me the onus is on the person of faith to prove their belief to me. If you want to believe in a purple cheese eating jellyfish that lives in the forests of Neptune that is fine. If that purple creature is telling you to be good to people and live in harmony great. I do not have to believe in that creature just because someone else claims it exists. Therein lies the difference between faith and an atheist...substantiation and belief. As an open minded person I am willing to entertain the possibility that the jellyfish in the forest of Neptune is real, just show me something that I can verify and re-verify using tools of reason.
Since all attempts to verify the belief in deities are based upon personal emotional relationships based on faith and their canonized ontologies I side beyond agnosticism and rest with those who see gods, particularly monothestic ones to fall in the realm of the impossible. In my opinion, we lessen ourselves by needing the impossible. Humans are fascinating creatures who deserve independence from the shackles of faith. Anger and Fear propaganda cannot be sustained forever without a major event to substantiate the irrational messages. Therefore either people become apathetic to the message and return to a normal state of being or the source behind the propaganda must generate a new threat, real or imagined. What the messengers fear most is the fearless...those who are able to decipher the propaganda and disprove it. During a war, the fearless are silenced first. Those who seek war want believers not analysts.
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Dean StevensI am responsible for all that appears before you. Categories
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