Do you believe in spirits?

[ShadowHunter]

Originally Posted by quartertone

Those statistics are, however! I find it hard to believe, considering that far more people consume beer than esoterica, and the beer industry is involved in practically every public event.

i can't read german, but maybe in the "esoterica" are also included those "call to know your future" tarot phone lines. i know people spend a shitton of money for that crap

[Corpseifier]

Since the topic of the thread was about our personal belief and experiences in regards to ghosts or spirits, I choose not to argue with anyone.

Evidence of ghosts/spirits is usually purely anecdotal. Anecdotal evidence is extremely insufficient in most cases. It might be convincing to some people....but in my opinion, it shouldn't be if one applies rigorous critical thinking.

[Lichtbringer]

Originally Posted by ruonitb

(for some reason in the book it says 25-30 billion €)

'billion' = 'Milliarde' in German

[ruonitb]

Originally Posted by Lichtbringer

'billion' = 'Milliarde' in German

I know that, but in the interview he says 20 - 25 billion €, and in the book it says 25 - 30 billion €. ;)

[Lichtbringer]

Alrighty, my bad.

[Tomes of Deceit]

Originally Posted by quartertone

But what's interesting is that both of these things can easily be interpreted your way or the opposite way; the randomness of tragedies is comforting in that they involve no personal blame, but disconcerting because the individual then has no role in averting them. Similarly, while eternity terrified you, many people are scared by the idea that their body will simply lie in the ground and rot, as they can't deal with no longer existing at all.

I only meant that there's "comfort" in the sense that if you can accept these couple ideas, in principle you are totally confident in your beliefs. It seems that most faithful or spiritual people probably have nagging doubts in the back of their mind which may bother them on some level.

That's NOT to say that I'm perfectly comfortable with tragedies, or my own demise.

[ShadowHunter]

Originally Posted by discombobulation

I think the beginning of your argument was succinctly put forward by Sam Harris in this wonderful clip:



PS. bookmarked your vid Shadowcunter, as I have come to the stark realisation that I'm fucked for my exams starting the 30th.

speaking of Sam Harris:

[discombobulation]

MOTHERFUCKER!!! you totally stole my thunder shadow hahaha.

I was gonna post that video as the first clip in a thread I was gonna make after my exams, titled something along the lines of "The Thought-provoking thread". The thread will still be made, and this clip will still be the first one that I post. Everyone must see it.

That video is so epic, his ideas are nothing new, but the delivery and ability to package it so neatly...god-tier.

[ShadowHunter]

Originally Posted by discombobulation

MOTHERFUCKER!!! you totally stole my thunder shadow hahaha.

I was gonna post that video as the first clip in a thread I was gonna make after my exams, titled something along the lines of "The Thought-provoking thread". The thread will still be made, and this clip will still be the first one that I post. Everyone must see it.

That video is so epic, his ideas are nothing new, but the delivery and ability to package it so neatly...god-tier.

haha.. i kinda wanted to do the same thread, but decided to post it here 'cause well.. sam harris was mentioned :D

yeah.. he's really awesome in how he explains stuff with wit an clarity

[creepjoe]

arguing either side of this topic is inconceivably stupid.

To the righteous atheists out there: Atheism is a religion. To claim you are right is christian!

However, if you know you are right, there's no reason to announce it.

[Skeetsystem]

Originally Posted by imbutawaveto

man, where's the tl;dr for this thread?

Lurking silently, like...

[veshly]

Originally Posted by creepjoe

arguing either side of this topic is inconceivably stupid.

To the righteous atheists out there: Atheism is a religion. To claim you are right is christian!

However, if you know you are right, there's no reason to announce it.

[Cloaca]

I fucking hate Sam Harris

[discombobulation]

Originally Posted by creepjoe

arguing either side of this topic is inconceivably stupid.

To the righteous atheists out there: Atheism is a religion. To claim you are right is christian!

However, if you know you are right, there's no reason to announce it.

It's too early in the morning for this shit.

Originally Posted by Cloaca

I fucking hate Sam Harris

....why? Of all the outspoken atheists he's the most neutral and relatable, and he actually does not like the atheist label, favouring reason/rationalist-esque categorisation.

[slotheist]

Originally Posted by creepjoe

Atheism is a religion.

2/10 on troll scale

[De Profoundis]

I seen a ghost once...or it was something.

[Cloaca]

Originally Posted by discombobulation

....why? Of all the outspoken atheists he's the most neutral and relatable, and he actually does not like the atheist label, favouring reason/rationalist-esque categorisation.

To be honest, most of it stems from a spastic friend of mine who pay money to lick his arsehole clean. He uses guys like Harris (especially Harris) to justify some seriously retarded opinions. And his fucking militant atheism.

You guys can argue why science is fundamentally different from other belief systems, rightly or wrongly, but at the end of the day an awful lot of people who do this are no less annoying than your average Jehovah's Witness.

[ShadowHunter]

Originally Posted by Cloaca

To be honest, most of it stems from a spastic friend of mine who pay money to lick his arsehole clean. He uses guys like Harris (especially Harris) to justify some seriously retarded opinions. And his fucking militant atheism.

so you actually hate your friend/his arguments, not Harris?

Originally Posted by Cloaca

You guys can argue why science is fundamentally different from other belief systems, rightly or wrongly, but at the end of the day an awful lot of people who do this are no less annoying than your average Jehovah's Witness.

and who cares/why is it relevant/you can say that about pretty much any topic ever so it's not even worth bringing up

[Cloaca]

Originally Posted by ShadowHunter

so you actually hate your friend/his arguments, not Harris?



and who cares/why is it relevant/you can say that about pretty much any topic ever so it's not even worth bringing up

Yes, I hate my friend. No but seriously we don't agree on much, but somehow we get along. We can argue about shit all day without getting overly serious about it. He has ruined any chance of me taking Sam Harris seriously though.

[Cernunnos]

I can't remember completely, but I'm pretty sure Sam Harris made some disgusting mental gymnastic arguments in The End of Faith arguing that torture of terror suspects could be justified in "ticking time bomb" scenarios.

[_Hez_]

Originally Posted by Cloaca

To be honest, most of it stems from a spastic friend of mine who pay money to lick his arsehole clean. He uses guys like Harris (especially Harris) to justify some seriously retarded opinions. And his fucking militant atheism.

You guys can argue why science is fundamentally different from other belief systems, rightly or wrongly, but at the end of the day an awful lot of people who do this are no less annoying than your average Jehovah's Witness.

I think whether you're a recently saved christian or someone who's just come out of the atheist closet, you're going to feel empowered or feel betrayed and wanting to be vocal about it. I'm sure it's just a phase, your mate will get over it eventually.

[creepjoe]

Originally Posted by slotheist

2/10 on troll scale

that's good, considering I'm not trollin' right now. Not believing in god/higher power/whatever (AKA being agnostic) is different from KNOWING there is no god/higher power/more to the universe than we can initially perceive. It's silly for a human to make their conclusions of god or no god public, mainly because of how relatively primitive our minds can be (especially in this day and age).

Atheists find comfort and security with self-reassurance by sticking the the atheist label. Their sense of doubt diminishes. This sounds like a religion to me. It's much more wise to admit to NOT know something instead of trying to prove how sure you are of something.

[Nailed To Gold]

Originally Posted by creepjoe

that's good, considering I'm not trollin' right now. Not believing in god/higher power/whatever (AKA being agnostic) is different from KNOWING there is no god/higher power/more to the universe than we can initially perceive. It's silly for a human to make their conclusions of god or no god public, mainly because of how relatively primitive our minds can be (especially in this day and age).

Atheists find comfort and security with self-reassurance by sticking the the atheist label. Their sense of doubt diminishes. This sounds like a religion to me. It's much more wise to admit to NOT know something instead of trying to prove how sure you are of something.

Atheism doesn't claim to know.

[Corpseifier]

Originally Posted by creepjoe

that's good, considering I'm not trollin' right now. Not believing in god/higher power/whatever (AKA being agnostic) is different from KNOWING there is no god/higher power/more to the universe than we can initially perceive. It's silly for a human to make their conclusions of god or no god public, mainly because of how relatively primitive our minds can be (especially in this day and age).

Atheists find comfort and security with self-reassurance by sticking the the atheist label. Their sense of doubt diminishes. This sounds like a religion to me. It's much more wise to admit to NOT know something instead of trying to prove how sure you are of something.

This is a common misconception about atheism.

Theism and Atheism is about belief. Gnosticism and Agnosticism is about knowledge. If you claim to KNOW with certainty that a deity exist or does not exist, you are a gnostic theist or gnostic atheist. If you don't claim certain knowledge whether a deity exist, you are an agnostic theist, or an agnostic atheist.

You could boil this down to something so simply as: you either belive that a deity exist, or you don't. So, if you do not believe in any deities, it makes you an atheist. I think that is the most intellectually honest approach.

Atheism is not a religion. It is a rejection of the claim that a deity or deities exist. Atheism is simply a position in regards to a single question. There are no dogmas, tenets or values attacthed. For that reason atheism is not a religion.

How ever, a person can be an atheist and separately hold other ideological views and values. For example, being an atheist and at the same time being a humanist, marxist, nationalist, liberalist, feminst, believe in ghosts, believe in aliens, believing in conspiracy theories etc

[Durpentine]

I personally believe in spirits, and their ability to fuck with people who have 'loose' minds.

For anyone out there who's into OBE/out of body experiences, a word of advice. When you do that, you light up like a torch and attract spirits. Kind of like a back porch light attracts flies and moths.

This puts you at risk of going into a coma.

[cry0fth3carr0ts]

i light my torch with it and get all fucked uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuup

seriously tho, this thread.... ugh... why does it keep reappearing? someone dick pic bomb this bitch already.

[Vriend]

Originally Posted by ruonitb

Annual turnover of the Esoteric industry in germany: 25-30 billion €.
Annual turnover of the beer industry in germany: 9 billion €.

The posts in this thread aren't surprising.

High turnover for German beer! It's good stuff!

[disGUSt(tx)]

Originally Posted by creepjoe

that's good, considering I'm not trollin' right now. Not believing in god/higher power/whatever (AKA being agnostic) is different from KNOWING there is no god/higher power/more to the universe than we can initially perceive. It's silly for a human to make their conclusions of god or no god public, mainly because of how relatively primitive our minds can be (especially in this day and age).

Atheists find comfort and security with self-reassurance by sticking the the atheist label. Their sense of doubt diminishes. This sounds like a religion to me. It's much more wise to admit to NOT know something instead of trying to prove how sure you are of something.

Hey dude, it goes like this:

[Mr-Shredz]

Originally Posted by cry0fth3carr0ts

i light my torch with it and get all fucked uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuup

seriously tho, this thread.... ugh... why does it keep reappearing? someone dick pic bomb this bitch already.

Here you go brom http://www.tubepleasure.com/tube/?q=ghost

Also on topic for everyone's pleasure!

[quartertone]

Originally Posted by Cernunnos

I can't remember completely, but I'm pretty sure Sam Harris made some disgusting mental gymnastic arguments in The End of Faith arguing that torture of terror suspects could be justified in "ticking time bomb" scenarios.

Yes, some of his Islam-related arguments are pretty neocon-compatible.