Marriage and Family

[Gary Childress]

I'm sorry for bringing up this topic. It's really my fault. I realize now that I probably just fueled flames that weren't necessary to fuel or otherwise best left alone.

I was gonna say encouragin' things, but after that cheap, unwarranted, shot in another thread: pffftt! You're on your own, guy.

I accept that Henry. I have nothing against you.

[vegetariantaxidermy]

I'm sorry for bringing up this topic. It's really my fault. I realize now that I probably just fueled flames that weren't necessary to fuel or otherwise best left alone.

I was gonna say encouragin' things, but after that cheap, unwarranted, shot in another thread: pffftt! You're on your own, guy.

I accept that Henry. I have nothing against you.

Just stick to what you do well on here. I enjoy many of your posts for their insight, but not the ones where you are whining about not having a woman, and not the ones where you are apologising for things that don't need an apology (like every time you apologise).

[Gary Childress]

Are you serious? Just stop fucking apologising and butting in. Can's a big boy. I'm sure he can handle himself. I mean, you have to actually type the words 'I'm sorry'. It's not as if you have no control over that.

I type those words when I feel responsible for something bad. I don't know of any other way to atone with people for my mistakes.

Actually you attack me quite often, usually under the 'guise' of being someone else's knight in shining armour. Apologies should only be used under extreme circumstances. The world has gone 'faux apology' mad

I hear you. I'm a fool most of the time and must own that remark, unfortunately for me. I don't know what I'm doing half the time.

I just want the world to get along right now. It's very stressful for me to see so much violence. We should have been able to have just gotten out of Afghanistan cold Turkey and left it at that. Now they're talking about Afghanis who helped Americans being beheaded, tortured, etc. Apparently ISIS got involved or whatever. So we have to help those Afghanis flee. The GW Bush administration FUCKED up the world. Cheney was cold and heartless. And everyone who voted them into office bears as much responsibility for this mess as anyone who voted for Biden.

[Gary Childress]

America needs a new political landscape. I think the Green Party and the Libertarian Party are probably the best parties we have right now. The Democrats and Republicans are finished, both of them. Americans deserve something better for our country.

[vegetariantaxidermy]

I type those words when I feel responsible for something bad. I don't know of any other way to atone with people for my mistakes.

Actually you attack me quite often, usually under the 'guise' of being someone else's knight in shining armour. Apologies should only be used under extreme circumstances. The world has gone 'faux apology' mad

I hear you. I'm a fool most of the time and must own that remark, unfortunately for me. I don't know what I'm doing half the time.

I just want the world to get along right now. It's very stressful for me to see so much violence. We should have been able to have just gotten out of Afghanistan cold Turkey and left it at that. Now they're talking about Afghanis who helped Americans being beheaded, tortured, etc. Apparently ISIS got involved or whatever. So we have to help those Afghanis flee. The GW Bush administration FUCKED up the world. Cheney was cold and heartless. And everyone who voted them into office bears as much responsibility for this mess as anyone who voted for Biden.

Yes they did fuck up the world, although I never did work out why the fuck the twin towers were attacked in the first place. The US had been relatively benevolent before that (I'm not saying it was exactly perfect. It's been a meddling nuisance for a long time, but it was nothing compared to the mess it's caused since 11/9). And the people have become such military-worshipping warmongers. Whatever happened to the flower children of the sixties? Let me guess; they are all Republicans now The sixties equivalent of the woke today. Nothing genuine about them.

[Gary Childress]

Actually you attack me quite often, usually under the 'guise' of being someone else's knight in shining armour. Apologies should only be used under extreme circumstances. The world has gone 'faux apology' mad

I hear you. I'm a fool most of the time and must own that remark, unfortunately for me. I don't know what I'm doing half the time.

I just want the world to get along right now. It's very stressful for me to see so much violence. We should have been able to have just gotten out of Afghanistan cold Turkey and left it at that. Now they're talking about Afghanis who helped Americans being beheaded, tortured, etc. Apparently ISIS got involved or whatever. So we have to help those Afghanis flee. The GW Bush administration FUCKED up the world. Cheney was cold and heartless. And everyone who voted them into office bears as much responsibility for this mess as anyone who voted for Biden.

Yes they did fuck up the world, although I never did work out why the fuck the twin towers were attacked in the first place. The US had been relatively benevolent before that (I'm not saying it was exactly perfect, but it was an angel compared to what it's done to the world since 11/9).

I'd like to know who attacked the Twin Towers and why. I know Bin Laden claimed credit but I suspect it was probably wealthy people somewhere who funded and supported the attack. God knows the people who hijacked the planes were Saudi. Perhaps the Russians or Chinese had a hand in it. I don't know. But it's too late now to determine who is at fault. We need to put 9/11 behind us. It's over and done and hopefully, we've all learned lessons from it. And America needs to stop interfering in other countries. Let other countries do their thing and we have to do ours. Colonialism has ALWAYS been a bad thing. Let countries rule their own lands democratically.

[Gary Childress]

And if there are problems then international pressure is needed not wars.

[Gary Childress]

Especially not unilateral wars.

[Dontaskme]

Or in contemporary parlance, we have love in our MINDS or hate in our MINDS. "Heart" is an archaic word for me to use, I realize.

Personally, I have opinions, sometimes they are loving, sometimes they are hateful, and that's all. But that doesn't mean I'm going to physically cause any serious harm to someone I have opinions about. I hate physical violence.

People form opinions all the time, take the concept of hate and love for example. You cannot know one without the other. So it's all part of the same human dance. Any opinion made about me whether it is good or bad, has never killed me...So as far as I am concerned, what other people think about my opinions is none of my business. Nothing another person can say to me will make any difference to the way I live my life. I live my life exactly how I want to live it. Not how other people think I should live it.

Quite frankly, I have absolutely no use for other people, my life is completely fine just as it is, I've opted for the solo way. And it's the best gift I ever gave to myself, I just wish I'd thought of it earlier than I did.

Fine if some medical person willingly consents to fixing my broken leg, or fixes my toothache, I'm certainly not going to refuse, or if someone willingly consents to serving me all my daily requirements that I need to survive, like bankers, and shop workers, etc..etc... then I am not going to refuse. Apart from the obvious cooperation by other humans which is always by their own consent, I have absolutely no use for other people. Others are not me, nor will they ever be, and so how they choose to live their lives is none of my business.

.

[Lacewing]

I don't believe that we can get love, or give love to and from other humans. Love is just another man-made concept like the word God. It only exists as an idea.

What about with your pets?

Is it just an idea in their head, like when they get in your lap and purr, or touch their nose with yours (with their eyes big and soft)?

I think love (however we might understand it) can be a form of energy -- and there are many types/versions of it, but that energy is as real as anything else to us. And energy can be exchanged.

'm not really playing the human mind game, I can only pretend to play the game, for what other game is there for humans to play? the game has been forced upon us, and we have no other choice but to play it. We consent to the game, because what's the alternate, we're already here now, so we have no other choice, but to consent to living our life.

Yep. I figure I might as well have fun and see what I can do with it. There are many ways to experience everything. It doesn't have to be a big deal or a big existential crisis to adapt or to shift or to flow or to understand. It's life... vibrant and breathing and colorful. It's 3D artwork. No agreement needed.

What's the answer when you ask yourself who it is that needs to consent... or who it is that's being forced? Who/what is forcing... and who is the receiver/victim?

[Dontaskme]

What about with your pets?

Is it just an idea in their head, like when they get in your lap and purr, or touch their nose with yours (with their eyes big and soft)?

I think love (however we might understand it) can be a form of energy -- and there are many types/versions of it, but that energy is as real as anything else to us. And energy can be exchanged.

There's an energy that moves toward comfort and pleasure, in it's drive to survive. A moving away, and avoidance of toxic physical harm is an automatic reflexive function of all sentient feeling creatures..

I wouldn't call it love, I'd call it a reflexive advantageous move away from the experience of what would otherwise have been a disadvantaged situtation. Pets are conditioned by humans so will take on a part of their nature. They too are only seeking comfort and freedom from harms way. They have no concept of love, they thrive for the same reason we do, through comfort and avoidance of harm. Pets do not give you love, just try rubbing a pet up the wrong way and watch it brutally lash out at you in the most unexpected way. The pet will not care if it's scratched one of your eyes out. It's the same with human relationships. Just try telling your partner that you want to spend 3 weeks alone without them, most will say yeah ok, but others may see it as an opportunity to get up to some mischief. Personally I do not trust other humans beings as far as I can throw them. And my life is perfectly fine having that attitude. I read only yesterday, 3 supermarkets had to close because word got out that some person had injected food with a harmful substance...now that's really scary...

What's the answer when you ask yourself who it is that needs to consent... or who it is that's being forced? Who/what is forcing... and who is the receiver/victim?

The answer is I

Although, that too is just an idea that cannot be pinned down or located to have any known created beginning. In the sense that we can consent to living our lives, the one we believe to have, never really stopping to think that all we have are our beliefs, and this one who believes they exist, never actually consented to being born at all...right?
So who is consenting to life now? the only answer is the belief in ( I )

Who is going to believe a belief? and the answer is the belief itself.

[Lacewing]

I think love is an attitude we have toward someone else. The same goes for hate. If we behave violently toward someone (for example), then we have "hate" in our hearts. If we help someone overcome something that is difficult for them (for example), then we have "love" in our hearts. Some of us sometimes have hate in our hearts. It could be for justifiable reasons or it could be for unjustifiable reasons. Some of us sometimes have love in our hearts. And it could be general love toward everyone or specific love of a few particular people. I don't think having love in our hearts at a particular time necessarily makes a person "better" than someone who doesn't. As soon as we try to establish a hierarchy of people, then we no longer have love in our hearts. Sometimes, we establish a hierarchy because we want something that is not universally available to all and we want to think that we deserve that something that not everyone can have. I'm guilty of that sometimes and don't realize what I'm doing is not right.

Most of us, surely, feel both, love and hate. Neither feeling/idea makes us good or bad. It's what we do with it, that makes more of an impression. Interpreting others actions can be tricky, because it is possible for some to love while being fierce... and some to hate while acting holy. Surface impressions mislead lots of people. Perhaps people are mislead when their own understanding is narrow or shallow -- and they may support the narrowness and shallowness they understand, or because it seems to validate them somehow. Perhaps when people see more broadly and deeply, or they don't have an investment or need, they can see beyond surface appearances.

There is nothing wrong with calling out distortions on this forum (whether or not they are willful or unconscious). We don't all have to be gentle when we're dealing with arrogance or falseness. Part of the entertainment and value here (that I see) is in confronting those things that we do not condone in ourselves, and we can be very creative and direct in confronting it. The players on the stage are here voluntarily -- and they are responsible for the claims they make, including what they perpetuate.

I am encouraged/inspired when I see broader perception in discussions here. Not projections that people make up... but discernment beyond the surface claims. I think it's valuable to question and challenge all the claims that people make about themselves which position themselves above others. There's something messed up about that... and it's interesting to try to understand it honestly. There is often a theist undercurrent to it. Is it perhaps a type of evilness, actually birthed by theism, that makes people think in such separatist, self-glorifying ways? Or is it just foolishness? Look at what people do with it. Are they really trying to help anyone else? Or are they more focused on stroking themselves?

Love and hate have many faces, and it's helpful not to automatically assign them to surface affiliations. That allows distortion and manipulation to reign unchecked, while more genuine and constructive intent may be mislabeled and dismissed. There's a lot going on, on various levels. The concept of a black and white world serves those who want to judge for their own comfort/benefit.

Yes, this topic has gone in many directions... but I think that's okay. It's not as if anyone is monopolizing or derailing it excessively. Value can come from letting things flow naturally, and seeing what surfaces.

[Lacewing]

There's an energy that moves toward comfort and pleasure, in it's drive to survive. A moving away, and avoidance of toxic physical harm is an automatic reflexive function of all sentient feeling creatures..

I wouldn't call it love, I'd call it a reflexive advantageous move away from the experience of what would otherwise have been a disadvantaged situtation.

Sure. But there is also more than that, I think... both of which I have experienced. The love of a baby or young child... so full of joy and openness and acceptance for another spirit/person they see, perhaps for the first time. It looks/feels like a pure form of love to me. Also, there is love offered quietly to another... which can be felt even if it's not talked about. It can be healing. That has been my experience.

Pets are conditioned by humans so will take on a part of their nature.

Of course there is that. But I experience more than that. You may not call such energy love -- yet, I'm not sure what else to call it. I don't think the actual word is that big of a deal. It's about the kind of energy that is exchanged, and it's typically what humans refer to as love. It is real for some people, and it can be felt and given and received in lots of ways.

Personally I do not trust other humans beings as far as I can throw them.

Do you trust yourself?

What's the answer when you ask yourself who it is that needs to consent... or who it is that's being forced? Who/what is forcing... and who is the receiver/victim?

The answer is I

Although, that too is just an idea that cannot be pinned down or located to have any known created beginning.

So, who/what are you railing against in regard to you (or anyone) being born?

[RCSaunders]

Yes they did fuck up the world, although I never did work out why the fuck the twin towers were attacked in the first place.

If you are thinking there could be some rational explanation for 9/11 (and I understand the urge to do just that), there will never be one.

All religions are kinds of self-induced insanity and perhaps the most insane religion today is Islam. Trying to understand why 19 Muslim nuts did why they did is like trying to explain the daily life of an insane asylum. As for those who planed and financed that atrocity, it is the same irrationality that drives all ideological disasters, belief in something transcending reason and reality.

One thing is certain, there never was and never will be a political solution to Islamic terrorism--war and politics are what Islam thrives on, as well as most governments.

[Sculptor]

Yes they did fuck up the world, although I never did work out why the fuck the twin towers were attacked in the first place.

If you are thinking there could be some rational explanation for 9/11 (and I understand the urge to do just that), there will never be one.

No brainer.
Of course there is a reason. It's completely obvious.

If you shoot someone in the face, all I have to do is ask you why.

The rationale for 9/11 is the rationale of the aims of feelings of Osama Bin Laden and the organisation that perpetrated the crime. SInce it was a act intended for media impact, Al Queida were only too happy to tell us why.
Bin Laden had his reasons. It is patently obvious that the US and the rest of the west was not interested in those reasons and came up with the things that best suited their own ideology; bullshit like "they hate us for our freedom" which is bollocks.
The response ove the last 20 years has had fuck all to do with those reason and was more geared to serve the interests of the West. So the "official" story of Afghanistan was coached in terms of women's rights, as that is the best thing to garner support for the underlying impetus which is to sell more weapons and to use bombs and other expensive equipment that needed constant replacement.
Following the money gives you the big answer.