Atheism

[Dontaskme]

What are we even here for if we are not interested in seeking resonance and connection, like connecting all the dots (ideas) in an attempt to form the whole picture.

Take it in reverse. If there were a whole Humpty Dumpty picture to contemplate, all the commentary on it would soon turn it into a smorgasbord of detached and missing pieces never to be put back together again. We don't synthesize, we disorganize. Harmony is less argued about than its opposite. We are here not to create resonance but dissonance which is the reason there are endless tit-for-tat posts. Philosophy and opinion forums are war zones.

Thank you I agree.

Thanks for bringing this to my awareness I hadn’t thought about it like that. But it’s made me feel better.

[Gary Childress]

What are we even here for if we are not interested in seeking resonance and connection, like connecting all the dots (ideas) in an attempt to form the whole picture.

Take it in reverse. If there were a whole Humpty Dumpty picture to contemplate, all the commentary on it would soon turn it into a smorgasbord of detached and missing pieces never to be put back together again. We don't synthesize, we disorganize. Harmony is less argued about than its opposite. We are here not to create resonance but dissonance which is the reason there are endless tit-for-tat posts. Philosophy and opinion forums are war zones more of dismemberment than forging new ideas.

Disagreement, argument, etc, found in forums of people conversing is not "war" until it becomes insults, eventually followed by or precipitating physical attack. Until then it is only disagreement or argument. That's the mistake of versions of Sun Tzu's "Art of War" I've seen and Clausewitz, to liken war as the primary occupation of human beings or what we are always involved in. War is war, not anything else. It's not the only thing we do or the only thing we are about.

[Dubious]

What are we even here for if we are not interested in seeking resonance and connection, like connecting all the dots (ideas) in an attempt to form the whole picture.

Take it in reverse. If there were a whole Humpty Dumpty picture to contemplate, all the commentary on it would soon turn it into a smorgasbord of detached and missing pieces never to be put back together again. We don't synthesize, we disorganize. Harmony is less argued about than its opposite. We are here not to create resonance but dissonance which is the reason there are endless tit-for-tat posts. Philosophy and opinion forums are war zones more of dismemberment than forging new ideas.

Disagreement, argument, etc, found in forums of people conversing is not "war" until it becomes insults, eventually followed by or precipitating physical attack.

If physical attacks could be precipitated on a philosophy forum, I'd almost certainly be dead by now!

[Gary Childress]

Take it in reverse. If there were a whole Humpty Dumpty picture to contemplate, all the commentary on it would soon turn it into a smorgasbord of detached and missing pieces never to be put back together again. We don't synthesize, we disorganize. Harmony is less argued about than its opposite. We are here not to create resonance but dissonance which is the reason there are endless tit-for-tat posts. Philosophy and opinion forums are war zones more of dismemberment than forging new ideas.

Disagreement, argument, etc, found in forums of people conversing is not "war" until it becomes insults, eventually followed by or precipitating physical attack.

If physical attacks could be precipitated on a philosophy forum, I'd almost certainly be dead by now!

Well, I suppose there is war between "spirits" for the idealist. In my book a materialist would be strictly physical war and a "realist" would be someone who strikes a balance between the two realms when at war. In a society led by the spirit, war takes the initial form or disagreement and then insults, while the body attacks and interacts with matter in the realm of the physical.

[phyllo]

Here's an idea ... stop talking about each other and simply discuss issues, impersonally.

The problem with what you suggest, though I agree it is possible, and desirable, is this: many who write here do not have strongly concretized idea-structures, but rather sentimental ‘feelings’ about things to which their personality is bound. Attack the ‘idea’ amounts to ‘attacking the very person’. And that is intolerable.

My view (and I am working on explaining this better since I use this forum for my own purposes) is that with all this, all this inanity, and in fact all this mental unbalance, is an “outcome” of destructive processes begun generations back.

In order to even begin to “arrest” this on-going process of degeneracy, one has first to see it. Thus ‘the untuned string’ that has produced ‘discord’ must be harkened to.

Intellectual, anti-ideational termites — the tremendously over-active mass-man of today — can only do what termites do: consume and undermine.

Drunk (in a manner of speaking) on their ‘power’ they revolt against structures in ideas (and my reference points are both Harbal and his side-kick DontAskMe).

Impersonally, I refer to them, not by personal attack. In my view we must all achieve distance from ourselves so to be able to see ourselves.

I think there is a lot of truth in that.

[henry quirk]

My view is that, like me, you lack meaningful employment in the physical world.

Oh my. Your evidence?

[Harbal]

Here's an idea ... stop talking about each other and simply discuss issues, impersonally.

The problem with what you suggest, though I agree it is possible, and desirable, is this: many who write here do not have strongly concretized idea-structures, but rather sentimental ‘feelings’ about things to which their personality is bound. Attack the ‘idea’ amounts to ‘attacking the very person’. And that is intolerable.

My view (and I am working on explaining this better since I use this forum for my own purposes) is that with all this, all this inanity, and in fact all this mental unbalance, is an “outcome” of destructive processes begun generations back.

In order to even begin to “arrest” this on-going process of degeneracy, one has first to see it. Thus ‘the untuned string’ that has produced ‘discord’ must be harkened to.

Intellectual, anti-ideational termites — the tremendously over-active mass-man of today — can only do what termites do: consume and undermine.

Drunk (in a manner of speaking) on their ‘power’ they revolt against structures in ideas (and my reference points are both Harbal and his side-kick DontAskMe).

Impersonally, I refer to them, not by personal attack. In my view we must all achieve distance from ourselves so to be able to see ourselves.

I think there is a lot of truth in that.

Which only shows that you both take yourselves and this forum far too seriously. When you post here you are addressing a bunch of misfits, not a gathering of world leaders.

[Gary Childress]

My view is that, like me, you lack meaningful employment in the physical world.

Oh my. Your evidence?

No evidence. Just thought we had something in common perhaps. Me being employed in the mental health industry doesn't feel to me like the right fit for me. If you don't feel similarly with your employment, then I'm wrong.

[Dubious]

When you post here you are addressing a bunch of misfits, not a gathering of world leaders.

You may be right in what you say but when it comes to a gathering of world leaders you're referring to the biggest bunch of misfits on the planet.

[Harbal]

When you post here you are addressing a bunch of misfits, not a gathering of world leaders.

You may be right in what you say but when it comes to a gathering of world leaders you're referring to the biggest bunch of misfits on the planet.

Perhaps they are, but at least they are in a position to do something about something. I mean, what sort of idiot thinks he's going to change the world from here?

[phyllo]

Well, one can learn something, one can gain some understanding, one can clarify one's thinking, ...

[Harbal]

Well, one can learn something, one can gain some understanding, one can clarify one's thinking, ...

You'll learn plenty about human nature here, but not much else.

[Dubious]

When you post here you are addressing a bunch of misfits, not a gathering of world leaders.

You may be right in what you say but when it comes to a gathering of world leaders you're referring to the biggest bunch of misfits on the planet.

Perhaps they are, but at least they are in a position to do something about something.

It's precisely the "something about something" one worries about.

I mean, what sort of idiot thinks he's going to change the world from here?

Hopefully there are some, though they may be morons, haven't yet arrived at the idiot stage where such assumptions may be made.

One can only hope!

[Harbal]

When you post here you are addressing a bunch of misfits, not a gathering of world leaders.

You may be right in what you say but when it comes to a gathering of world leaders you're referring to the biggest bunch of misfits on the planet.

Perhaps they are, but at least they are in a position to do something about something.

It's precisely the "something about something" one worries about.

I mean, what sort of idiot thinks he's going to change the world from here?

Hopefully there are some, though they may be morons, haven't yet arrived at the idiot stage where such assumptions may be made.

One can only hope!

I wouldn't have the place any other way.

[Dubious]

When you post here you are addressing a bunch of misfits, not a gathering of world leaders.

Perhaps they are, but at least they are in a position to do something about something.

It's precisely the "something about something" one worries about.

I mean, what sort of idiot thinks he's going to change the world from here?

Hopefully there are some, though they may be morons, haven't yet arrived at the idiot stage where such assumptions may be made.

One can only hope!

I wouldn't have the place any other way.

I guess every court has its clowns but are we fortunate in having so many?