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Welcome to the BetterHuman.org Weblog. Please read this very important excerpt from my book, Meme, as it also applies to the contents of this weblog. If you'd like to be notified of weblog updates, or wish to contact us directly with compliments, criticisms, or especially corrections, please visit our Contact Us page, where you'll also see a list of frequently-asked questions. If you are looking for specific keywords in this weblog, be sure to use your browser's 'find' function. Also, I'll apologize in advance if some weblog entries seem abrupt, but in the interest of conciseness I've often been forced to remove large portions of submitter's emails, and this will occasionally make my response appear inordinately potent.
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Topics on this page:
#44 - Can religion be separated from the notion of a god? - Sep 07, 2005, 03:38 PM
#45 - Will humanity ever break free of ethereal addiction? - Sep 07, 2005, 03:49 PM
#46 - Is it possible to truly be an atheist? - Sep 07, 2005, 07:33 PM
#47 - Sad - Sep 07, 2005, 07:40 PM
#48 - Trapped from birth - Sep 07, 2005, 07:44 PM
#49 - Can there be gods without religions? - Sep 17, 2005, 03:05 PM
#50 - Case-study and dissection of the religious meme-virus - Sep 17, 2005, 03:18 PM
#51 - Is there such a thing as a 'fact'? - Sep 18, 2005, 04:12 PM
#52 - Demonstrating compassion for ethereal addicts - Sep 18, 2005, 04:24 PM
#53 - A lifetime of suffering at the hands of religion - Sep 18, 2005, 07:21 PM
#54 - Disregarding age when determining voting strength - Sep 18, 2005, 08:27 PM
#55 - The mysterious Black Hole - Sep 18, 2005, 08:48 PM
#56 - How to find 'spirituality' without ethereal addiction - Sep 25, 2005, 04:22 PM
#57 - The tall tales of religion - Sep 25, 2005, 04:25 PM
Click here to see next weblog page...
#43 - Intense vocabulary - September 07, 2005, 03:11 PM |
Mr. Banechart wrote:
> I have found everything from meme to betterhuman.org the most interesting thing that has ever crossed my path..
I can't thank you enough for these rewarding and very motivating words.
> but i have extreme trouble comprehending just about all of it. I get a scent but that's about it. I am blind when it comes to the intense vocabulary you use. then again I'm only 15 years old, but how can i train myself to understand 100% of every sentence, every word you use?
First of all, let me sincerely apologize if I have lost you or anyone else because of the terminology I chose to write with. One of my prime motivations for writing Meme and creating BetterHuman.org, was to keep the verbiage reasonable, however, sometimes it is necessary to leverage more obscure words in order to project the greatest clarity and precision. In these circumstances, a dictionary is quite useful, as well as the glossary in Meme. Alas, reality is intrinsically complicated and sometimes less familiar diction must be used.
If you have any questions whatsoever, even if it takes a thousand emails, I will explain and clarify any BetterHuman.org or Meme statement that you wish to understand. Please feel free to ask me about any specific words or concepts that may not be clear. Your questions may answer many other people's similar questions as well.
Much respect,
Sean Sinjin
{All letters from this contributor: 4.43, 4.52, 4.57, 12.163, 17.233, 21.304}
#44 - Can religion be separated from the notion of a god? - September 07, 2005, 03:38 PM
Mr. Eyecast wrote:
> For ME, the problem of God is a problem for God. We have nothing to do with that. If He exists HE is big enough to manage is own problems, without we have to meddle. The only problem are RELIGIONS. Each one of us is able, if he want it or need it to address to "God" directly. What are religions good for ? Nothing but make free people slaves and take their money.
I tend to see this reaction quite often, that of a serious distaste for the obvious con game that religion is (sometimes mistakenly assuming this makes them an atheist), and yet people will still find justification for the belief in a god, not understanding that religions are solely responsible for driving the persistent belief in these mythological gods. It must be understood that both religion 'and' gods are nothing more than mythology, and are inseparable. Without religion to propel these mythological perspectives, the notion of ethereal beings would eventually disappear as well.
The most effective way to destroy the tyrannical power structures of religion is not to tackle religion head-on (logic vs fantasy), but instead it is to educate away the heart of the beast, and that is to demonstrate that we, humankind, created the concept of gods (not the other way around) in order to try to give some explanation for the world around us. Once people finally understand that we invented the stories of these ethereal creatures, just like we created the Tooth Fairy, or the Easter Bunny, the very essence of religion will collapse like a house of cards, and all that will remain will be reality. The tyranny of religion will end.
Many thanks for writing,
Sean Sinjin
{All letters from this contributor: 4.44, 4.49}
#45 - Will humanity ever break free of ethereal addiction? - September 07, 2005, 03:49 PM
Mr. Pointkey wrote:
> Dear Sean, I have read your Web Site. I agree with most (not all) that you have expressed.
I would love to hear any feedback about the points you do not agree with.
> Today I am very concerned that organized religion has become so dangerous to human progress that my grandchildren and their children will not have an opportunity to live my philosophy or to develop something even better.
The problem is that 'reality' has few benefactors. Reality education isn't nearly as lucrative or corruptible as controlling billions of ethereal addicts with fear-based fantasy is. Though I have very many years left to live, I also feel that the magnitude of humankind's liberation from ethereal addiction may still take a few generations to fully manifest and as such I will probably not see it to its fruition. However, I know as an absolute mathematically-demonstrable certainty that the demise of religion is slated, whether or not BetterHuman.org, or anyone else, has to directly do with it. The pursuit of a reality perspective is one of the most fundamental driving forces in the natural course of evolution for us as a sentient species. The desire to know the truth will eventually overwhelm all fantasy.
The most important factor in protecting oneself from religion is education. Our education systems are ever so slowly but persistently increasing in caliber, and there will be a day when the tides turn and more people reject ethereal addiction than turn to it. This day will come, perhaps in our lifetimes (more likely not), but with more people like yourself and I, and all my BetterHuman.org friends, those toddler-steps are being taken and we'll eventually get there. Have 'faith' in humanity, we're still growing up.
> Be Happy
The most desired and yet elusive wish of all humankind.
Respect,
Sean Sinjin
{All letters from this contributor: 4.45, 4.54, 7.90}
#46 - Is it possible to truly be an atheist? - September 07, 2005, 07:33 PM
Mr. Chantrile wrote:
> I hate to break it to you, but you website is nothing but a waste of time. It is impossible to prove the existence or inexistence of God. It is an infalliable argument. It's useless. Claiming to be an athiest is just as ignorant as being a devout Christian. No proof. Agnostic or sophist is as good as it gets, sorry.
So, my friend, extending this argument, are you suggesting that unicorns might exist?
Regards,
Sean Sinjin
{All letters from this contributor: 4.46, 4.51}
#47 - Sad - September 07, 2005, 07:40 PM
Mr. Whilebase wrote:
> That the very epitome of God's creation should want to deny Him.
When I first wrote Meme, I had to set a realistic goal, "who can I help to see the truth?" and by far the toughest part was being forced to draw a line between myself, and those that can never break free of ethereal addiction. You, my friend, are unfortunately past that line. I truly don't believe there's anything within my power to free you from the mental traps set long ago by your religion that keep you confused, ignorant, and intimidated. To imagine having to live within your mythological perspective terrifies me, for it is quite literally insanity, and your life will be wasted in the pursuit of nothing.
I want to beg for your forgiveness in being forced to leave you behind, the weakness in your single, fear-motivated statement suggests to me that you do not possess the ability to question your faith; but I will make you this promise: my life will be dedicated to the eradication of the religious meme-virus that has hobbled yours and billions of other's lives.
There will be a day in the future when the tyranny of religion ends.
Much love and respect,
Sean Sinjin
{All letters from this contributor: 4.47, 4.50}
#48 - Trapped from birth - September 07, 2005, 07:44 PM
Mr. Rampgreen wrote:
> You go on about the 'shackles' of religion and how it holds people down etc etc. Im 15, ive been a christian since i was about 7 and i cant think of a better way to live.
I promise you, virtually every non-ethereal aspect that you hold dear in a religious perspective, also has great value in a reality perspective. My young friend, I feel much sorrow for you, for you have awoken into this life in the middle of a very ancient trap, and you have been trained to keep yourself inside of it. It takes great wisdom and courage to even begin to challenge your faith because it requires the huge sacrifice of the investment your ego has already made into it. I know precisely how painful and disorienting it is to challenge your own beliefs but please trust me, life is supposed to be one long series of learning experiences. Don't stop at what religion has taught you.
> You say that this meme book is great, ever tried reading the bible? Thats quite an awesome book aswell.
I have read and been taught significant portions of the Bible, and feel quite justified in dismissing its usefulness as an accurate educational resource of any kind, other than for historical mythological study. There is a whole world of knowledge to be had outside of the limited confines of the Bible.
> Have you ever actually stood in church and just felt that overriding feeling of happiness?
Many, many times as a youth. This psychosomatic experience is entirely a placebic reaction to believing that an unbeatable reward (e.g. immortality) is due to you because of your dedication to your faith. If you carefully examine the chemical activity produced in the brain during this feeling, it would be exactly the same as winning a lot of money, or being granted a huge amount of power. This feeling is not the result of a spiritual connection with an ethereal entity, it is the result of greed/ego fulfillment, and fear/stress alleviation. There is nothing noble or pious about this feeling.
> Before spreading this propaganda i think you need to study other religions in further depth before dismissing them.
I have, which is why I am qualified to judge 'all' religions as the single most destructive and intellectually debilitating force on Earth. Simply put, any perspective that reinforces fantasy as fact, needs to be vanquished; there can be no tolerance.
Please, all I ask is that you always question everything you are told. Put your youthful vigor and passion aside just long enough for you to take a really objective view of things. Don't be manipulated by your ego. Pay close attention to how religions administer 'faith' like a drug. Watch how the collection plate forms a crucial part of every single aspect of the religion. Especially be aware of how 'fear' of punishment is used to push you further into religious commitment, or how rewards can 'only' be had through faith. Develop a sensitivity to how religions channel your thoughts with these tools and you'll soon see that there's little piety and plenty of manipulation in everything that religion is. Once you start seeing these things, it will unravel rather quickly until you finally expose the false wizard of Oz behind the curtain. When the smoke clears, there will only be reality remaining, and BetterHuman.org will be there to help you find 'true' happiness within it.
Best of luck my friend,
Sean Sinjin
#49 - Can there be gods without religions? - September 17, 2005, 03:05 PM
Mr. Eyecast wrote back:
> I believe that a world without the idea of god for weak people is unattanaible, but that a world without religious mafia is quite possible.
My friend, religion is the sole vessel for the concept of ethereal entities; they are inseparable components of the same meme-virus. Without religions, there would be nothing to perpetuate this mythology, so this is why you cannot have the concept of gods without religions. BetterHuman.org focuses considerably on dispelling of the notion of mythological gods as a pretext to the discrediting, exposure, and inevitable eradication of religions.
I would also like to clarify that religion is not solely an affliction of the weaker-minded of our species. There are many highly intelligent people that also suffer from the religious meme-virus. Like any virus, the highest likelihood of infection stems from long term exposure to it, and intelligence, though a formidable defense, is not always a sufficient immunity to its powerful emotional tethers. Reality education (immunization) and religious oppression (containment) are the only practical defenses we have.
Respect,
Sean Sinjin
{All letters from this contributor: 4.44, 4.49}
#50 - Case-study and dissection of the religious meme-virus - September 17, 2005, 03:18 PM
Hello friends and readers of BetterHuman.org,
I have received an amazing and educational letter from a prior visitor to BetterHuman.org. It demonstrates the full impact of a severe religious meme-virus infection upon a person's psyche. Before I dissect his diatribe, however, I'd like to rigidly define exactly what we mean by 'religious meme-virus'.
A 'meme' is nothing more than an idea or concept that is passed along from person to person. For example, if a person tells a story to another, and that second person tells that story to yet another, this is called meme-transfer. What makes a 'meme' significant from an 'idea' is that a meme is much more granular, as in an idea is composed of many memes. Also, due to human error, memes 'evolve', as in they change content somewhat when they transfer from person to person. An example of this would be to hear a story that has traveled one-by-one through 10 consecutive people. Chances are that the story will have changed radically since it was told to the first person. This is called 'meme-evolution'.
How we define 'virus' in this context is one of, 'anything that is dependant upon its host for survival, and is in some way detrimental to the host'. The best analogy would be a computer virus, which is defined as a bit of operating code that generally forces the infected computer to perform actions that are not in the best interests of the owner.
Putting the two together, we get 'meme-virus', which still essentially draws a strong parallel to a computer virus, but in a form that affects humans. An extreme example of a meme-virus would be if a rumor started spreading that eating feathers will give you the ability to fly. This meme-virus (the rumor) might actually implant so deeply into a few victims' psyches (the hosts) that these poor people end up jumping off a building in the misguided belief they could fly.
A less extreme version of a meme-virus would be if someone told you that an investment opportunity was going to double your money overnight. You tell all your friends and family and after investing all your money, and all of theirs, you discover that the money has disappeared instead.
Both these examples demonstrate a couple important tidbits, 1) A meme-virus is nothing more than incorrect information that travels from person to person, and 2) the repercussions are unpredictable and absolutely limitless in destructive potential. This brings us to the 'religious' meme-virus, which is essentially a person's belief in the teachings of religion, that primarily being 'faith' in the existence of ethereal beings. This virus is very ancient and has evolved a very complex labyrinth of fear and reward manipulation techniques. This meme-virus implants extremely deeply into the psyche of its host and virtually takes over the person to the point of insanity. The infected person (host) truly and wholeheartedly believes that mythological creatures exist. The scope and diversity of these religious meme-viruses is nothing short of a global pandemic that has persisted for millennia.
Now let's examine the letter I've received from a very infected host of a religious meme-virus. I did not respond directly to this person so as to avoid antagonizing him, he is obviously suffering enough, but that doesn't mean the rest of us can't learn from this case. As you read this, please understand that this is 'not' truly the person speaking, for only a small remainder of that individual exists, acting only as a robotic shell to house the meme-virus. Virtually everything in this text is generated by the virus itself, and as such can be considered more a diatribe from the virus as opposed to a sentient human being. I will attempt to identify the underlying motivation for each statement, as well as the foundation for that motivation; here goes:
Mr. Whilebase wrote back:
> There is no hope for unbelievers for any who reject the Lord Jesus Christ.
Motivation: To manipulate with fear and intimidation using the most powerful tool he knows of, his deity,
Foundation: BetterHuman.org challenged his beliefs (ultimately a blow to his ego), which he perceives as ethereally-ordained and therefore unchallengeable. As such, the virus reacted vigorously to our 'arrogance' to suggest he was deluded. The reason his ego was wounded is due to the fact that he has a large investment into his beliefs, and by discrediting his religion, he believes we are also condemning him by association. This is completely untrue however; BetterHuman.org will always have respect for the individual.
> I am not in any trap, it is you who have been trapped by Satan to believe his lies.
Motivation: He's trying to inform me of the ethereal explanation for my position, and attempting to manipulate with guilt by affiliating BetterHuman.org with evil.
Foundation: He's trying to understand my position from within his context (hence potentially revealing my weaknesses). Unfortunately, the more limited your education and exposure to the world, the more primitive and basic your understanding of reality will be. In extreme cases, such as this one, a religious perspective of the world is limited to the most fundamental of interpretations, that of the need for a parent (God), and the need to encapsulate all that doesn't please this god (evil). In our situation here, BetterHuman.org obviously does not fit within his 'good' category, and as such we default to the other extreme, that of 'evil'.
> To live without acknowledging God is truly terrifying, for you if you don't see your needs, they will never be met.
Motivation: He's trying to use the design of my statement from a prior letter to him against me, to both shame and consume my perspective. You'll see that guilt and ridicule are frequently used manipulation tactics of the religious meme-virus
Foundation: Again, his intensity demonstrating that his ego was damaged. He's also trying to use my own tools against me in the attempt to reach me in a way that I might recognize.
As a side note, his powerful reaction reveals that we've had a tremendous effect on his virus, which is an odd thing considering the supposedly impermeable nature of 'faith'. If you think about things from a religious context, having perfect 'faith' in your beliefs would imply that it should be very difficult to 'shake' one's faith enough to produce such a volatile reaction. If our subject's faith was absolute, he would just have shrugged his shoulders and offered to help me see his perspective in a friendly inviting tone. But in our example, the harder he tries to stand his ground, the more obvious it seems his 'faith' was rattled. However, I didn't actually lessen his faith, I only 'exposed' to him the already existing weaknesses in his faith, which means that even the most outwardly faith-secure person, realistically only has a very weak foundation in their faith. And how could it not be weak; the meme-virus is attempting to obscure the single most terrifying thing imaginable, true death. What a phenomenal mental workout that must be to perpetually keep that monster in denial.
> "Cursing the Holy Spirit" is rejecting Christ,
Motivation: Here he is diving deep into a safe territory, that being of biblical mantra, and repeating his attempts to intimidate and expose to me just how my arrogance will be punished.
Foundation: He's exposing some of the structure of the religious 'logic tree' that religions create in the minds of followers. These are very elaborate meme constructs that define the overall religious perspective, and all of its individual branches of information seem to 'fit' together intuitively. However, all of the pieces themselves are founded upon the existence of an ethereal entity, without which, everything collapses to nonsense (like a tree can't exist without the trunk). In this example, he's trying to show me a greater depth (complexity) of his perspective in the attempt to establish some credibility for it, and that it is not so easily dismissed. He's also inadvertently showing me that there exists within his religious perspective many ulterior angles of reinforcement of the ultimate punishment for rejecting the virus.
> for it means there is never any hope for you in eternity,
Motivation: Intimidating with fear, and appealing to my greed instinct by reminding me of the loss of the perfect reward, immortality.
Foundation: This is an ostracization tactic that categorically separates us. This statement is more for his benefit than mine because he believes he is earning bonus points with his god by attempting to educate/recruit (infect) me. He's also trying to appease his ego by attempting to establish hierarchy over me.
> and there is an eternity, whether you accept it or not.
Motivation: Now he's drawing an immovable line in the sand that he believes cannot be crossed; a challenge to me to futilely test his faith.
Foundation: To him, this is a foundational fact upon which his entire perspective rests. He will never relinquish one iota of conviction in it because even the smallest self-doubt would collapse his entire faith structure. He's showing me the heart of the virus, and also showing just how impossibly integrated it is with his psyche; immovable. At this degree of infection, I believe that removing or destroying the virus (through education) would render the host virtually incapable of dealing with reality; very sad.
> Do you think everything, including man, just "happened" to crawl out of a pool of water somewhere?
Motivation: Here is more ridicule aimed directly at what he perceives as the foundation for my perspective, to try to get me to question my own beliefs by knocking my ego.
Foundation: He is exposing how limited his knowledge is of a scientific perspective. In his mind he is showing me the difference between the richness of his world, to the pathetic and insane lunacy of mine.
> What hogwash; it is one of the biggest lies that has ever been perpetrated by Satan.
Motivation: More ridicule, mixed with fear and guilt manipulation. He's 'damning' me as hard as he knows how by continual association with his definition of pure evil.
Foundation: By associating me with his evil ethereal entity, it brings him immediate closure to any need to understand my perspective, relieving him of the burden of learning more about my world; and effectively also locking him in his.
> The biggest lie is that "there is no God".
Motivation: to get me to consider the opposite of what I hold true
Foundation: He learned this technique from religion, a black-and-white mentality. If it's not good, it's pure evil. Anything that does not fit in his religious context is simply classified as a massive lie. They need this black-and-white mentality to facilitate the immediate disregard of ethereally-contradicting concepts in their minds so they can avoid diluting the intensity of the 'high' their simplistic mythological perspective generates; and this brings us to the biological ramifications of the religious meme-virus. The reason this virus is so powerful is that it operates to soothe our greatest pains (fear of death, fear of life, etc.) and to feed our bottomless egos (affiliation with the supernatural, immortality), something that reality cannot compete with. The virus has the 'same' narcotic effect on the mind as any pleasure-inducing/pain-relieving chemicals, and is just as addictive. The religious meme-virus is probably the most addictive narcotic on the face of the planet based upon the count of billions of addicts globally. And, much like any conventional drug addict, any information that the addict receives that spoils the high produced by the meme-virus (e.g. evidence to prove there are no ethereal entities), is responded to with phenomenal tenacity, as thusfar demonstrated in this letter.
> Fortunately, there is still hope for all who do not believe, for God is still waiting to save your soul if you only believe upon His son Jesus Christ.
Motivation: He's shifting gears after blowing off some steam. He's realizing that he's done nothing but 'react' to my words so now he's trying to think for himself and instead, lead the conversation with 'reward' manipulation.
Foundation: What may superficially seem to be an attempt to guide me into actions that are in my best interests, this is really a disguise for an attempt to earn himself more God points. He really doesn't care if I consider his perspective or not because he is still angry at me, however, his ethereal duties have been performed simply by throwing the option out there for me to consider. My judgment may seem rather dismissive but it must be understood that ethereal addicts are incapable of performing a truly altruistic act, as discussed in this prior post: 1.10.
> What darkness you must live in within your mind; no hope for eternity, an unbelief in the only true God,
Motivation: Now switching to a false demonstration of pity and trying to make me feel desperate and unintelligent.
Foundation: As with most of the prior examples, by utilizing all these basic emotional manipulation techniques, the meme-virus is attempting to expose footholds in my mind for it to attach to. If it can arouse enough curiosity in me about the ultimate reward (eternal life), or intimidate me enough with the ultimate punishment (Satan and hell), his virus might be able to plant a viral-seed in my head, and if successful, it would only be a matter of time before that seed blossoms into another full-blown religious virus. The virus however is not intelligent enough to realize when it has been exposed and as such it will futilely continue to probe for footholds in even the most atheist of potential hosts.
> One so powerful that he chose to make you even though you don't believe in Him.
Motivation: More guilt manipulation. The virus is probing very hard for a crack in the armor.
Foundation: He is revealing more structure of his perspective, that of ethereal hierarchy, and hence the intrinsic debt of gratitude, (which is paid through servitude that fuels the propagation of the religions) that I should incur because of my lower rank in that hierarchy.
> What future is there without hope? None.
Motivation: Hope in this context is exactly synonymous with eternal life. This is an attempt to ridicule my hopeless (true death) perspective, as in what could possibly be the point of my life?
Foundation: More structure revealing. Now he's demonstrating that his motivation in life is the sole driving pursuit of affiliation with his god in order to have an infinite future (this pursuit generates the greatest 'high' possible from the meme-virus). Inversely, he is also revealing that he knows 'exactly' how terrifying true death is, because his entire life is geared to preventing that demise with this pursuit of affiliation with his god.
> "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16
Motivation: Little bit of showing off and defiance, with the intent of diminishing the effectiveness of BetterHuman.org.
Foundation: This is an excellent example of an ethereal-addict 'taking a hit'. This is no different than a heroin junkie sticking a needle in his arm in defiance. If we could measure his brain activity during the composition of this final passage, we would see his pleasure center and ego instinct light up with activity due to the intense 'high' the meme-virus fed him.
It's noteworthy to recognize that in all of his letter, there was not one iota of generosity, love, compassion, tolerance, or charity whatsoever granted towards me; a discrete failing from a representative of a purportedly 'loving' religion. This effectively demonstrates that unless you are programmed with their virus (a member of their beliefs), you are outcast and undesirable, which is a not-so-discrete tactic of 'ostracization' manipulation. How hungry must his altruistic instinct be for placation, it having been usurped and curtailed in function to solely facilitate the spread of the religious meme-virus.
My friends, despite all of this, please understand that this person was reacting out of 'fear'. Anger is always indicative of a deeper problem (it's impossible to be angry for no reason). Fear is the driving force here, so please don't condemn or chastise this or any poor soul that suffers from ethereal addiction. Pity them, for they probably would have grown into wonderful, caring, and real people, if it wasn't for the life-destroying religious meme-viruses that infest our world.
Respect,
Sean Sinjin
{All letters from this contributor: 4.47, 4.50}
#51 - Is there such a thing as a 'fact'? - September 18, 2005, 04:12 PM
Mr. Chantrile wrote back:
> Yes, it is very possible the Tooth Fairy exists. No one can confirm it doesn't exist.
What you are correctly identifying here is that there is no such thing as a true 'fact'; there is no way to be absolutely certain something is true. This leaves us with a reality perception based upon 'probable' facts, as in, things are determined true or false by their acceptable proximity to 100% true. For example, the sun rising in the east each morning is a world-wide accepted fact. However, this doesn't mean that it's 100% sure to rise in the east tomorrow because a number of things can happen (black hole swallows the sun, gigantic meteorite hits Earth causing it to spin the other way) that negate a 100% absolute certainty. (Facts should not to be confused with 'definitions', such as 1 + 1 = 2. This is not a 'fact' per se, it is a strict definition that we created, stating that 1 + 1 must equal to 2. Facts, in the context we are discussing here, are conclusions founded by evidence)
It's important to draw an acceptable 'fact' line somewhere (e.g. 99.9999999% likely to be true) so that these factoids can be used to build structure into our perception of the universe. Without an acceptable 'fact' line, we are always left with these paradoxes that we know are simply not true, such as the Tooth Fairy example above. There may not be a way to absolutely prove the tooth fairy doesn't exist, but we're pretty sure this story is a fabrication from some person long ago, and as such, the chances of there really being a tooth fairy are virtually none, therefore, it being nothing more than mythology is a probable 'fact'.
In order to understand and perceive any viable structure whatsoever in our universe, there has to be some acceptable approximation of 'fact' that approaches the literal definition of 'fact', but allows for the little bit of remaining 'unknown' to be overlooked until further evidence to the contrary appears. In your original letter, you seemed to want to raise the bar of 'fact' to an unreachable percentage, or even to 100%. By this definition, this then also implies that your world doesn't exist, your mind doesn't exist, and there is nothing in the universe, and there is no universe, all simply because we can't prove any of it exists (I think, therefore I'm not?). If this is the perception of reality you wish to indulge, my friend, then you have chosen the easier path of apathy; choosing to accept not knowing, and not trying to know, rather than much more rewarding and noble pursuit of truth. I personally choose to research and assess the probabilities of 'facts' to try and build a reality that is predictable, sensical, and reliable, despite all the pitfalls, mistakes, and oppression I'll suffer along the way.
Great feedback!
Sean Sinjin
{All letters from this contributor: 4.46, 4.51}
#52 - Demonstrating compassion for ethereal addicts - September 18, 2005, 04:24 PM
Mr. Banechart wrote back:
> People all the time are telling me I'm insane or they just laugh in "Cognitive Dissonance". And as much as id like to extend their argument in the existing of an ethereal entity, i don't, and feel extreme sorrow for them because they are waisting their life on nothing.
It takes considerable inner strength to get past the confrontational nature of dealing with ethereal addicts. It is very challenging to endure their ethereally-charged egos without reflecting their passion back at them in a heated verbal exchange. Ultimately though, they are very mentally ill, and compassion for their situation must be your overriding emotion. Due to a lifetime of ethereal-addiction indoctrination, they have had their skills for objectivity and logic severely oppressed, handicapping their ability to see things from the outside, so it makes no more sense to engage them with powerful emotions than it makes sense to scream at a child for their ignorance. I'll apologize for the diminutive nature of this child analogy (not my intent, I assure you) but despite perhaps having the body of an adult, adamant ethereal addicts have the mental acuity more akin to an ego-dominated adolescent. It is so important to perceive ethereal addicts as our brothers and sisters that need our help and need to be educated, rather than people that need to be confronted. Congratulations for your demonstration of empathy.
> I truly wish everyone had a copy of your book. Sean, you have changed my life to a level of happiness i never knew existed. Thank you
And thank you very much, my friend, I'm deeply humbled. It's simply amazing how valuable a 'thank you' can be.
> and i was wondering about time travel. You didn't go into great detail about it in meme, could time travel ever be possible?
The 'only' time travel that is possible is the equivalent of 'slowing' your own time flow, which is achieved by reaching a high relative velocity for some period of time. The faster you move relative to one frame of reference, the slower your own time moves relative to it. Other than that, there's not much control we can exert over time flow, for example, it is impossible to travel backwards in time because this makes no more sense than measuring something as -2 meters in length. If you think about it, the notion of going back in time would imply you 'undo' the very act of attempting to go back in time in the first place. A very mentally disruptive paradox. Mathematics can sometimes point us in non-reality directions.
Love the science questions,
Sean Sinjin
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#53 - A lifetime of suffering at the hands of religion - September 18, 2005, 07:21 PM
Mr. Ratebell wrote:
> Hello friends and readers,
Let me start by thanking you for quite simply, a beautiful contribution. I believe that many, many people are going to benefit from your story. I'll address your comments first:
> Sean, I feel I do not have the ability to express adequately the respect and admiration I have for the work you are pursuing. ... I would like to say thank you for taking the effort to explain very difficult subjects and make them digestable to persons such as myself.
Awesome. Every time I get a 'kudo', I know that religions forever lose one more potential victim. Welcome to reality, and sanity, my friend.
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