This.....is........too.......damn.....long........I won't be crushed if nobody reads it. I appreciate the opportunity to satiate my unhealthy narcissistic appetite for my own lofty rhetoric steeped in erudition and sophistry......I'm kind of a sick bastard that way. Jesus' effect on the west reminds me of the Buddha's effect on the east. People still killed each other, stole, raped, hated. But in Europe there were people walking around saying "Love thy neighbor, blessed are the peacemakers, worldy pleasure alone doesn't make you happy." And in Asia there were people walking around saying "don't harm your brother for he is like you--he wants to be happy, and, you kill a little part of yourself when you're dishonest, and again-- wordly pleasure alone will not make you happy." The barbarism that has gone on over the millennia that people attribute to religion would've happened anyway. The Chinese and Japanese have hated each other, Irish protestants and Irish Catholics have hated each other, and, with no reason they can tell you, people from northern Wales don't like people from southern Wales. We're descended from predators and it's readily observable that our brains' R-complex is still calling alot of shots when we learn to harness the power that fuels ths stars and two nations of the same race immediately learn how to use that power to destroy the planet in order to stop the others' ideologies from winning......
Chimps?......oh this might go all the back to precambrian protozoan fear of other one-celled monsters. So I'd gladly join in the raucous caustic lampooning of any number of paranoid religious paradigms. Any system where a secretive, dishonest autocracy presides over an undifferentiated ego mass taking their money, freewill and right to reason needs to have us other chimps throwing our feces at it. But --the people who operated outside the institutionally sanctioned priesthoods of their day--like Jesus, Buddha, Lao Tzu, and to an extent Guru Dev, etc, who at least tried to interject some higher ideas into the torpid suffering masses regardless of who they really were in relation to who they thought or we think they were.....these people don't warrant the full venomous potency of our cynicism.... I'm not referring to anyone's post, just offering a related opinion. There's another aspect of the crucifixion that the writers/translators/abusers of the four books written by Matt, Mark Luke and Smedley don't approach. Someone stood out and told the religious and political authorities of the day that they were VERY WRONG about the 'truths' that gave them power......and they nailed him to a board......A good lesson whether it's history or a fable. I see in the red print of the new testament a line of reasoning too deep to have been thought of by, or be of any use to the Popes, Joseph Smiths, and Pat Robertson's that have blackened the name of a guy who if he ever did come back, wouldn't recognize a modern church building or his own statue inside it.........as Robin Williams said. "Jesus isn't coming back. Every time he looks down he sees a bunch of people wearing crosses and thinks.....Yikes! They must still wanna kill me! I better wait." Anyhoo.......I just have to wonder about the deeper hidden drives that make a person NEED to discount any possible goodness that our civilizations' 'spiritual' people may have brought --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Peter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Bonobo chimps are hilarious. They evolved in a region > with plenty of food so they are not very aggressive > and they screw at the drop of a hat (or in this case, > a banana) > > --- curtisdeltablues <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > wrote: > > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Angela > > Mailander > > <mailander111@> wrote: > > > > > > Chimps have forgiveness rituals??? > > > > The source is Peacemaking Among Primates by De Waal > > the bonobo expert. > > Most social primates have to have a way to make up > > to keep the > > society together. They will offer a hand to the > > mouth of the chimp > > they harmed and this gives the chimp a chance to > > bite them. If it is > > taken gently all is forgiven. He has a couple of > > books about chimp > > culture that are great. One of his points is that a > > lot of stuff > > attributed to religion is hard wired from our > > primate past. > > > > > > Tell me more. > > > In an early attempt to make a religion out of the > > > Jesus myth, a writer had Jesus kill a playmate at > > the > > > age of three to show how miraculously macho he > > was. > > > That story was edited out later. > > > > > > > > > --- curtisdeltablues <curtisdeltablues@> > > > wrote: > > > > > > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "Patrick > > > > Gillam" <jpgillam@> > > > > wrote: > > > > > > > > > > > --- curtisdeltablues" wrote: > > > > > > > > > > > > There is much more time spent on the > > miracles > > > > > > than any of [Jesus'] presentation of ethical > > > > philosophy > > > > > > which he gets so much undeserved credit for > > IMO. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Way to slap down Jesus, Curtis! You made Him > > your > > > > bitch! > > > > > > > > > > Seriously, though, that one miracle - coming > > back > > > > from > > > > > the dead - was a doozy, wasn't it? And the way > > it > > > > came > > > > > right after his No. 1 ethical teaching to > > forgive > > > > those who > > > > > hurt us. Kind of a powerful one-two punch, > > doncha > > > > think? > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > "Jesus is here, and he wants to resurrect > > > > somebody!" > > > > > - Rumi > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Not a big Jesus guy. His philosophy was not > > > > original (even chimps > > > > have forgiveness rituals)and the whole mythology > > was > > > > a rehash of > > > > precious culture's myths. I enjoy reading the > > > > Bible, but can hardly > > > > believe this was the myth that sold so well in > > the > > > > world out of all > > > > the options. Luck of the draw and the political > > > > uses of early > > > > Christianity as a unifier and stompdown tool I > > > > guess. > > > > > > > > Nice Rumi quote though. > > > > > > > > My favorite Jesus quote is my original: > > > > > > > > "Hey Jesus, since you've risen, how about > > getting me > > > > a beer!" > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Send instant messages to your online friends > > http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com > > > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------------ > > > > To subscribe, send a message to: > > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > Or go to: > > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ > > and click 'Join This Group!'Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > > > mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > > > > > > > ______________________________________________________________________ ______________ > Looking for last minute shopping deals? > Find them fast with Yahoo! 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