jakelafort

Unseen wrote:

The point, I suppose, is that science and its vaunted method, is just that: a method. Unlike Newton’s or Einstein’s or what little we know of the rules governing quantum-level events, the scientific method may use those laws, but it itself is not a law.

I struggled with this for a while, until finally figuring out what I think is…[Read more]

It’s rarely a bad idea to “buy local”. Except of course in USA when Trump owns the business, I’d boycott it.

Meanwhile, I think that Trump’s desire is to foment unrest and get populist adrenaline to flow, so any emotional reaction or retaliation from any other country is another arrow in his pocket… until enough Americans wake up and get rid of…[Read more]

Thanks Reg, an appropriate link I neglected until now. Recently I also ran into another interesting-looking writing (Political Tribes by Amy Chua):

Humans are tribal. We need to belong to groups. In many parts of the world, the group identities that matter most – the ones that people will kill and die for – are ethnic, religious, sectarian, or cla…

[Read more]

My educated guess, in brief:

1) Humans are tribal by nature; human history is full of examples of campaigns and wars driven by fear mongering leaders, and other paranoic tendencies. That’s not new.

2) Repressive, authoritarian regimes that wrap entire cultures in their own reality bubble is also just as old as civilization itself.

3) What’s new…[Read more]

PopeBeanie wrote:

I shall write with bigger pictures and audiences in mind, too. When I can remember to.

Damn, I don’t remember writing that last sentence.

Really good thread here. In Simon’s defense, in spite of his defense of religion, I’ll bet most of us can see how far ahead he is of typical religious people and their tribes. “Can there be an atheistic religion?”. I wouldn’t mind a bit if Simon’s ideas could replace current traditions, or if he can get religious people to discover the solely…[Read more]

@jakelafort: Yep. And the thing is that honestly….I’ve combed through EVERY..and I DO MEAN EVERY (no I’m not shouting but how else do you put the emphasis on the words? I can’t say it enough…) I’ve combed through every single fucking resource that the entire united state mental health system has to offer.

His information has been the…[Read more]

@Strega I’ve learned so much from him I don’t even know where to begin. About which topic? God? Parenting? Psychology? I’ve watched HOURS of his videos before forming my opinions about him. What I will say is that he is one of the most brilliant minds I’ve ever come across but you HAVE to listen..VERY carefully to his word choices. He is VERY…[Read more]

@Strega I wouldn’t even attempt to paraphrase it, you really just have to find a way to watch it or see if there’s a transcript. But here’s what I will say – more than anything some of what I’ve learned from him about raising a son – especially a very (like 99th percentile for his age) type of violent son who is LITERALLY making threats to murder…[Read more]

This is life changing

@Strega, there are so many. I honestly didn’t know who this guy was til a couple of weeks back in a Sunday School we were talking about him and I started watching his lectures…I just can’t get enough of him.

Here’s one example. I love the way he articulates this interview

Can there be an atheistic religion?

No.

@Davis

No. Aboslutely not. Logos is a philosophical term.

Yes, it is. And? Okay so you don’t “believe IN” it but you can get the idea it’s trying to convey to you about it. Maybe your meaning is slightly different than someone else’s. That’s why he says from the flood gates that typically we enter into these discussions with certain preconceive…[Read more]

@Regthefronkeyfarmer

Once he uses the word “Logos” he has fully boxed himself in

No because he didn’t explicitly say that he believes in it. He was actually very careful about that and he’s referring to the symbolism of it. He does that in other lectures/talks/interviews I’ve seen where he utilizes the symbolism of different aspects of our cul…[Read more]

@Reg you really missed what he said. Really…Go back and watch it again, seriously. He never said that he hold belief in any particular god. He just never said that.

I think you have some straw sticking out of those ears Mr. Farmer lol

At the start JP says that he “acts as if God exists” while not explaining what he means by God

I took that to mean that he’s basically an agnostic. Doesn’t really know but maybe sways a little towards yeah it seems like there’s something but I don’t know what. I derived that from his words also because I’m deeply familiar with his professional…[Read more]

Yes, he can offer his opinion but that is all it is – his subjective opinion

And honestly that’s all I took it as.

Wow. I took away something completely different from what he says. But that’s probably because I have watched many of his academic lectures and I understand how he sees the world – from a clinical psychologist perspective and everything that comes out of his mouth ever has to be understood in framework to his profession. I’ll have to post a more…[Read more]

100% agree with you Davis!