Originally posted by dj2beckerYou don't seem to realize that I find 75% of what you post to be a kind of parody of discourse reliant on a limited set of rhetorical gimmicks and an unwillingness to engage what people say.
As far as I am concerned you are always ducking and diving and hiding behind the claim that you can't decide to believe in anything and that all your beliefs are just brain dead realizations.
I have not claimed that all my beliefs are "brain dead realizations" and I haven't claimed that I cannot " decide to believe in anything". That you would try to sum up what I have said in such an absurd and basically dishonest way is presumably intended to goad me into continuing to indulge you.
Originally posted by dj2becker to Ghost of a DukeSo why did you trot out exactly the same set of arguments/assertions to me ~ pages 8 to 14 ~ under a different screen name as if we hadn't had this conversation a few months ago?
If you actually bothered to open the link you would see that it is different to the one I posted before. I was on here with this account from 2004-2007. So I have decided to revert back to my old account. Forgot the old password but finally figured out how to change it.
Originally posted by KellyJayI have a friend who's reason for living is skydiving. I would say the same to him 'I'm happy for you.' (Happy that he had found something that gave his life purpose). But you 'wouldn't' catch me jumping out of a plane and plummeting to the earth.
You don't make a lot of sense to me saying that, considering our previous discussions. Why would you be happy I found someone that you completely reject as being real? You delight in what you must think are delusional experiences? You are happy i've had a rich fulfilling life while being delusional?
I have said a number of times in this forum that I have no resentment to people who have a faith (and on some level have a degree of admiration for someone who can have faith on something that doesn't provide definitive evidence, something I personally would require).
So just take it as it was meant. No hidden sarcasm or derision. 'I'm happy for you.' Happy that you've found something that gives your life purpose. I don't agree with it, but certainly don't resent it.
Originally posted by FMFIndeed.
Don't be so brittle and insecure. I don't know for sure if Ghost of a Duke sees it like I do, but I am pleased for you if your religious beliefs give you solace and a sense of purpose - or structure - and if they help you to come to terms with the inevitability of death by making you feel 'death is not the end'.